Managers need to be extra thoughtful about retaining a human factor in this revolutionary age of tech-savvy workspaces to make employees feel valued and part of office culture, says an entrepreneur.
"If you don't feel connected with other people, it means you're just sending and receiving tasks. So the human touch is lost very fast and productivity goes down," Diogo Vasconcelos, the co-founder of Nerd Monkeys, told Via News in an interview.
Nerd Monkeys, a Lisbon-based studio, offers a variety of services such as video game design, production scheduling, and consulting.
It has also partnered with multiple universities and companies across Portugal to help promote understanding of video game culture and boost the industry through educational initiatives.
Diogo says many things have changed at his company since the coronavirus outbreak and that the current period of forced remote work has made them miss out on the informal conversations that pop up on-site.
'Online Coffee Moments'
Being aware of the importance of providing the human touch, he had decided to put aside some time during the week to have a "coffee moment" online with his colleagues.
"We talk about different things such as the name of Elon Musk's child that is very hard to pronounce or the latest games that we are playing. We reserve at least half an hour for those moments."
Diogo is a firm believer that "communication" is crucial for the success and sustainability of remote work.
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He says sole reliance on email exchanges slows down the communication process and that is why he and his team are using Jira to streamline project management.
"I'm not saying that you need to use Jira or Slack or Skype to communicate with your team. You should choose whatever works for you. But it's essential to be in frequent contact with your team," Nerd Monkeys' co-founder told fellow founders.
Diogo added that they were struggling, in the beginning, to adapt to the changing work dynamics but could get into a nice flow of work after a few weeks.
Need to Boost Security
On other changes introduced at his company since the outbreak, he said the core of their work routine remains the same but they have taken a series of steps to develop a strong IT infrastructure with good layers of security.
He explained that Nerd Monkeys had always tried to minimize expenses but it is now investing in new cloud services as "they are now essential for the company".
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Diogo said he has also learned to be more careful with the hardware equipment as his recent mistake involving a battery resulted in unexpected expenses.
"I strongly believe that we learn from our mistakes, and I've learned a lot of things during this transition," he noted, adding that entrepreneurs should be well prepared for a scenario where the daily routine is disrupted.