Work remotely with success

At Soluble we follow a remote-first philosophy because we're convinced there are other ways to understand work. Our purpose is to make people happier at work, and that means we keep top of mind our relationship with our professional activity: we seek for it to contribute to a full life, or at minimum, not be a burden.

It's an ambitious objective that fundamentally requires that everyone on the team is where they really want to be. Remote is a freedom we conquer every day—with great effort—from our desks in León, A Coruña, Lanzarote, Elche, Vic, Madrid, Mallorca, and Barcelona.

We want to talk about this because it seems the discussion around remote work has solidified as one of the major debates in the labor sphere of our society.

On one side of the coin are those who highlight the greater productivity that some studies have revealed; on the other, some people, like high-profile businessman José Elías, who claim that full remote work is a measure that harms workers by multiplying talent competition under unequal conditions.

A cultural question

Like most things in life, the answer to this discussion isn't binary. In reality, it's full of nuance. It's not easy to run a full-remote company, but in sectors like ours there's no alternative if you want to access the best talent or, as in our case, what drives you is conquering freedoms.

Remote work isn't for everyone, nor for every sector. Working remotely means missing information—nonverbal communication, cross-talk—that you have to force, with some risk of burnout and loss of impact. For this not to happen, extra effort is necessary.

In other words, remote work is something cultural that springs from the deepest level of each organization. If your culture is office-centric, implementing an effective hybrid model will be very difficult. And if it's a culture prone to remote work, hybrid can work, but always with a remote work mindset.

Keys to making it work: document and communicate (a lot)

Though it's a cultural matter, remote is a privilege that must be cultivated every day with an extra dose of communication. Speak clearly, directly, and assertively. Talk a lot, yes, but above all do it effectively.

Often, we remind ourselves of the most basic pillars of communication: acknowledging and recognizing our role as a message sender or receiver, and making sure the message arrives the way we want it to.

Moreover, we work to ensure everything is recorded and documented in a logical and effective way. That way, any team member can get up to speed without intermediaries.

Proactivity, responsibility… and boundaries

When you're not in an office where you can absorb much information about what's happening around you, or where you might have fewer distractions, it's critical not to wait for things to happen and, above all, not to let things slip by. Without extra responsibility, autonomy, and maturity from the entire team, remote work simply doesn't work.

Of course, that responsibility extends to boundaries, both personal and collective. Not everything goes. You have to establish the rules and limits that guarantee the organization runs properly.

Seeing each other now and then

The pro level of remote work is asynchronous work, but aspiring to digital excellence and reaching the holistic point we seek at Soluble requires a window of synchrony that we share. Our schedule is flexible, but we make sure all processes are unblocked by staying available to clear the way for a colleague's work if they need it, for instance.

We see each other every day through the screen, but it's also essential to meet in three dimensions, even at the risk of seeming contradictory. To put legs under the table, as our cofounder CTO Laurent Dietrich says. Face-to-face interaction is vital for strengthening bonds and deepening relationships into planes beyond the strictly operational (we're not even talking about work anymore). That's why we organize off-sites in places as special as El Toboso.

An extra layer of trust

Everything points us, once again, to the conclusion that working fully remote is something cultural—true for specialists and managers alike—reinforcing seams and oiling all the gears.

The focus isn't on control, but on trust in the system, its processes, and the people who are part of it. Having a powerful and reliable engine doesn't eliminate maintenance, but it multiplies the enjoyment and peace of mind on the journey toward fulfilling your purpose.

This post is an adaptation of a reflection by Ismael on his LinkedIn profile that was inspired by a question from Juan Ángel Marín.