Spoiler alert: Yes, remote work really does work! With nearly nine years of experience as a remote employee across three different companies, Lauren knows the ups and downs of remote work. In this session, she will dive into what the research says about remote work and share her personal stories of failures and successes. You'll walk away from this session knowing why remote work is awesome, empowered to convince your boss to let you work remotely, and armed with the tools you need to be a happy, successful remote employee. If you've been thinking about making the transition to working remotely, you're a manager of people who are or could work remotely, or you've made the leap to remote work and are struggling to make it work, this is the session for you!

1. Lauren Schaefer, Developer Advocate, MongoDB
Does remote work really work?
Lauren_Schaefer

2. Think about a time
you were fabulously
productive.

7. Open offices spaces can be
THE WORST.

8. Cubeland can be
THE WORST.

9. Working remotely can be
THE WORST.

11. Does remote work
really work?

12. My Story

17. Will you let me work from home?
Check yes or no.
Yes
No
✓

19. Cubeland can be
THE WORST.

21. Working remotely can be
THE WORST.

22. Working remotely can be
THE BEST.

23. Why do you want to
work remotely?

24. Why work remotely?
● Unable to relocate due to spouse’s job or kids’ school
● High cost of living at office location
● Lengthy commutes
● Availability for children or aging parents
● Distracting office environments
● Travel the world

25. Why do employers
offer remote work
options?

26. Why offer remote work options?
● Attract and retain top talent--no matter where they live
● Increase employee morale
● Save money!
● Increase employee productivity

27. What does the
research say?

28. Where do developers want to work?1
58%
33%
9%
Office Home Other place, such as a coworking space or café

29. How often do developers work remotely?1

30. Greatest challenge to productivity1

31. 2014 scientific study2

32. 13%
performance increase in work from home employees2

33. work satisfaction
in work from home employees2

34. 50%
reduction in attrition rate
in work from home employees2

35. 50%
reduction in promotion rate conditional on performance
for work from home employees2

36. 22%
performance increase after allowing employees to
choose where to work2

37. 2009 Cisco Teleworker Survey3
Black this time, a nice change by Gary Denham, Creative Commons

38. productivity, work-life flexibility, and job satisfaction3

39. $277 million
savings in productivity from teleworking3

40. 47,320 metric tons
of greenhouse gas emissions not released in 1 year due to
teleworking3

41. Summary of 46
studies
spanning 20
years
“Telecommuting has a clear upside:
small but favorable effects on
perceived autonomy, work– family
conflict, job satisfaction,
performance, turnover intent, and
stress. Contrary to expectations in
both academic and practitioner
literatures, telecommuting also has
no straightforward, damaging effects
on the quality of workplace
relationships or perceived career
prospects.“4

42. Summary of 46
studies
spanning 20
years
“Telecommuting has a clear upside:
small but favorable effects on
perceived autonomy, work– family
conflict, job satisfaction,
performance, turnover intent, and
stress. Contrary to expectations in
both academic and practitioner
literatures, telecommuting also has no
straightforward, damaging effects on
the quality of workplace relationships
or perceived career prospects.“4

43. Summary of 46
studies
spanning 20
years
“Telecommuting has a clear upside:
small but favorable effects on
perceived autonomy, work– family
conflict, job satisfaction, performance,
turnover intent, and stress. Contrary
to expectations in both academic and
practitioner literatures,
telecommuting also has no
straightforward, damaging effects on
the quality of workplace relationships
or perceived career prospects.“4

44. Downsides to working remotely
● “Professional isolation negatively impacts job performance”5
● Having a remote manager may negatively impact you7
● Remote employees fear stalling careers, isolation, distractions,
and blurred lines between work and home life6
● Remote work encourages employees to “overwork and to allow
their work to infringe on their family role”8

45. Does remote work
really work?

46. Does remote work
really work?
YES!

47. Remote work works for…
The employee.
The employer.
The environment.

48. How to convince your
boss to let you work
remotely

49. Propose an
experiment9
IMG_9425-001 by Oleg., Creative Commons

50. But what about collaboration
and water-cooler conversations?
The Lunchroom by Sonny Abesamis, Creative Commons

51. When all else fails,
talk about the bottom line.
Money by Keith Cooper, Creative Commons

52. How to succeed at
working remotely

55. 5. Join the right team
World Map by shaireproductions.com, Creative Commons

56. 4. Be productive

57. 3. Communicate with your team
all eyes on the docent by michael davis-burchat, Creative Commons

58. 2. Travel
Airplane by Sean MacEntee, Creative Commons

59. 1. Actively prevent burnout
40+234 Work! by bark, Creative Commons

60. Top 5 tips for making remote work
really work
5. Select the right team
4. Be productive
3. Communicate with your team
2. Travel
1. Actively prevent burnout

61. Does remote work
really work?

62. Working remotely can be
THE WORST.

64. Working remotely can be
THE BEST.

66. Does remote work
really work?
YES!

67. Remote work works for…
The employee.
The employer.
The environment.

68. Telle Whitney
Former CEO and President
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
"If I could change
anything, it would be
that each and every
one of you would ask
for what she wants."

69. Remote work
really works!
Advocate for yourself and advocate
for others.

70. Remote work
really works! Get the slides on my Twitter
page: @Lauren_Schaefer
Advocate for yourself and advocate
for others.

71. Appendix

72. References
1. 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey
2. Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment
3. Cisco Study Finds Telecommuting Significantly Increases Employee Productivity,
Work-Life Flexibility and Job Satisfaction
4. The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown About Telecommuting: Meta-Analysis of
Psychological Mediators and Individual Consequences
5. The impact of professional isolation on teleworker job performance and turnover
intentions: does time spent teleworking, interacting face-to-face, or having access to
communication-enhancing technology matter?

73. References
6. The Evolving Nature of Working at Home
7. Does it matter where your manager works? Comparing managerial work mode
(traditional, telework, virtual) across subordinate work experiences and outcomes
8. Toward Understanding Remote Workers’ Management of Work–Family Boundaries:
The Complexity of Workplace Embeddedness
9. REMOTE: Office Not Required

74. Other studies & articles
● Assessing the growth of remote working and its consequences for effort, well-being
and work-life balance
● Contagious Offsite Work and the Lonely Office: The Unintended Consequences of
Distributed Work
● Team dynamics in virtual, partially distributed teams: Optimal role fulfillment
● Comparing telework locations and traditional work arrangements. Differences in
work-life balance support, job satisfaction, and inclusion
● How To Succeed At Working From Home
● Implementing & Managing a Telework Program. A Complete Guide to Properly
Managing Telework Employees
● Putting the work-life interface into a temporal context: an empirical study of work-
life balance by life stage and the consequences of homeworking

75. Other videos
● Nora Denzel Keynote Speech - Grace Hopper Celebration 2012