Employees of Traditional Companies

Legal executive Jamie Hurewitz received a JD from the Hamline University School of Law and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Jamie Hurewitz serves as the head of legal at Mattermost, a leading open-source collaboration platform, where she works remotely to oversee the company's legal and compliance infrastructure.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become more common than ever before. Traditional companies can improve their remote work policies to provide the same flexibility found at newer firms and startups, helping employees with obstacles they may encounter while working from home full-time.

One challenge faced by these employees is the dip in productivity caused by intense micromanagement. With remote work, managers at traditional companies, who are used to supervising employees face-to-face, may worry that the team is not being honest about working hours. For this reason, they might feel the need to frequently check on employees' productivity, unintentionally getting in the way, inhibiting their work, and impacting morale.

Additionally, some companies do not promote informal bonding among remote workers, who are more prone to feeling isolated within their roles. Moreover, remote employees have lower visibility when participating in hybrid teams. Since traditional companies tend to lack inclusion policies, off-site workers may feel left out from managerial positions and opportunities for professional growth.

Traditional companies can implement policies to deal with these challenges. For example, companies can establish regular work hours, and alert remote workers to meetings and events. Another way to help work-from-home staff is by setting standards for the company's internal communication channels.