Rare blog, rattlin’ blog
I am part of the remote co-working community Workantile, in downtown Ann Arbor. We have small private rooms for taking conference calls and I often find them stuffy and notice I’m tired by the end of a meeting. I’d read that excessive CO2 build-up in meetings can impair cognitive function. Was that the case, or was I just bored from the meetings?
I borrowed an Indoor Air Quality Meter from my amazing local library (by Sper Scientific, normally $400, for me, $0) and went to find out.
I hired a data analyst last year who started working for me in December. He lives in Colorado, I live in Michigan. After 10 months of working together, week in and week out, I finally “met” him at our annual company conference last month (September). Does that seem funny? I was surprised by how tall he was, but otherwise, no, it’s business as usual around here.
I’ve now embraced the idea of hiring someone and working with them without first meeting them in person. If you’ll be working with them remotely, and your team and organization have the right culture and systems in place for that, why would you insist on in-person interviews?
In a truly remote-first organization, there’s little cause to fly someone out for an in-person interview. And there are many reasons not to. When you weigh the costs and benefits, it’s not worth it. You’re a remote organization – embrace it!