Bella Protocol | Guide for Working Remotely

Intro

All-remote culture is an entirely different way of living and working, and the transition to it requires full acceptance and implementation of the All-remote protocol. A partly remote working environment can be more psychologically stressful than an entirely on-site one. Partly remote can lead to burnout in the long term, which is detrimental to individual psychological well-being and the company’s further development.

All-remote requires employees to be self-motivated, disciplined and organised. Please ensure that recruits meet these qualities when recruited.

All-remote means that recruitment is open to the whole world, and there can be no preferential time zones.

How to Work Remotely

(Summarized and modified from “Gitlab’s guide to All-Remote”)

1. Embracing Total Transparency

• Try to be as open and transparent as possible with information to ensure everyone’s on the same page & feel valued.
• Be open and honest about your work/mental state, communicate immediately if any mental issues occur. No judgement should be allowed.
• Be transparent about boundaries: be transparent about the limits you’ve set for your mental health, wellbeing, and life outside of work.

2. How to Schedule Time

• Each member should set up preferred working hours on Spacetime to show time zone overlap, then make compromises (fairness is needed in the process) to determine the synchronise communication period.

3. Communicate Asynchronously

Why Communicate Asynchronously

• The problem of synchronous communication

It creates a fake sense of emergency and a heavy interruptive environment with a lot of context switching. In this way, people will end up highly stressed all the time.

• The advantage of asynchronous communication

Improve morale and wellbeing. If you operate with a mindset of having no other colleagues online at the same time, it forces you to encapsulate your work on a task that others can ingest at a time convenient to them. This not only improves documentation, but it relieves everyone of the burdens associated with needing to be at work at the same time.

It shields everyone’s time and focuses while reducing meaningless time sinks. As a result, the total time that you’re able to do deep work is longer, the chance of achieving Flow much higher.

How to Communicate Asynchronously

• Keep a single source of truth — separate informal communication from formal updates. Keep a record of all project/task progress in a task management tool such as google doc/Monday, avoiding the need to look up long chat history to find updates.
• Hatch an idea or ask for input in a task management tool rather than in an IM, meeting, email, or other private forums where information is immediately siloed and fragmented.
• Keep a handbook. Document protocols, updates, solutions, or guidance in a single source of truth first. Only after documentation occurs should dissemination occur, creating a culture where answering with a link is expected. As a compilation of standard company protocols such as processes, a company handbook is handy for training newcomers and will help the company scale up.
• Avoid having one person reporting to multiple people. The recipient should fully understand the reporter’s daily work to give guidance quickly. If multiple people need to work together, create a working group.
• Record meetings so that those who cannot attend can watch them afterwards to avoid making them feel left out.
• There are limits to asynchronous communication. For example, when we go back and forth three times, schedule a call.

4. Work-life Balance

• The all-remote work environment should be a default, respecting each member’s work habits. Similarly, asynchronous communication is set as default, giving the all-remote work environment the freedom it should provide, avoiding all-remote=24/7 online.
• Encourage everyone to decline all extra meetings without schedule ahead or agenda.
• Everyone should intentionally take time away from work.

5. Recognizing Burnout

It is crucial to take a step back to recognize and acknowledge the feeling of being “burned out”.

Be sure to communicate with your manager if any of the following statements ever apply to you:

“I am losing interest in social interaction.” — This is especially dangerous in an all-remote setting.

“I’ve lost the motivation to work.” — Everyone has days when they don’t want to work, but if you hear yourself saying this often, you’re on the road to burnout.

“I often feel tired.” — Indicative of being overworked for prolonged periods.

“I get agitated easily.”

“I’ve been hostile to my coworkers.” — You see yourself “snap” at people for no apparent reason.

“I’ve been having headaches often.” — A headache can manifest itself for multiple reasons, but if you catch yourself only having headaches on workdays, it is time to evaluate your situation.

6. Build Core Value and Trust

Build a core value that all members agree upon is crucial to bonding. Another good idea is arranging “formal” chit-chat sessions to let everybody get to know each other on a personal level.

7. Use Automated Tools to Make Things Easier

References: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

About Bella

Bella is a suite of open finance products, including automated yield farming tools, BEL Locker, and Flex Savings. We believe everyone deserves equal access to premium financial products and services with elegant design and a smooth user experience.

Bella Protocol is backed by Binance Labs and Arrington Capital as lead investors. Other investors include Alphabit, AlphaCoin Fund, Koi Ventures, Ledger Capital, Tensor, N7 labs, Quest Capital, HBTC Labs, and more.

Bella brings your familiar mobile banking into crypto with just one click. With Bella, you can just simply sit back, watch your asset grow, and leave all the heavy-lifting to secure, automated smart contracts.

Bella’s core team consists of serial entrepreneurs and blockchain veterans who have tremendous experience and a proven track record in finance, cryptography, blockchain, and engineering.

For more information about Bella, or to join our team, please contact us at contact@bella.fi

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