6 Tips for Success Working in Global and Remote Companies

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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, intolerance, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people urgently need it for these reasons. Broad, healthy, and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in a small corner of the earth all the time.”

-Mark Twain
While the sentiment of the quote is progressive toward cultural key features of office 365 database understanding, Twain sadly missed the era of remote work.

Today, mid- to large-sized companies spanning physical and virtual boundaries are opting for a remote work policy. Not only do they increase the opportunity for a more diverse workforce, but also for cross-cultural learning.

Don't get me wrong, first-hand personal experiences will almost always trump in terms of cultural learning. But the daily correspondence and relationships you build with coworkers living abroad come in second, and that's no small feat.

As an employee of Rock Content , a global, remote-first company, I wanted to share my perspective on how I’ve traveled the world with my company without having to leave my desk here in the United States. Without having to leave my desk. But first, let’s dive into other companies’ experiences to see how they’ve adapted.

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Remote diversity: an ocean of talent
Relocating, taking an extra-long commute, or turning down a job.

Those are the three options you have when you're offered an office-only position outside of your typical travel range.

Unless you're ready for a change of scenery, neither option seems ideal. If only there was a way to land your dream job without having to move across the country (or the world)...

Leaders around the world are beginning to recognize that their small talent pool can quickly become a vast ocean of talent through remote control. Let’s see what leaders from Cotopaxi and Airbnb have to say about this.

In a letter to Airbnb employees, CEO Brian Chesky wrote:

“If we limited our talent pool to a commuting radius around our offices, we would be at a significant disadvantage. The best people live everywhere, not concentrated in one area. And by hiring from a diverse set of communities, we will become a more diverse company.”

Chesky gets two integral elements of a WFH policy right. The first is that if you tie your job candidates to a physical location, you put yourself at a disadvantage when it comes to talent potential.

The second piece is that expanding into a larger geographic area, or even a global network, can provide a whole new level of diversity in the company.

While it looks great for a company, diversity and inclusion hiring isn't a box to check, or a marketing tactic: it's about providing equal opportunities to everyone, because it's the right thing to do.

But is it that easy to go global with your hiring?

In an interview , Davis Smith, Cotopaxi's CEO, said:

“It’s a lot easier to hire a diverse team when you’re not limited to a specific geography… I’ve asked myself a lot of times: At what point does this catch up with us? Because a lot of people are new and maybe they don’t understand the culture that deeply. But our culture has changed and all those rituals and traditions, we had to clean them up and start over and we’ve created new ones that work for this new environment.”

While acknowledging that the diversity aspect is no longer limited, Smith raises an important question for those looking to make the change.

Who should adapt? Should new employees adopt the culture their employer has already established? Should the employer start over to adapt to everyone's cultural values?

The short answer to all of the above: Everyone must adapt *

*with a change of mentality

Intercultural mindset = Transcultural learning: checklist for adoption
Remote culture can have its challenges... (obviously). Not being bound by physical borders doesn't mean not being bound by virtual borders, aka time zones. If you're in the Eastern United States and your coworker is in Eastern Brazil, no problem, just 1 measly hour ahead.

But if you work in England and your coworker is in Australia, you'll likely have a full day of work ahead of you, or at least you'll have to log on at times that aren't convenient.

In addition to time zones, there are language barriers, cultural holiday schedules, digital communication issues, and the list goes on. But through the struggle, comes the opportunity to grow.

To mitigate these challenges, ASU offers these six practices to develop your global mindset in this new era of remote work:

1. Self-awareness
According to the ancient Greek proverb, “Above all, know thyself,” the first thing you should do is check your own culture and prejudices.

It can be uncomfortable and challenging to look at yourself through an honest lens, acknowledging that your own culture may have fostered prejudices. But this is a crucial step on the path to working with people from other countries and “cleaning up” your cultural identity, being open to new insights.

2. Curiosity
Employers generally like employees who ask a lot of questions about a position. It shows that they are eager to learn as much as possible, so they can develop their skills faster and generally get better at the job. The more questions, the better understanding.

Now apply the same idea to your global coworkers. Ask about their culture, country, thoughts, feelings, etc. Get a better idea of ​​how people communicate in their culture and start building that international relationship. As I mentioned earlier: the more you ask, the better the understanding.

3. Be flexible and open-minded
When it comes to intercultural learning, nothing is really black or white. Neither side is necessarily “right” or “wrong” – it’s just a matter of different beliefs based on social upbringing. If someone is doing something different than what you normally do, it may be time to step out of your comfort zone.

4. Learn a new language
Studying languages ​​can help provide new cultural perspectives. From personal experience, as a native English speaker working for a company where a large part of the Portuguese is spoken, this internship has been one of the most interesting.

Not only did it break the ice on things to talk about besides work, but it gave me the goal of being able to communicate with anyone in the company using their native language. But the most notable part was the willingness of others to teach and support in learning. I highly recommend asking someone who speaks a different language to teach you, from my experience, they would be thrilled with that.

5. Practice
Developing your global mindset isn't like riding a bike. It's more like training a muscle - it takes practice and repetition to keep it going. The more accustomed you are to thinking globally, the easier it will be to adapt to a new cultural environment.

6. Never stop learning
To return to the question, who needs to adapt when a company switches to a remote work environment? The employer or the employee?

The answer remains both. Employees must embark on the path of adapting a global mindset to work in harmony. Employers must foster and nurture the idea of ​​inclusion while building the frameworks of their company’s new identity.

In a guide explaining how to adapt company culture to remote work, Zoom provides this key message:

"Remember, true culture isn't about benefits, proximity of team members, or the processes you have in place, it's about inclusion."

My opinion on remote work
In 2020, Rock Content, like many others, transitioned from an office-first organization to a remote-first organization with the idea that the future of work is remote, with people “integrated globally.” Rock is always open to evolving its practices and finding ways to engage employees from around the world.

I've had the pleasure of seeing this firsthand in my seven months here. I knew that working for a global company meant having global colleagues . What I didn't necessarily expect was the encouragement to reach out to them on a daily basis.

Driven by leadership and reaching out to people with similar roles, I began to slowly break down the “boundaries.” Similar roles became teams, teams became departments, and so on.

Now my day feels strange if I haven't talked to a coworker in Brazil, Italy, England... You get the idea (Rockers are everywhere). But one of the things that makes me most proud of being a Rocker is the initiatives of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team.

The incredible global mission they are on is great, but rather than talk about it myself, check out the incredible results they have achieved in Rock Content's 2021 Social Impact Report !

When it comes to our people, we never stop learning, and neither should you.