Maverick Entrepreneurship: The Art of the Remote Work Location

First and foremost it creates happiness, which is the single most important factor.

Would you rather be doing your work from a cubicle inside an office or on a rooftop pool deck? With smartphones and laptops, the reality is that most staff can perform the same work whether in the office or working remotely. But the freedom and empowerment to create your own virtual office, and to continually change that virtual office location over time, is a game-changer in terms of employee happiness.

We have found that this has a substantially positive effect on both motivation and work product. Particularly important at Maverick is that the company owners and managers are not the only beneficiaries. Rather, the whole team is encouraged and supported in creating their ideal remote work locations and designing their dream lifestyles. This is thoroughly engrained in the core of our company culture and ethos.

By institutionalizing a company culture based on remote work locations, both managers and staff immediately have major traditional barriers to efficiency removed.

Maverick does not operate in the “time and labor” economy, we operate in the “results and deliverables” economy. That means that our staff is paid not based on how many hours they work, but by how they perform and what they deliver.

Real estate salespeople and brokers will find this concept familiar because it is the premise of the real estate commission structure. But the same concept applies to all other positions at Maverick as well, including our staff that have non-transaction-based compensation. Everyone can work where they want, when they want, and the number of hours doesn’t matter as long as they complete the agreed upon deliverables on time. This structure eliminates the company downside risk of paying people an hourly wage for work they are not doing. And reciprocally it eliminates the staff being micro-management and monitored in a traditional 9 to 5 office setting, wasting time commuting to work, being interrupted by traditional office distractions and drama, and being restricted on how often they can travel or be out of the office.

Managers will teach, inspire, guide, provide constructive feedback, and evaluate, but will not be looking over people’s shoulders and worrying about lost employee time spent gossiping at the water cooler. It is a win-win situation based on mutual respect, empowerment and mutually agreed upon fair compensation for work performed. And the time everyone saves can be re-directed into being more productive at work and creating a better work-life balance. Plus, it enables companies to hire the best talent in the world and not be geographically restricted to people who live in commuting distance from the office.

The key to having a remote work culture is effective systems and processes for managing people and projects.

The irony is that all successful companies need effective systems and processes, but traditional office settings provide a crutch where business owners and managers increasingly slack in this area (to the company’s detriment). With all staff being remote, there is absolutely no choice but to have clear, replicable systems, with defined deliverables, performance expectations, communication channels and evaluation mechanisms. The staff is extremely clear on what they need to do, the standard to which they need to do it, when the work is due, and how they will be evaluated. Interaction and communication between staff and management is also clearly defined. This allows systems and processes to be effectively implemented, overseen, and tweaked as needed.