Ep 61 - Shopify’s John Riordan
Jeff Robbins interviews John Riordan, Director of Support in Ireland at Shopify , about managing remote customer support teams, transitioning from co-located to distributed models, and helping remote workers and teams be successful.
Discussion Topics…
Transforming a 200+ co-located contact center into a smaller, home-based organization for Virgin Atlantic
Working with Apple in the early 2000s to set up home-based customer support
John’s epiphany, “You could actually trust people without standing over them.”
Managing well remotely without micromanaging remote workers
Why remote workers on well-designed teams are both effective and trustworthy
Learning how to make remote work ‘work’
Helping remote workers avoid burnout from working too much
Why the future of remote work is going to be a gradual transition for large companies, not an overnight change
Why remote workers choose a location they are happy to live in, rather than a location they are happy to work in
How having remote workers affects the local economies in rural areas
Why startups are adapting to remote work faster than more established companies
Understanding that some workers go to work for the social experience, making space for them on hybrid teams
Why 15% of co-located employees transitioning to a remote work model is a good success rate
How remote workflows differ from co-located workflows and navigating the transition period
The key to integrating new-to-remote-work employees on a distributed team
The importance of being flexible when it comes to figuring out what the best approach is to connectivity and touch points for remote workers
The benefits of a popup office for distributed teams in the same geographical areas
What get-togethers are like for Shopify and why they matter
Characteristics of successful remote workers
…and more!
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