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!

Want to discuss your takeaways from this episode with us? We'd love to share ideas on Twitter @yonder_io!