W I T I V I O

Employee Experience at a fully remote startup

Riad customer Success Manager Witivio remote startup
June 23, 2021
Witivio Life

Riad Dikes is a Senior Customer Success Manager at Witivio. He has several roles but the most important one of them is to make sure that the clients' chatbot projects are running smoothly and to accompany them in their use.

Transition into remote work

Riad shared his experience of the transition into working at a fully remote startup from his previous job, his thoughts on remote work in general and his experience during the pandemic.

“Before Witivio, I was working as a digital consultant and I was also at school at the same time, to get an Executive MBA in digital entrepreneurship. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I was working as freelance. I launched my own business during the first lockdown in France, at the highest point of the pandemic. That was a good time to be a freelancer.”

Riad noted, that the transition to being fully remote was natural for him since he has been teleworking for over 10 years. He said that the coronavirus pandemic has just accelerated this change.

Difficulties faced in remote workspace

Some people prefer to work remotely, while others are still trying to avoid this opportunity. There are many biases when it comes to this style of work. As a result, people are either desperately trying to get a remote job to stay at home, or they refuse such work because they only think about the negative consequences. Let’s find out the first hand take on this.

“Working fully remote is not always as obvious as it seems. You must be able to organize yourself from home, even when you are not the only one living at the time you are working. For example, school vacations and Wednesdays in France can be a subject. The occasional access to a coworking space outside the home is perhaps a track to consider,” said Riad.

“Finally, there is also the subject of physical activity: a whole afternoon of videoconference meetings is not always good for your health. So, you need to find ways to stay in shape every day!”

People actually tend to exercise more when they work from home than when they have to go to the office. First, you have more time because you no longer need to commute to work. Second, when you sit at home all day, you naturally feel a strong urge to move more. This can be long walks with the dog, yoga or jogging. There is a good chance that you will exercise more while at home.

Advantages of remote work

Fortunately, working from home has many other benefits. Here’s what you can count on according to Riad.

“The freedom to organize yourself as you wish, beyond clients’ projects' requirements. The possibility of avoiding road traffic or public transport, especially in times of health uncertainty.”

Indeed, lack of commuting to work every day and reducing stress levels have a positive effect on health. You eat healthier foods, exercise more, and better work-life balance makes you happier. The recent year in pandemic has shown that remote workers do not get sick as often, because they are unaffected by the many germs and bacteria that you find in a closed office and in public transport.

Riad shared his favorite thing about being a remote worker.

“Without any doubt: the possibility to work from anywhere as long as you have a reliable Internet connection and a second portable screen, which allows you to work in atypical places, indoors or outdoors.”

Indeed, working remotely you can create the work environment that suits you best. If you are having trouble working from home, you can grab your laptop and work anywhere. For example, you can work in your favorite cafe, in a park, or in a coworking center near your home. It is also a great opportunity to find like-minded people in your profession, to exchange experiences and establish business contacts, or just find new friends.

Work during the pandemic

The pandemic didn’t seem to have changed much in Riad’s professional life.

“Working remotely does not mean working alone. Of course, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic was very complicated to manage for all. But personally, I managed it well. Maybe because I was a consultant and because remote work was already part of my daily practice. I was even sometimes surprised to see how many people were overwhelmed by this phenomenon while for me, it was never a problem,” he said.

As you can see, working remotely has two sides to it. It’s up to you to decide which ones have the greatest impact on your well-being and happiness. However, if you want to move to remote work, you must be disciplined and organized like Riad, manage your time effectively, and be able to work independently without constant supervision.

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