Stories | The Forum | Why asynchronous work is rising

Decorative image — The five 'W’s of asynchronous working
Get your head around this increasingly popular workstyle with our handy guide
Written by
MaryLou Costa

Why would you want to work asynchronously?

“The alternative is horrible,” argues Job van der Voort, CEO of international HR and payroll platform, Remote (which, unsurprisingly, has a fully remote workforce). He favours a company culture where people are empowered to make decisions themselves, rather than having constant meetings.

“The majority of companies that have meetings all day are terrible because they're just sharing information or discussing decisions that don't need that many people to be involved, and don't need all those people to cut out a part of their day,” says van der Voort.

He gives the example of presenting an idea for feedback; this would typically require lots of meetings or having to get a big group of stakeholders together – but Remote team members are instead encouraged to do their presentations via Loom, an app which permits staff to record and share video messages, and receive comments or emoji reactions from their colleagues in real time.

When should you be able to work asynchronously?

One of the key benefits of asynchronous working is that it allows for flexibility. For example, mass customisation business Cimpress tells staff that roughly 90 per cent of their workflow should be dedicated to focused, solo tasks, and the other 10 per cent to meetings – but otherwise lets them design their days around personal commitments like the school run or health appointments. This has resulted in 57 per cent of employees moving away from traditional 9-to-5 hours.

Tools like remote workspace platform Confluence, virtual whiteboard Miro, project management app Trello, and secure cloud management system Box are proving integral in keeping meetings to a minimum.

“If we form good habits around documenting information in a place that's communal, it means people can see it, they can learn from it, and they can add to it,” says Cimpress’ chief financial officer Sean Quinn.

But even fully remote companies would struggle to work asynchronously all the time. While it can be tempting to quash every meeting, Remote’s van der Voort says “sometimes, it’s just nice to talk with each other”.

Author’s bio:

MaryLou Costa has written for The Times, WorkLife, Business Insider, Stylist, The Evening Standard, The Daily Mail and others. She's fascinated by the future of work, especially changes that advance women’s careers.

Illustrations by Ana Yael

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