2.9 Working from home & remotely

Many of our people at Catalpa work fully or partly from home or remotely. Here are some guidelines to help set you up to work remotely like a pro.

Setting Up Your Workstation

• Find a comfortable spot to work, with as much natural light as possible.

• If you work remotely, you are responsible for setting up a suitable desk, chair, computer screens and any other furniture needed.

• Catalpa will provide you with the standard technology you will need to perform your role which is usually:

  • Laptop and charger

  • Adaptor

  • Mouse + keyboard (if needed)

  • Headphones (if needed)

• If there is other hardware that you need to be able to undertake your role, please reach out to your manager for support.

Your work setup

• Organise reliable internet and have a back-up mobile connection. Get an internet package that is suited to the type of work you need to do. Not all packages have the same speed or data allowance.

• Have extra phone credit in case you unexpectedly run out of internet.

• If you share your house with family or friends, let them know that you are working and shouldn't be disturbed.

• Stand up and stretch periodically. Keep normal meal times and maintain a consistent morning routine. In fairness, this is a good idea to do in the office too.

Once you're working remote

• Be reachable during your set work hours. Take time to check Slack and email periodically.

• Make it easy to know if you're busy.

  • Use Slack’s busy mode

  • Configure your work schedule on Slack. It will automatically inform others.

• Add your work travel, events, and general longer busy periods to Google Calendar

• Use Google Calendar to book time with people, even for 1-on-1 conversations. It automatically generates the Meet link for you and you'll let others know you're busy.

• Keep all your usual routines such as sprint planning meetings, coordination meetings, etc.

• Daily standup meetings are even more important when people are away. Organise a call. If it's not possible, use Slack.

• If you’re working with any type of documents, save frequently to the shared drive and use online services (Google Docs). If you’re an engineer, push your code frequently to GitHub.

• Backup your important files. Use a good quality external drive and if you are using a Mac activate Time Machine.

• If you’re on leave, book this out in your calendar so people can see your absences - this will connect to slack too

• If you work part time, block out your non working days in your calendar

Working Remotely like a Pro

Stay connected to your team

• Connect in regularly with your manager and team, and develop a shared understanding of your operating rhythm as a team

• If you have regular times when you will be unavailable i.e.morning drop off, let your team and manager know. Mark this as ‘out of office’ in your calendar.

• In meetings:

  • Respect all voices in meetings and give space for everybody to contribute. Keep up your regular 1:1s with your manager

  • Use mute to limit background noise when you’re not speaking

• Get creative and use virtual technology for team building activities or celebrations as well. e.g. team birthdays, recognition

Develop a healthy routine- and own it!

• Set up a routine that works for you, your manager, your team and partners. Outside the traditional office structure, your day may feel more fluid. Be proactive in planning your tasks, responsibilities and communication.

• When working from home, often the risk is that you can end up working more hours - manage your tasks and time so you don’t get tempted to work more hours than you are required to.

• Ensure there are regular check-ins with your leader and team each day or week. Make sure you and your leader are clear on exactly what and when you will be delivering.

• Stay connected with your team and peers all day through Slack.

• We live in an ‘always on’ world with our smart devices and email. We encourage you to create healthy boundaries between your office set up at home and your private time. Here are some tips to help you along the way:

  • Ensure you get dressed and ready for work every day

  • Exercise – get outside if you can.

  • Take a 15-minute break or stand up regularly.

  • Sit at a desk – your monitor at eye level – don’t work slumped on the couch.

  • Write a to do and DONE list and share it with a colleague

  • Split your day up into productivity chunks of 45/90 minutes – do what works for you to get your work done.

  • Be clear in your mind about your ‘clock off’ time

What to do in the event of IT issues

• We have a raft of technology experts who work with us so if you are unable to resolve the issue yourself, reach out in our #help channel on slack for support.

• If you have been issued a Mac, all Macs come with Apple Insurance. If your laptop needs to be serviced, reach out to Claryssa Everitt for support to progress this.

• In all other instances please contact your manager in the first instance for advice on next steps.

If you have plans to move or work from another country

Whilst we aim to embrace a ’work from anywhere’ approach, please be aware that if you are moving to a new country, for any length of time, sometimes there will be tax and visa implications that need to be organised in advance. If you plan on moving to a different country and work you will need to:

• Discuss your intentions to work remotely with your manager - including your ability to continue working your usual hours with the team. Your manager will need to approve of the new working arrangements.

• Discuss with Support Services as there may be tax, visa and contractual implications with your move. Please note that:

  • If you are relocating of your own volition, visa arrangements, adequate insurance, any tax obligations etc are your responsibility, not Catalpa’s.

  • If a work visa is required, you need to arrange this prior to your move. Catalpa won’t take the risk of paying you if you are working in the country illegally.

  • Once cleared, communicate with your team about any changes to your work schedule and the potential impacts of your change in schedule and working hours on the team.

Keep in mind we aim to work common working hours in the region. This will always be a few hours different for each person, give or take depending on where you live, but largely we try to work in the same time zone so that people can collaborate easily.

Please also note, that whilst we generally support working flexibly in whatever way we can, not all roles are able to be performed remotely. Some roles are partner facing roles which need regular interaction and face to face contact with partners. Keep this in mind when discussing the viability of working remotely or from another country.

Health & Safety

It goes without saying but it is important you are set up safely wherever you are working from. No matter when or where you work, ensuring your health and safety is a shared responsibility between the employer and the staff member.

When working remotely, the staff member is responsible for organizing a workstation and work area that is appropriately set up to ensure that they can work safely. Here are a few things that are really important to check:

• Do you have an adequate desk/chair/workstation and office to work at?

• Is your work area free from significant hazards that have the potential to cause trips/slips and other incidents?

• Ensure a safe workspace in the home with a designated work area, comfortable and hazard-free access, and adequate lighting and ventilation.

• Is electrical safety in order?

• Do you have a clear route to escape in the event of an emergency?

• Maintain work-life balance – define the workplace, avoid distractions and follow routines.

• Have a plan for evacuation should you need to do so and keep the details of your local emergency services handy.

See this reference for advice on how to set up your workstation ergonomically (Safe Work Australia, 2020).

More about managing your internet usage

• Disable any applications that could be constantly trying to sync data. Notable examples are:

  • Google Drive - sync only the folders you absolutely need to have offline

  • iCloud, Dropbox and any other automatic backup system

  • Disable automatic system updates (add link to tutorial)

• If using Youtube or similar services, choose lower video quality. The savings are huge.

• Apps to help

  • Install TripMode or a similar app to help you decide which apps have internet access.

  • Install Bandwidth+ (for Mac). It adds a count of how much internet you have used so far.

  • If you use an Android Phone you can monitor and limit your internet usage through Settings.

  • If you need a hand just ask in our Slack #help channel and someone will help you get everything set up.

• For people in Timor-Leste, the following plans are recommended:

  • Timor Telecom

    • For speed: any TT plans (TT5, TT10, etc). Limited GB but generally quite fast. Free late night internet.

    • Best balance: Happy plans with Auto-renewal. (Happy day, week, month). Includes calls and SMS. Free late night internet. You get an additional 400MB added each day.

  • Telemor

    • For speed: DUMAX plansBest balance: DU4G plans. Unlimited data with initial 4G bonus.

  • Telkomcel

    • *123*3*1# gives you a selection of unlimited plans

    • FLASH daily or monthly gives you 250KBytes/s of download with usually good latency for video conference or ssh use

    • The cheaper Daily or weekly options are slower