Mastering Remote Team Culture | A Conversation on Remote Work's Future with Shane Spraggs

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Kaj: Welcome to today's podcast where we dive into a timely and relevant topic: mastering remote team culture. I'm here with Shane, the CEO of Vera, to discuss the ongoing evolution of remote work, especially at a time when many companies are pushing employees to return to the office. So, Shane, let me kick things off with a pressing question—at a time when companies are almost forcing their employees back to the office, is remote work a thing of the past? Or is it here to stay? What's your take on this post-COVID shift?

Shane: Good question, Kaj! Remote work has definitely declined since the pandemic, and that's understandable. Many companies weren't fully prepared to run a remote business. To do it well, executives, managers, and HR teams need to know the ins and outs of operating remotely. But even now, there's pushback on returning to the office full-time, and hybrid work is becoming a popular option. The most common hybrid setup seems to be three days a week—usually Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Companies are still figuring out how to balance those in-office and remote days while keeping productivity high.

From my perspective, though, if I were starting a new business today and money was tight, I’d likely build it as a remote-first company. It allows me to access global talent, especially if local resources are limited. Over time, many of these remote businesses will grow and succeed, just like the companies we see today. I can’t imagine a point where a successful remote business would want to revert and invest heavily in office spaces. The future, I believe, will see a lot more remote companies.

Host (Kaj):That's interesting! So, you're suggesting that remote work isn't going anywhere—it might even expand as new businesses embrace it. But before we go deeper into that, let's talk a bit about your company. You’re the CEO of Vera—what does Vera do?

Shane:Sure! Vera is a fully remote business that’s been around for over 17 years. We specialize in sales operations and sales enablement

Kaj: U for families where they have young kids and they maybe they're coming out of that baby phase where someone has to be at home, and they have a few extra hours. We have a couple of people on our staff who joined us doing 10 hours a week and are now full-time. They grew with the company as the kids grew and got older and they could be more independent.

Shane Sprags: Right, and also, if you think about a young employee starting up with their career, the likelihood they're going to have an extra room in their house that they can use solely for an office is pretty low. They're probably living with roommates; they don't want to work out of their bedroom. It really becomes a challenge—you don't want to get stuck in the same room all the time.

It's important for individuals to understand what they need. It's like when you know you need enough sleep; if you need sleep, you get sleep. What people also need is time away, exercise, and other hobbies that aren't work-related. That refreshes the mind and the soul. It's a balance; you can give yourself fully when you're at the office, and then when you're outside of work, you can recharge.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the office isn't always a great place to work either. There are many reasons not to enjoy working in an office, not least the expectation to work from 9 to 5 or even 8 to 6. It can burn you out. People can equally get burned out working 60 or 70 hours a week, which was pretty common before the pandemic. These aren't necessarily remote or office issues; they're work style issues.

Many companies that transitioned to remote work have implemented guardrails to ensure their employees take care of themselves because they know that refreshed and relaxed employees do a better job.

Kaj: These are good sentiments, but the fact is, even in real offices, we deal with toxicity and leadership crises. Still, you have to be productive. There are people who know at least you are present, but at home, even if you are working hard, you have to go the extra mile to show that you are actually productive enough. How do you maintain that productive part, and how do you manage the perception of productivity?

Shane Sprags: Perfect, and we have a saying at Vertia: you can be unproductive anywhere. It doesn't matter where you are; you can be unproductive. There are a couple of things at play here. First and foremost, I put the responsibility of productivity on the manager. This is why a lot of businesses didn't do well going fully remote over the pandemic because remote work requires good management. Managers need to know where their employees are and how they're doing and truly care about them.

Walking into a room to see if they're there and interrupting them isn't caring; it interrupts their flow. We all know the concept of flow, especially in software development. If you interrupt a developer, it takes them at least 15 minutes to get back to where they were before. If you interrupt them at 11:00 AM and they take 15 minutes to get back on track, and then it’s lunchtime, you’ve ruined their productivity for the day, which is costly to the business.

A good manager in an office environment would know not to interrupt employees and would measure productivity based on what they create and complete rather than just seeing if they are in their chair.

I would also suggest that if you're working for one of these companies with people in the office and you're one of the few remote workers, there's a bit of an onus on you to make yourself visible. You can over-communicate, make sure you chime in occasionally on threads in Slack or Teams, and let people know what you’re doing. Ultimately, the responsibility falls to management and the executive team to assign the right tasks and connect that work to the priorities of the business.

You can spend hours on the wrong project and do a great job, but if it's not the right thing, you're not being productive. That’s not the employee’s fault.

Kaj: To understand this better, what are the expectations of your clients? What problems do they face? They can hire employees, so what challenges do they encounter?

Shane Sprags: We are hyper-focused on customer service. We solve problems faster than they may be able to internally, which is where our niche is. We help sales teams who need answers right away because, as you probably know, time is money in sales. Any wasted time can cause a deal to fall through.

We have teams of very qualified individuals who can move a deal through the pipeline faster, help with paperwork, and manage any other responsibilities related to closing a deal—often faster than an internal team could. Our company values are centered around high productivity and customer service.

Kaj: So, you're referring to the sales part of customer service, not the product satisfaction aspect. Have they outsourced that part to you?

Shane Sprags: No, we don’t do that kind of customer service. The sales teams we work with are our customers. We are hyper-vigilant about answering questions and resolving issues as quickly as possible—usually within a matter of minutes, but never more than an hour. A lot of times, it’s just a quick question like, “Where is this information?” or “Can you get this signature?”

Kaj: You mentioned earlier that you receive a lot of positive feedback.

Shane Sprags: Yes, we receive a lot of praise, and anecdotally, teams have told us that they are about 30-40% more productive because of our involvement.

Kaj: Let’s discuss your book, "The Power of Remote." I love the title! Who is the book for? Is it aimed at leadership or employees, and why did you write it?

Shane Sprags: The book is primarily for the leadership team, managers, and HR. When the pandemic hit, employees were ready to go home; many just picked up their laptops and continued working. Most companies had the infrastructure for that—Wi-Fi, email, Teams, Slack, etc. Unfortunately, the executive teams weren’t ready to lead remotely, the managers weren’t prepared to manage remotely, and the HR teams weren’t prepared to do their jobs remotely.

Our book provides insights for all those areas, including a chapter on doing sales remotely and project management. For example, HR had to quickly learn how to hire, onboard, and fire people remotely, and we still see that being done poorly today. There’s a lot to be learned.

We wrote the book to share our many years of remote work experience. When the pandemic hit, we felt it was time to share our knowledge so that other people could benefit from it as well.

Kaj: Looking ahead, how do you see remote work evolving over the next three to five years? Do you envision bots, humans, and centralized management systems?

Shane Sprags: I don’t have a crystal ball regarding what AI will do; that's the next major disruption. However, one key takeaway from the pandemic and remote work is hybrid work. We’re seeing more companies offer hybrid options. When you allow remote work or at least one day at home each week, it increases the chance of employee retention.

It’s beneficial for the bottom line, reduces costs, and allows companies to downsize office space. For instance, there’s an article today about Amazon looking to close unused offices, which could save them $1.3 billion over the next year. Smaller companies may not see that kind of savings, but if you’re not paying for office space, you can invest that money in training and promoting wellness within the business.

There has been a noticeable shift toward mental health and ensuring people have the resources they need to be productive while enjoying life. It’s more about integrating work and life rather than pitting the office against home.

Kaj: There’s much to learn about these topics. They impact life, work culture, and how people continue to live. For those who want to connect with you or engage with your company, what’s the best way for them to reach out?

Shane Sprags: I love connecting with people on LinkedIn, so you can find me by searching for Shane Sprags. Vertia is also straightforward to look up on our website. If you want a copy of the book, it’s available on Amazon. We’re happy to hear your feedback. It’s done quite well so far, and we’ve even been bestsellers in a couple of categories on Amazon.

Interviewer: Wonderful! With that, it's a wrap on this special edition of the KJ Master Class live. Thank you so much for joining us!

Shane Sprags: Thanks for having me!

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