Frantic remote office

Remote Office has grown to be an integral and celebrated part of our company culture. However, after running it for two years we realized that it needed tweaking. Understanding its importance, we knew we needed to tread carefully.

Remote work is now more doable than ever due to the rapid evolution of technology. That’s why we decided to encourage our employees to work from wherever they want.

Another group of Frantimones set off for our remote office in Thailand, and this time some of them also brought along their families. What was it like to work remotely from the tropics while being surrounded by your family? Our Business Analyst Kimmo Savolainen and Web developer Hannu Räisänen describe their experiences.

I’ve started my day probably just like you have. Under the covers, scrolling through emails and Slack messages. But when I look out of my window, instead of darkness I see a palm tree swaying in the breeze.

Coding overseas is no news in 2016. As long as one is provided with a smooth internet connection at all times, it's business as usual. But I, as a project manager, did think twice before I had the guts to suggest to my supervisor about joining our remote crew due to my responsibilities in the customer interface.

Our remote office experience is nearing its halfway mark, so now’s a good time to reflect on what has happened, what’s different from Finland and what it’s like to work remotely from another time zone.

In addition to impatiently counting days to our departure, we’re busy making last-minute preparations for our remote office experiment in Thailand. We’ve had a whole bunch of things to take care of, but we’re finally ticking off the last items on our to-do list. So what has happened behind the scenes, you might ask?

It's almost that time of the year in Finland when it is so dark and cold that you only see people outside hurrying from a heated space to another. I realize some people absolutely adore our gloomy winter, but personally the cold weather has always made me resent Finland. This winter, however, things will be different.