Sri Lanka’s lockdown saw huge parts of the workforce pushed into working remotely for a period of nine weeks with little to no warning. Some companies fared better than others when adapting to this new style of working and there is much debate on whether working remotely is something to be considered in the long term and how.
WSO2 Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sanjiva Weerawarana recently announced on Twitter that WSO2 would work remotely for the remainder of 2020, with opt-in availability when possible and legally permissible.
WSO2 is an enterprise tech company that focuses on making technology for companies looking to transform themselves digitally. WSO2 works with such companies providing solutions that allow companies to transform, working on digital identity and integration. WSO2 are world-class techmakers and are global leaders in their markets.
The Morning Brunch spoke with Weerawarana to find out more about WSO2’s remote working policy.
How did WSO2 respond to the lockdown? Were remote working systems previously in place or did they need to be implemented?
Yes. WSO2 has always offered the option of working from home. WSO2 is a global company with offices in Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. As a global company, our customers are also spread out all over the world, and as such, we work on a 24-hour schedule. For WSO2, working from home has always been an integral part of how you work in global business.
How challenging was making the shift to working remotely fulltime across the entire company during the lockdown?
It was a different model that took a little getting used to. We found it worked better for us overall. Previously, maybe 80% of our staff worked in the office, while 20% worked remotely, and there were times when outside workers would feel second class because they couldn’t have the same quality interaction as their colleagues working in the office did with each other.
We felt that the whole company working from home has made the work model better overall. It wouldn’t work to this extent if only some people were working from home.
On committing to working virtually for the remainder of 2020, are there any changes WOS2 needs to make for this to happen? For example, changes to how files are accessed or any extra facilities that need to be provided?
WSO2 runs completely digitally in terms of information; we use cloud-based systems like Google Apps, Salesforce, NetSuite, and Jira to name a few. Access to information has never been something that’s tied to being in the office.
Sri Lanka still has some paper requirements in terms of tax/audit procedures and similar that require us to keep physical paperwork. For example, for a reimbursement, we are required to keep physical copies of bills for three years. One way WSO2 has had to adapt to situations like this is by asking employees to share photos with physical copies to be collected at a later date. On a related note, the WSO2 employees’ app also allows things that are traditionally physical, like reimbursement, to take place virtually.
When announcing WSO2’s intention to work remotely for 2020, you mentioned opt-in availability. Could you please explain how this would work?
WSO2 understands that different people have different methods and styles of working. With this in mind, WSO2’s offices are open for those team members who want or need to come in. No one is required to come in though, nor is coming into the office being encouraged, but they have been given the flexibility to opt-in to work from the office if they wish.
This only applies to offices where it is legal for employees to return to work. Our Brazil office, for instance, is shut down entirely right now with no opt-in because laws put in place for Brazil’s Covid-19 lockdown specify that offices must be closed.
What do you think this shift will mean for WSO2’s culture in the long term post 2020?
This shift will affect WSO2’s culture in that it will evolve. We don’t see culture as a constant. WSO2 started with 12 people and now has over 650 employees, and as we have grown, our culture has shifted and evolved as well.
You have to make your culture what you want it to be and culture is a product of our values, such as respecting people and treating people well. The mechanism will change because there’s no office, and yes the culture will change with it, but it will be an evolution that will still hold true to WSO2’s foundational values.
