Thinking about the Coronavirus Lockdown and Remote Work

I arrived here in Manila, Philippines on March 12th at 4:30am from Los Angeles. Things have been escalating quite quickly both home in the USA and here in Philippines.

When I booked this flight it was for a team retreat in May with my managers at Handshaking, and well before there were the amount of searches for 'coronavirus' in this pic. 

However, as you can see with Google Trends it's not surprising that some things are changing fairly quickly. 

​Here's the story on what it's like here in BGC/Taguig City in Metro Manila, Philippines.  Quarantine, Lockdown, Lack of Hand sanitizer and more!

1.  Everyone's first question is: Did you have to go through quarantine or health inspections at LAX?

No, when I departed Los Angeles on March 10th with Philippine Airlines, I only had to fill out a form stating I had not been to some of the most infected parts of the world (Wuhan, parts of Korea, etc).  However, I was in Las Vegas for one of my best friend's bachelor parties, the founder of Denver Muscle Therapy.  I was a bit worried about being outside and in public then, but thankfully I have passed the incubation period and feel great today.  So it's official I did not catch the coronavirus... yet.  

2. Did they let you into the Philippines easily?

Yes, there was no tests.  I went through immigration the exact same way I have all the previous times I've entered the country.  Tons of people were wearing more facemasks, which is already way more common in Asia than the US.  So, it felt appropriate, not too shocking, and definitely felt like it was indeed 'coronavirus season.'


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3. Most the people I know are SUDDENLY working remote. Here's some resources:

This appears to be a first time thing for most of them.  Some have had experience with remote work 1-2 days per week, and many do not have any experience with it.  I see many employers sending employees home with ZERO experience managing a remote team.

Many employers are sending Filipino workers home without proper tools like fiber wifi, monitors, and more.  They aren't checking to even see if staff have a desk at home or even a place to work that's not a bed in a room that is shared with a sibling.  Insane business practices.

​Check out my previous post on hiring your first remote Virtual Assistant (VA) for a quick Managing Remote Employees 101.

5. How do a transition my team from a physical office to a remote team?

I asked my friend and mentor here in Manila, Joe Magnotti, the Founder of Empire Flippers since they have a ~70 person team and have been doing the remote team strategy for much longer than we have here at Handshaking. 

​He summed it up in one sentence:

"Track all work objectively and compare results against similar workers."

Solid advice, the only thing you can measure with a remote team is results, since you can't really ever 100% measure their location, or working hours, like what physical offices are notoriously known for tracking. Give people the freedom, and make sure are specific with goals (tracking objectively), and compare against other workers to make sure you're not setting goals too high or too low--Thanks Joe! 
--> You should check out what they predict for 2020 in the industry around buying, selling, and investing in online businesses.

Aside from that, I found these two great posts that go into the details way more than I wanted to in this post, so enjoy:
-Transitioning to Remote Work in a Hurry
-Apocalypse post on Closing your physical office. Now.
- How To Set Up A Home Office

PS Here are some of the benefits we pay all of our remote staff in Philippines.  
-Invitation to 2 team retreats annually in Philippines
-Upgraded computer or smartphone
-Wifi Reimbursement
-Home office annual stipend

Anyway, i hope this helps, feel free to contact me with any questions.