When It’s Ok to Wear a Bathrobe to a Remote Team Meeting

I’ve been leading remote teams for more than 10 years and have discovered that each year—actually each quarter— the volume of work increases, and the pace of getting things done has to accelerate accordingly. Plus, it’s also important to maintain a high level of quality as well as my sanity. Maybe you’ve experienced this challenge too. 

Here are some ways to get those results without sacrificing your personal life. Read on, and I’ll then get to the much-anticipated bathrobe discussion at the end of this article.

Many of us work across multiple time zones, and it’s very tempting to see what’s happening with one of your projects at any moment. But if you’re constantly checking your email or collaboration platform after your typical working hours, consider taking a break. Let your team know that unless there are extreme time-critical deadlines, you’ll respond to their communications in the morning. 

Enjoy your dinner or evenings with your family or friends. There’s nothing worse than having to break away during a relaxing dinner to answer an email, especially if you need to spend more than a few minutes replying. And you can only use the excuse that you have to leave to go to the restroom in the middle of dinner so many times before people get suspicious and figure out that you’re really working. Plus, the meal gets cold. Chances are that whatever you thought was so pressing can wait.

Singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran said, “I can’t tell you the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.” As a long-term remote worker, I’ve always tried to make an extra effort to prove the value of my work because I didn’t have in-person, face-to-face contact. You might have that urge to push yourself beyond what’s reasonable or even expected. 

If you’re designing a website, for example, you might get a request for unrealistic changes that are simply “nice to have,” but not essential, from people who weren’t involved when the project was initially planned and don’t understand the objectives of the assignment. Perhaps they’re not even decision-makers and are unaware of the project’s scope.

Here’s where it’s important to contact the team lead and clearly explain the impact of these changes before adding to your stress. Try to identify potential approvers before beginning a project so that there are no surprises. Also, accept the fact sometimes you’ll meet people who will never be pleased no matter what you do. 

This concept is based on the Pareto Principle, which says the relationship between input and output is rarely balanced. With work, this means that 20 percent of your efforts produce 80 percent of the results. Think about the 20 percent that is really effective and concentrate on those activities. If there are tasks that are extremely time-consuming—and you’re not very good at doing them—maybe they can be delegated to someone else on your team. If delegating isn’t a possibility, then do your best without overtaxing yourself.

Here's an example of how this concept relates to your personal life. If you don’t like to cook, and your wife is a great cook, then help her by doing the dishes. Why put effort into something that’s not working for you? If you don’t like doing the dishes and outsourcing the pre-scrub portion of the task to your dog isn’t a viable or sanitary option, then consider getting take-out food more often. 

We’re all busy, but it’s important to answer emails and chats and participate in meeting requests to keep in touch and get updates on the status of your projects. If you have an impending deadline and a team member isn’t responding to your requests for more information by email, try to reach out on a different channel.

Maybe you also need to send a message on Skype or Slack, a text, or by phone. When someone reaches out to you, if you’re super busy, just respond with an approximate date when you’ll be able to get back to them. As remote workers, we need to make that extra effort to stay connected.

One of the benefits of working remotely is how much less effort it takes to get ready for work. When you don’t have a video meeting, you can jump out of bed, grab some coffee and cereal for a quick breakfast, and then start your workday in whatever you happen to be wearing at the time. There’s no commute, you don’t have to shave, and you can ease into the day.

Best practices, however, are to get dressed more suitably before you start work but do what’s most practical for you. As far as wearing a bathrobe for team meetings, I don’t think it’s a problem. Just make sure that the camera is turned off on your computer.