What if the phone infrastructure goes down for any reason? Having the data backup is smart because many of these folks have satellite internet even when their phones don't work.
It's like going through life with autism and being called "neurodiverse" as if you haven't lived with an active disability your whole life, you're just a little different from everyone else.
Back in the early 2000s I saw someone refer to a wheelchair-bound person as "handicapable". The disabled fellow ran over his foot lol.
Point being I think it's best not to minimize people's suffering. Acknowledge it, respect it, and try to move forward together.
Without that, RES, or a third-party interface, I'm 100% out. I do not need to deal with cluttered, shitty interfaces that are designed to "increase engagement" instead of giving me what I want. Respect my time or fuck off.
Lots of people are too shy or anxious to break perceived consensus or even just to challenge a "stronger" personality in person. Put them in a chat room and they get all fired up.
Absolutely nailed it. Remote work requires a bit more upfront involvement but the payoff is a more independent and healthy workforce (generally speaking). This will 100% highlight any failures in your current system/model.
Our onboarding system has been terrible for as long as anyone here can remember. Remote just made it stand out but it was always shit.
Only thing I've ever gained this way were some bread-making tips (which admittedly were pretty good).
Our office has handily addressed this problem by making communities of expertise that anyone can join, occasional icebreaker events, and monthly showcases of what we're working on or investigating (this usually is just a few minutes of presentation by each team and is optional).
Make it easy for people to connect and they will do so. Meanwhile when I'm at the office, it's headphone-city and the open office format makes those random chats very distracting and frustrating.