1. Hey, can you please introduce yourself?
Hi there! My name is Courtney Cavey; I lead the global marketing team at Hubstaff from my little corner of Florida. Hubstaff has been fully remote since day one in 2012. I’ve been a part of the distributed workforce since 2019, and if I can help it, I will never be returning to an actual office.
At Hubstaff, we make tools that empower teams to work remotely. At our core, we’re simple time tracking that generates automated timecards, notifications of tasks and projects being worked on and completed, payroll, and an ever-increasing list of features our customers need to work more efficiently and productively. The team here at Hubstaff uses our own products every day, so we’re always aware of what can be tweaked to make them work better.
2. What motivated you to choose remote working?
So many reasons. For one, I work better in my own space. Traditional office environments are very disruptive to my workflow. I live in a small town without much opportunity, so I had to commute about 3 hours total each day to work in technology (oh, the irony). I hate wearing shoes, and offices make you do that, in my experience.
The biggest catalyst for me was when I started a family and needed to remove commute time and stress from the equation. I needed the flexibility to be there for my family more.
3. What were your initial months like? Did it live up to your expectations?
I thought there had to be a catch. It was bliss waking up and drinking my own coffee in my home office, kitchen, or porch. Completely quiet as I liked, or with my own music playing. I didn’t feel the panic of my coworkers running past my office late to yet another meeting. I didn’t have the stress in my shoulders from combatting traffic, and I was five minutes away from the Montessori school where my daughter had just started.
Working remotely has continued to surpass my expectations, even after over two years in my virtual office.
This is a picture I took on my first day to send to my family over text. I couldn’t believe I was able to pop up a workspace wherever I chose.
4. How did you find remote working roles?
I researched fully remote companies and had a spreadsheet of those I was interested in working with, along with links to their careers page that I checked weekly. Hubstaff was on that list of 10. I found my current position on WeWorkRemotely.com, but I would check other remote job boards like angel.co and flexjobs.
5. What have been the best, good and worst aspects of remote working for you?
It’s been really good to work in whatever environment I choose and take breaks as needed. What’s been the best is more about flexible remote working, where I’m allowed to work whenever and wherever works best for me. That means I can break early in the afternoon to spend time with my two young children or take off with them without any issue if they are sick or just because I miss them. I’m super fortunate the co-founders of Hubstaff encourage this type of work-life balance.
I don’t see any other drawback to remote work, except when people who don’t work from home don’t understand that you actually have to work. Sometimes I have to gently nudge visitors away if they decide to drop by when in the area. Even in the beginning, my husband asked what the point in working from home was if we still had to pay for daycare. That was really funny! He understands now, but it took some explaining. Maybe some people can focus and get work done with a toddler on their lap, but I lack that superpower!
6. What tools do you swear by while working remotely?
I genuinely love Hubstaff products. We all use them every day. Tracking time using the Chrome extension keeps me conscious of how much time I’m spending on tasks. It reminds me that I’m working, and when I pause it to take breaks, I mean it!
Our Agile project management tool, Hubstaff Tasks, is super easy to use and organized. We just released this new feature called “To-dos” that allows me to keep a personal checklist of things I need to knock out. It’s quick to just put something in there so I don’t forget about it. I can even create a to-do directly from a task if there’s a small item I plan to get done that day or the next.
7. Your most exciting/ hilarious experience since you started working remotely.
So many Zoom blunders. I like to fold laundry sometimes when I need to very actively listen on a call. Helps me focus for some reason. I once did this during about five minutes of a call without realizing my camera was on. Not totally hilarious, but I’m sure it’s relatable!
8. What is your golden advice to a new remote worker?
Keep a pretty consistent schedule and set boundaries around it. Let people know you have to work. If you do have flexibility like Hubstaff allows me, let any shifts in work hours be your choice instead of always accommodating others. People might see you as always available if you work from home and they don’t “get it.”
9. How do you see your career shaping up and your goals?
I didn’t know I’d be able to achieve the career growth I’ve been fortunate to have while still being the wife and mother I want to be. I couldn’t be happier with where I am right now, and I didn’t have to sacrifice what matters most to me.
10. How do you expect remote working to evolve in the future?
Remote work is going to continue to become more mainstream. The traditional office environment will change with more demand for flexible work. As professionals who don’t heavily rely on technology start to work remotely, tools for virtual teams will become more straightforward and more user-friendly. Companies will design more robust training programs, and coaches and mentorship programs will grow specific to this need. College curriculums will tailor to this way of working.
11. Where can we follow you on?
Follow me on LinkedIn.