The ‘which is better?’ debate over remote versus office-based working is old and tired, with many successful organisations now recognising that there’s no single right answer.

The real challenge is this: how do you build a strong, connected culture and support people’s wellbeing when your team rarely – if ever – shares the same physical space? And when people aren’t in the office, how do you still meet your responsibilities as an employer, while creating an environment where colleagues can do their best work?

Most recently, it was the co-ordination of something as seemingly mundane as portable appliance testing (PAT) that brought these questions to the fore once again. As employers, we have a duty of care to maintain and inspect work equipment but there are no clear rules or standards for remote-first businesses. With our team spread from Scotland to the south of England, the logistics are far from simple. Sending a tester to everyone’s home isn’t practical and it would be prohibitively expensive – and when we invited colleagues to bring their cables and small equipment to our Christmas team day for testing, that approach (perhaps unsurprisingly) fell flat.

It prompted a wider conversation: when guidance is vague, what does ‘reasonably practicable’ really look like for a remote workforce? If you’ve cracked this, we’d genuinely love to hear how.

Evotra’s co founders, Sally and Depesh, didn’t originally set out to build a remote first business. Evotra launched during lockdown, when remote working was a necessity rather than a choice.

“When you work in a field as specialist as ours – resolving technology, change and data challenges specifically for financial advice and wealth management businesses – success depends on hiring the very best people. For us, it just makes sense to hire the right individuals regardless of location and then do the work to make that model successful. But there’s no playbook for how to run a remote-first business well, so we’re building one as we go.”

Sally Merritt, CEO

For us, that means accepting that culture, wellbeing and connection don’t happen by accident when people work remotely – they need ongoing thought, planning and effort.

Here is our playbook so far:

Getting set up – properly

Everyone who joins Evotra gets a laptop, monitor, keyboard and mouse, plus any accessible hardware or additional equipment they request to make their home office work for their own individual needs. And we recognise that poor setups can have long-term physical consequences so we make sure all team members complete annual DSE (Display Screen Equipment) training.

Staying connected when no one shares an office

Remote working can be isolating, particularly during the darker winter months, and for people who live alone. We’re very conscious of that, which is why we try to be deliberately thoughtful about connection rather than assuming it will just happen.

Like many remote teams, Slack is central to how we communicate – for work and for everything around it. Alongside project channels, we have spaces purely for social interaction and fun. When you’re having a bad day, nothing beats the joy of our ‘#PetSpam’ channel, a channel dedicated to all things animal related. We have everything in there from the many Evotra team pooches to snakes at the zoo, to ducks and swans and field mice – plus the occasional feral child!

We also run a monthly ‘coffee roulette’, using an automated tool that randomly pairs two people and prompts them to arrange a virtual coffee. It’s a simple but effective idea that helps people build relationships and recreate some of those informal ‘water cooler’ conversations that happen naturally in offices.

We sometimes send surprise care packages too – tea and biscuit breaks in a box, colouring books for Stress Awareness Month or small treats to encourage people to pause and reset. Sadly, we’ve yet to solve one particular remote working loss – that tradition of inflicting dodgy holiday sweets on colleagues. But we’re not giving up on that one just yet!

Making time to meet in person

However strong your virtual culture is, meeting up in person is still incredibly valuable. That’s why we do still have a small head office in London for those who want to use it. We also bring the whole company together twice a year, usually in London or Birmingham because they’re easiest for everyone to reach.

These days combine practical updates with shared experiences. We’ve learnt to plan the fun first – from creative activities like a team painting project, to an architectural tour of the Barbican –  and then build the business sessions around it. We also encourage smaller, informal meet ups throughout the year between teams, recognising that relationships are strengthened through shared time.  It’s also not uncommon for our team to hot-desk from a client office for a day to provide real face-to-face support.

Wellbeing isn’t a one-off initiative

Supporting wellbeing in a remote team isn’t something we think about once a year. It’s ongoing, planned work.

Each year we map out a wellbeing calendar, factoring in mental health awareness moments, seasonal challenges and small interventions to help people feel more connected. Some months that might mean running step challenges – which have unleashed a competitive streak in the team – while ensuring alternative prizes exist so everyone can take part. Other months it’s about quieter support, flexibility or creating space for conversation on Slack.

Everyone also has access to an employee assistance app, providing confidential support around mental health, financial wellbeing and physical health.  We recently launched a dedicated ‘Wellbeing Hub’ on our intranet site which provides links to wellbeing resources, contact details for our Mental Health First Aiders, as well as some simple videos of 5 minute stretching exercises, short meditation sessions, and breathing techniques. Alongside this, we make time for awareness training and do things like giving people an hour back during Stress Awareness Month or on World Mental Health Day. And what we’ve learnt is that a relatively small gesture, done thoughtfully, can go a long way.

Staying flexible – and realistic

One of the real advantages of remote first working is flexibility. It allows people to balance family responsibilities, manage health conditions, or spend extended time with loved ones, wherever they are in the world – although it’s never easy, on a damp, dark November day, to see a colleague joining a call from some sunny far-off land.

But flexibility also brings challenges – blurred boundaries, sedentary habits and homes that were never designed for work. Acknowledging those realities – and revisiting them regularly – is part of what makes remote-first work sustainable in the long term.

We don’t pretend to have all the answers. Some things we’re getting right, some are still evolving, and some – like PAT testing – remain genuinely difficult. But we’ve certainly learnt that remote-first works best when leaders accept that it requires continuous effort, not just good intentions.

If you’re running a remote-first business, how are you approaching these challenges? We’d love to hear your experiences and keep the conversation going.

Written by: Alexandra MacLeod, Business Manager, Evotra