Improving Your Telework Habits

By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · Updated September 2026 · 725 words

Good telework habits come down to three things: clear, written communication with fast replies; deliberate time for people to connect; and flexibility about how work gets done, paired with firm expectations about what gets done. Many companies moved to remote work in a hurry in 2020. Those that kept a remote or hybrid model now need it to run as well as the office did and, if they plan to sell, to look well managed to a buyer.

Communication has to be designed, not assumed

In an office, problems surface in hallway conversations. Remotely, they sit in an unanswered email. Set simple rules and keep them:

Write down decisions and the reasons for them. When people work across locations and schedules, a short written record stops the same discussion from happening three times and gives new hires a way to catch up.

• A stated response time for internal messages, shorter for customer issues
• One place for each type of information: tasks in one system, files in another, decisions written down
• A short standing meeting for each team, with an agenda and a written summary
• Video for anything sensitive or complicated, since a quick call beats a long thread

Video changes how people talk

Some employees share more on a screen than they would across a desk; others go quiet. Managers should ask the quiet ones direct questions rather than reading silence as agreement, and should avoid two opposite mistakes. Pretending nothing has changed when staff are dealing with real disruption comes across as cold. Dwelling on the disruption drains energy from the work itself. The balance is to acknowledge what people are dealing with and then return to shared goals.

Connection needs the same attention. Teams that trust each other solve problems faster, and trust grows partly from time spent not working. Remote teams lose lunches and chats before meetings unless someone puts them back: a few open minutes at the start of calls, recognition shared in public channels, and in-person days with a purpose, such as planning, training and onboarding, rather than office days with no reason behind them.

Flexibility in method, clarity in outcomes

Remote staff need room to organize their day, especially those with families or long commutes they no longer make. They also need a clear definition of the result: calls answered, orders shipped, reports filed, customers kept. Managers who try to supervise remote work the way they supervised a shop floor tend to create resentment and little else. Measure output, review it regularly, and raise problems early and specifically.

Set a few core hours when everyone is reachable and let people arrange the rest. Give new employees more structure and more contact in their first months, because remote onboarding is where many hybrid companies lose good people. A team that has learned to work apart can also serve customers in ways the office never tried, such as coverage outside normal hours.

What a buyer notices about a remote or hybrid team

When a company is sold, a buyer's questions about a distributed workforce are practical. Can the business run without the owner on every call? Are processes written down, or do they live in a few people's heads? Is performance tracked in a way the buyer can see? Is company and customer data kept on company systems, with access that can be handed over at closing?

Security matters too. Shared passwords, customer files on personal devices and former employees who still have system access are all findings a buyer's technology review can turn up, and each one becomes a question about how the company is run.

A team that works well remotely is often a sign of documented systems and capable managers, which makes a company easier to buy. Our article on building a management team before selling goes further. Service firms are judged on this most closely, because their people are much of what a buyer acquires; see how we approach business services companies.

How we help owners get a team ready for a sale

Through pre-exit consulting, MDR & Associates works with owners over the 12 to 24 months before a sale on the issues buyers examine, including how the team is organized and how much the business depends on the owner. When you want to see what the company might be worth, request a free valuation snapshot.

Where this fitsSell your business in Texas →

Questions owners ask next

Do buyers pay less for a fully remote company?

Not because it is remote. Buyers pay for predictable earnings and discount risk. A remote company with documented processes, steady retention and managers who run the day-to-day can be as attractive as an office-based one. One that depends on the owner chasing people by phone will be discounted either way.

Should remote employees sign anything before a sale?

Every employee, remote or not, should already work under clear terms, with confidentiality and invention-assignment agreements where the role calls for them. Buyers check this in due diligence. Have your employment attorney review what you use now rather than adding documents in a rush once a buyer appears.