Many employers with remote workers and distributed teams have begun looking for ways to offer their employees more autonomy and promote collaboration as they work in different physical spaces and potentially different time zones.
A practice known as asynchronous work is often the key to reaching this goal. But what exactly does “asynchronous” mean, and how can you achieve it?
Below, we’ll look at what asynchronous work is and how you can implement it in your organization to create efficient and independent remote teams.
Takeaways from this blog post:
Asynchronous work is a practice that allows your employees to complete their tasks on their own schedule instead of following the same schedule as their colleagues. In a remote setting, asynchronous work can mean that you don’t require members of the same team to be online simultaneously.
Unlike synchronous work, where managers expect employees to be in touch with their teammates immediately throughout the work day, asynchronous workers can respond whenever is best for them. Communication doesn’t have to be instant, so your employees can reduce pressure on themselves to respond quickly and instead focus on their work.
The key to asynchronous work is implementing processes that allow your employees to work autonomously and trusting them to do so. After all, you may have remote teams that live all over the globe. These individuals can maximize their productivity in any time zone without waiting for others to complete their tasks.
Asynchronous working requires thoughtfulness and careful planning. But it creates a more relaxed and inclusive workplace, particularly if you’re a fully remote company. Let’s highlight some critical advantages of asynchronous working in the sections below.
When you allow your employees and teams to set their own time and work routine, they can focus more on their work, creating a stress-free work environment.
According to studies1, the average employee only goes 11 minutes without a distraction, with office workers getting interrupted seven times per hour. Without the constant distractions of chat messages or video calls, employees can have more uninterrupted time throughout the day to finish their work. Deep concentration on the quality of their work is better for your business outcomes.
Asynchronous working provides ample opportunity for people to work without unnecessary distractions—and minimized distractions mean greater overall productivity.
Working asynchronously gives your employees greater flexibility for task management and allows them to make more independent decisions. Taking ownership of their work also relieves your managers and team leaders, freeing up time for them to focus on their work as well.
Ownership and responsibility are essential aspects of working at any company. It makes your employees feel like an important part of the company, where leaders gear and trust their opinions, which improves employee engagement and satisfaction. They’ll also have more control over their day and can use their time more effectively to provide their best work.
If you’re doing asynchronous work and communication correctly, you’ll build trust between yourself and your employees. If you trust your employees to be thought leaders in their skillset, reliable in their abilities, and vulnerable enough to show weakness where they need help, your company will run much smoother in a remote setting.
Asynchronous work facilitates all three of these aspects. Your employees can focus on delivering their work on time and thinking deeply about their tasks while empowering them to collaborate with their entire team.
This independent level of working creates trust from the top down because your employees will know you believe in them to get the job done.
The most significant benefit of working remotely and asynchronously is that your teams can set their own hours in a flexible work climate. If you have employees that are more productive during the day, they can opt for that. If you have other employees that work better at night, they can pick those hours.
Asynchronous working also means employees can work from anywhere they are most productive, whether from home, in a café, or even while traveling. Having the flexibility to make their own decisions allows them to build their ideal work environment with the best work-life balance.
Finally, if your company operates in multiple states or is international, you may have employees in different time zones. With synchronous collaboration, employees in different time zones usually struggle to make themselves available during non-work hours.
Asynchronous work solves this problem entirely. Employees can work according to their time zone without waiting for their teammates to log on and complete tasks, ultimately driving ownership, independence, and flexibility.
From adopting different processes to creating a more positive company culture, moving to an asynchronous work environment doesn’t happen overnight. Luckily, we’ve got some tips and tricks you can use to become an asynchronous company.
Here’s how you can facilitate asynchronous work at your organization:
Asynchronous communication is just one aspect of asynchronous work, but it’s the most widely known aspect because the vast majority of people have practiced asynchronous communication skills at some point. Asynchronous communication describes all forms of communication that don’t require many different parties to be available simultaneously.
Async communication is typically not in-person, and it's usually unscheduled. It protects everyone’s time and promotes more meaningful work by reducing unnecessary distractions, especially if you have remote workers.
Examples of asynchronous communication tools include:
On the other hand, experts consider synchronous communication “real-time communication.” It’s when two or more people are exchanging information at the same moment without delay. It can be in-person or virtual, scheduled or impromptu.
While synchronous communication may be the norm within an office environment, if you’re transitioning to a remote environment, you’ll want your teams to have a say on how they want to communicate.
Other examples of synchronous communication methods include:
A significant downside of synchronous communication is that it can distract your employees from what they’re working on and break their focus. Not being able to focus entirely on their work means a potential drop in consistency, leading to lower productivity.
Generally, asynchronous communication practices maximize productivity, while synchronous work binds progress to communication and availability. But at the end of the day, asynchronous and synchronous communication methods must work together for modern companies.
As we learned above, asynchronous and synchronous communication is the differences between faster and more flexible communication. However, there are specific situations where each type of communication method would work best.
Choosing synchronous communication may be best when:
However, synchronous communication is ideal for you and your employees when a message isn’t urgent. People can receive the message and respond at their own pace without worrying about interrupting their daily tasks.
It’s best to choose asynchronous communication when:
With remote work increasing in popularity in recent years, finding the right balance between synchronous and asynchronous methods for your remote organization is essential.
An asynchronous work model can bring a lot of value to your company if you know how to optimize it. The tips and tricks we highlighted above will enable your teams to function more efficiently in a virtual workspace as the first step in achieving your goal of running a successful and asynchronous company.
This article was originally published on July 20, 2022. It was last updated on December 27, 2023.