Work Your Way With Callum Murphy, Co-Founder At Make Us Care

Laura Beales 2 minute read

Work Your Way is our new blog series in which individuals give their honest answers about how they like to work when working remotely. From how to create a work culture when working remotely to how they best like to work remotely, they share their insights and top tips.

Callum Murphy, Co-Founder at Make Us Care, shares with us his thoughts on remote working and asks "How do you shout across the office in a digital space?" Make Us Care is a creative agency that helps businesses become brands people actually care about. They work with brands to listen, learn and consciously communicate with the people they exist for.

What is the biggest advantage to the company of working remotely?

For me, the biggest advantage is the time I get back. My total commute, to and from London, use to be three to four hours on a good day. I now use that time to get more sleep (vital to function at an optimal performance), work on other passions and hobbies, and spend time with my fiancé. Before working remotely I went through months of feeling like it was Groundhog Day, it’s really draining and an unnecessary drain when you’re trying to build and run a company.

Remote-Friendly or Remote-First?

Pre-2020 I would have said 'remote-friendly' but now we have successfully run the company fully remote, I would say 'remote-first'. This change in attitude has also meant that we at Make Us Care now work more internationally. Releasing the restraints of nine till six work hours has meant I’m happy to jump on a call with someone “out-of-hours” to fit with their time zone.

How do you keep remote work visible?

Trust - It’s easy to feel out of control when working with a remote team. The key is to create structure around communication and, to the best of your ability, create the same style of conversation that you would have in the office. How do you shout across the office in a digital space?

How do you maintain and create a company culture when working remotely?

Talk about life, not just work. All that time you would normally spend in the office kitchen chatting about the weekend or evening plans still needs to happen with a remote team. You need to show that you care about each other, otherwise it’s really easy to allow people, myself included, to slip into their own bubble and not come up for company culture air.

Keep it fresh - There’s only so many times everyone can be up for a company quiz before it becomes boring. We’ve been doing some group learning, which has been awesome as it’s given us a chance to understand each other more in our personal lives and not just work. If you’re interested it’s called Positive Intelligence.

Where is your favourite place to work from when working remotely?

My desk at home is where I get all my work done at the moment. I’ve not ventured out to co-working spaces or cafes in a while but I’m keen to do so for some of the more collaborative work we do, once we’re allowed to again.

A big thank you to Callum for his honest answers and top tips. Make sure you check out Make Us Care.

With Tally Workspace, we can find your team a private office to call home or you can instantly book meeting rooms and desks.