Haris Kabiljagic: Working remotely has increased productivity

The fact that the pandemic has made several companies re-evaluate working on a remote basis is well known, and for Qliro's tech lead Haris Kabiljagic, working remotely has been a recipe for increased productivity.

Born and raised in Bosnia and originally a GIS (Geography Information System) specialist, he is the founder of his home country's largest information system for forestry management that is used by the Bosnian government and some private companies. This is used to analyze different forest areas, which are used by the government to know which areas are can be harvested without negative impact on ecology.

He later moved to Germany where he started working with e-commerce, but it was not until Betsson Group contacted him that he got the opportunity to move to Sweden. Today he works as a team & tech lead at Qliro. He is both responsible for a team of developers and QA engineers and takes on architect responsibilities as well.

Since the pandemic, according to Haris, Qliro has taken all the necessary steps to take responsibility as an employer, while trying to make everyone feel motivated:

He further says how working remotely has increased productivity substantially.

"My team, for example, has a couple of people who are only in the office when absolutely necessary. Of course, there are those who want to work from the office, but having the opportunity to choose has been incredibly valuable to us."

However, the pandemic shook up an existing work dynamic for prospective new team members, but luckily, in-house everything remained familiar. Prospective members would on the other hand, want to prepare for slightly challenging hiring climates.

"For existing employees, you can have the same routines as before the pandemic. However, it can be challenging for new employees.”

According to Haris, it is good to work remotely, even though he admits that there is a certain problem with the social aspects. Furthermore, it is more challenging for those who join the company now, than for those who have been involved since the pandemic broke out, Haris additionally explains:

"The interactions at the coffee machine are gone, and it is on those occasions that people can be informal. It is in this situation that people make friends. Today, when you join a meeting, it is more or less always work-related. For existing employees, you can have the same routines as before the pandemic. However, it can be challenging for new employees who have not had those social interactions in the same way."

Remote work - a familiar concept for Haris

From his previous experience in Germany, Haris has tried a lot of remote working, so for him the transition has not been particularly complicated.

"People can focus a little more when sitting remotely. When it comes to developers you can focus more on certain tasks when not in an office. I would say that is the main reason why I like it so much."

You can distribute the time more freely, if you get tired in the middle of the day for instance, you can take a nap for a quarter of an hour, which is harder to do from the office, he says.

"However, the downside may be that you forget about the time. When you sit in an office, you notice when your colleagues go home. If you sit alone and focus on a task, time can run away. In this way, a remote job may mean that you work more than you did before."