Managing Remotely
140 companies answer 6 questions
Managing a remote or distributed team successfully requires good support, planning, and communication. Whether deciding if and how to get the team to meet in person or defining the line between vacation and flexible work, the management of a remote team has differences from managing traditional on-site teams. In our Managing Remotely section we ask top remote companies how they keep their teams running smoothly from thousands of miles away.
Do you have remote communication protocols for your remote workers?
Yes. Employees must respond to communications within an hour.
No, we don’t have any rules or communication norms. Certain teams like to do regular calls while others do not. Personally, I dislike scheduled meetings…
We are starting to implement this a little more as we grow. We have a lot of de-facto standards just from having done this for…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
Airbnb works great and really strengthens the team. Understand any dietary restrictions and assist in any way possible getting your team from their house to…
Once a year we converge on a tropical location for our annual company retreat. (You can find a recap of our 2016 team trip here.)…
We meetup as an entire team at least twice per year. We call them JarFests. We work hard to plan them in a fun city…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
Each year we hold a company meeting and try to gather together as many remote teams as possible. These meetings last a few days and…
Our home-based team members are often separated by hundreds of miles. We rely on technology to bring our people together and harness the power of…
Yes! Every fall, we gather for our annual “All Hands” meetup with our entire team. We started doing these meetups in 2013, and they have…
How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?
We measure productivity through the results we deliver to our clients. We also use tools like Harvest for time tracking, and quarterly check-ins to make…
Classes taught, student homework completion, and parent ratings.
We give our remote workers a lot of freedom. Every order placed through Scribendi has an accompanying deadline selected by the client from the available…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Being able to measure the output of your employees. Trust.
Trust, trust, trust and communication, communication, communication.
As Skillcrush continues to grow, we make it a priority to stay connected with each other and dedicate time to all of the team-building activities…
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
Sensing everybody’s mood, level of motivation, identifying issues before they develop. With an on-site team, you get to take advantage of facial expressions, body language,…
Creating a healthy balance between trusting our team members to manage their work time and monitoring their activity. We have team members use time management…
Accountability tracking. Time zones.
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
We have regular coworking sessions regionally, as well as an annual company summit where everyone gets together. Regional team meetings and a company call occur…
Regular communication is key for remote employees to feel a part of the team and remain engaged. We also have recognition programs to recognize compliments…
We talk all the time. A short, daily all-hands meeting allows everyone to understand the what and the why. We make a point of being…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
We do not provide any computers, cell phones, etc. since keeping inventory of items like that would be extremely expensive and difficult to retrieve at…
We offer employees a notable equipment stipend to be used for purchasing company assets when they start ($2,000 for technical production like designers and engineers,…
We don’t have hard-and-fast rules. We expect our team to be adults, and we expect everyone to have a sense of ownership and respect, treating…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
Employees start with two weeks of paid vacation. We also accommodate employees with school age children by letting them take extra unpaid time off over…
DevriX has an open time-off policy that allows people to take time off whenever they choose. This, however, should be coordinated upfront and be in…
In short, “take some”. We used to not track days off, but it resulted in some people (mostly US employees) not taking enough time off.…
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
I don’t know that we had any preconceived fears in working remotely, but I think generally speaking most organizations are fearful of remote workers because…
I would say more fear a lack of productivity, lack of communication or engagement, even how to manage potential issues like workers comp claims. In…
Not being able to meet some people in person means we have to rely more on references and our gut to gauge a potential hire.…