Remote Work At Trello

50%

Remote

51+

Team Members

New York, NY

Headquarters

* As of February 2020

Trello Team

Trello Team

Trello Remote Company Q&A

Stella Garber, VP of Marketing - Interview with Remote.co

What does your remote-friendly company do?

Trello is a visual collaboration tools that gives teams a shared perspective on projects. Trusted by millions, Trello’s system of cards, lists, and boards helps teams get the bigger picture and more importantly, get things done more quickly.

How important is remote work to your business model?

Allowing remote work is an essential element of our ability to hire the very best people, regardless of where they happen to live, in order to build the best possible product.

What do you consider the biggest benefits of a remote workforce?

Having a remote workforce gives us the ability to have the most talented workers, and also the ability to focus on productivity. Being in an office means being surrounded by distractions, whereas remote teams can focus on getting projects done. It also empowers people to get work done at times when they are the most productive- not necessarily a 9-5 schedule for a lot of people.

What were the main reasons to integrate remote work into your workforce?

We wanted to recruit the top talent without worrying about geographic barriers, since most work can be done collaboratively via tools like Trello and Slack these days.

What traits do you look for in candidates for a remote job?

The ability to get things done, be self-motivating and driven are all important factors.

How do you conduct interviews for remote jobs?

It’s the same process as office hires, except that we do video interviews rather than in person. Each role has a different recruitment process.

How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?

We don’t- the culture around productivity is the same for both office and remote- get things done.

What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?

Always assuming your coworkers have good intentions. For example, an emoji can be translated in different ways. Knowing your coworkers have good intentions, means you will hesitate to interpret an emoji as sarcastic or mean, which can throw off a team’s vibe.

What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?

Ensuring a consistent company culture and keeping everyone feeling connected.

What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?

Employees of Trello are provided with what they need from a technology standpoint to get their jobs done.

What is your time off policy for remote workers?

Our vacation policy is 4 weeks/year, in addition to holidays and unlimited sick days.

How did you implement a remote work policy?

Remote work has been in Trello’s DNA since day one- we build a tool that helps people collaborate and get projects done, so our team are HEAVY Trello users who build a product we rely on every single day.

What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?

Structure and communication are key to having success with remote work. Having a set of tools everyone uses, and make sure everyone on the team uses the tools in the same way. For example, set some guidelines around how often to communicate in Slack, or run meetings using a Trello board. I also highly recommend having regular video chats so the team stays connected and on the same page.

What has changed about how your remote team operates?

As Trello has grown, we’ve had to implement various other communication tools. For example, we have a weekly “Company Overview” board, where we update projects regularly so everyone in the company can know what is going on.

What is your personal remote work environment?

I have a treadmill desk (which I love!) and an office with plenty of light.

How do you personally manage work-life balance?

I try to be as productive as possible at work, and when work is over, I try not to think about it. Too many people have a hard time relaxing or doing other activities when working from home, which research shows, hampers productivity. I’m a big fan of data- and the data clearly shows that there are diminishing returns to productivity.

Where is the best or worst place you’ve worked remotely?

Loud coffee shops with screaming babies. Best is my current office with my beloved treadmill desk! 🙂