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?
We do have set parameters that we ask people to follow. The more numbers you put around what people should be doing the better. Clear…
The norms generally depend on the role, but we do have some. Editors are expected to respond to submitted work within 2 business days. Customer…
Everyone responds very fast. But again it depends on your time zone. For three months one of my employees was in HK while I was in…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
Twice a year we organize a team work retreat. We just returned from a week in Lake Tahoe, CA. Our retreats aren’t really “vacations for…
For a remote team, the main focus is actually just to spend time together face-to-face, so plan everything around that. We find a yearly all-team…
We currently don’t, but I hear they are awesome 🙂
Do your remote team members meet in person?
We have an annual, weeklong meeting where we all gather to work and play together. We also have occasional mini conferences, during which individual teams…
Our Remote Team members have an opportunity each year to meet physically together once a year at a Haus. Haus is a Remote Year term…
Absolutely. We have some very structured events such as week-long annual engineering team meetups. Many of our remote team members also come by headquarters in…
How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?
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…
Depends on the roll, but in most cases it becomes very clear who is productive and who isn’t. For engineers github is key.
We focus on output rather than time spent. We track our weekly goals closely to ensure that we’re doing what we set out to do.…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Weekly calls are important, as is setting and communicating realistic and exciting goals.
It really isn’t that different than in a traditional office environment. Employees that know expectations and plans, have access to the tools and resources they…
Being able to measure the output of your employees. Trust.
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
If you’re a typical startup, <10 people sitting in an office, then with everything that happens, everyone always knows about it. So how do you…
It’s a bit of a tie for me — the two things I struggle with most are satisfying each person’s needs as a remote worker,…
One of the hardest things is making sure you have a good set of managers overseeing the remote employees, and making sure they are fully…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
We have weekly all-hands meetings that we conduct via video chat. This gives everyone a chance to hear what’s going on in the company and…
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…
A great remote team depends on a very strong culture to bind everyone together and make sure they don’t feel isolated and disconnected. Sometimes, that…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
Computers, monitors, peripherals, desks, chairs are provided by Automattic.
As a company we have internal policies that helps us to have key security measures that protects us from any liability concerns that possibly could…
We provide a monthly stipend for these sorts of things via a prepaid debit (Pex card) and we offer to front-load it on hire if…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
You can take off whenever you like, but we pay you by the hour. You get one to five weeks of vacation depending on how…
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.…
XWP offers paid leave options and flexible time off.
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
I never had any fears. We’ve been told countless times that at some point we need to get an office and have a headquarters so…
That it would be harder than it actually is. In fact, the management problems are the same regardless of location.
Not many fears that I can think of. Really just accountability and showing up, but I don’t feel that’s any more of an issue than…
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