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?
Ha, no. This sounds terrible. Where is the trust?
We do not. There has not been a need in our environment.
It depends on the team. I don’t know of any teams in our company that mandate response times for internal communication, but plenty of teams…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
We organize retreats and offsites about once per quarter. A couple tips: choose a great venue for your company retreat and, of course, use the…
At our team meetings, we do organize loads of stuff, which are fun and supports team building. Most of the time we are away for…
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.)…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
Twice a year, the entire company gathers in a destination travel location for a week. We call these “onsites.” This is our opportunity to look…
Yes, our teams meet 1-2 times a year as a team and work together, somewhere in the world. Then, we have the entire company get…
We have monthly meetings in person. The idea is to meet, to connect and get motivated for the next month. Moreover we have a bigger…
How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?
As a fully remote company, we’re results-oriented by necessity. We’ve identified key metrics for most of our team that allow us to see results, and…
Quality of work completed Customer satisfaction Ability to meet deadlines Results Feedback from the business/360 Reviews Performance Reviews Objective Setting
Productivity isn’t black and white and therefore measuring it requires an understanding of the work being done and the people doing it. In short, it…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Feedback, coaching and one-on-ones are absolutely critical to a good relationship with employees. Whenever I see something good or bad, I call that team member…
We do mandatory Monday and Wednesday meetings with all hands. Some of the time is spent just sharing what we did over the weekend or…
Communication is one of the biggest ones for us. One of our values is “Communicate with clarity” and it’s vital in having a successful relationship…
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
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…
The hardest part of management is keeping everyone on the same page. As I mentioned above, we try to do this weekly, monthly, and quarterly.…
The toughest part about managing a remote workforce is making sure everyone feels connected to the team and culture of Appirio. We work very hard…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
We make sure all of our employees understand our strategy and core beliefs, so we all know what we’re working to achieve. We also have…
We have done three company retreats so far, and plan on doing at least two a year. Every time we do them, Nick, our CEO,…
We set OKRs for each team that are talked about in every all-hands meeting. We also have a #winning Slack channel where teams post a…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
Our employees get a laptop for administration work, as well as a display, keyboard, and mouse. The software developers and QA team may have different…
We supply all of our employees with the tools they need to get their jobs done. All team members are provided a laptop and an…
We buy people computers but expect them to use their own phones and make sure they have a quiet, comfortable space in which to work…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
We have a MANDATORY vacation policy. We realized that an unlimited vacation policy was having the opposite effect – team members weren’t taking the time…
We ask that everyone let their team members know about any planned time off with as much advance notice as possible. There’s not limit, but…
Our vacation policy is 4 weeks/year, in addition to holidays and unlimited sick days.
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
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…
In regards to our independent contract remote workers, making sure they have represented themselves honestly and that their credentials are valid is a common source…