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 don’t and leave it to the individual employees and project teams to determine if there is any specific cadence they want to build around communication.
As with an office based role, remote workers are required to be available during the working day. Generally most managers will establish the norms, as…
When working, our remote workers must always be in chat and respond as soon as they are able to (not interrupt their engaged call). We…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
In the earlier days when the team was ~15 people, we would gather the whole company together for week-long (Mon-Fri) retreats in different locations 4…
We meet once a year and vote for the location that most people want to do. So far, we’ve been to Barcelona, Bulgaria, the Philippines,…
Yes we do, and they are awesome. My tip would be to keep the work content to a minimum. A brief session on how the…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
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…
Yes, whenever we can. Typically 3-5 times a year.
We only do one formal meeting each year, a 4-day annual retreat that tackles some operations-level work, but is mostly for play and social time.…
How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?
At Toggl, we have a result oriented culture and everyone’s productivity is measured by their results. We have small teams working together: back end team,…
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…
Depends on the roll, but in most cases it becomes very clear who is productive and who isn’t. For engineers github is key.
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
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Truly, a distributed company operates with all the same leadership dynamics and laws of physics a traditional, co-located company does. Culture matters first and foremost.…
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…
First, hire people who fit the model. Not everyone is cut out to work remotely. Next, be very clear with your expectations and provide the…
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
Sometimes remote workers just don’t have that much time for your company. They may have multiple clients, be traveling the world (you never know with…
Always the communication. This is this the hardest part for any workforce; remote just amplifies the stakes.
Remembering to create and allow for opportunities to share and exchange information so everyone is kept in the loop, accountable, and takes pride and ownership…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
We give our team members flexibility. Just because they were hired for one particular job doesn’t mean that they can’t do other things that interest…
Every week I put out in our General (all company) Slack channel the “NodeSource Executive Brief To Everyone at The Company™”. The title is a…
While we aren’t big on meetings, we do have a regularly scheduled Monday meeting where we go over any admin items and talk about the…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
XWPeople use their own devices.
We provide all hardware and software. Just because you have remote employees does not make it OK to not provide everything they need. Our policy…
The only equipment needed to work remotely for Coalition Technologies is a reliable computer and Internet connection. The computer should have a webcam and audio for…
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…
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.…
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…
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
We’ve always been worried that they wouldn’t commit to teaching online in the long run, because most of our teachers are busy with a full-time…
My biggest fears were around not being able to manage work output, and not having clarity into someone’s projects. For the first 6 months this…
As is the trend with other remote companies, we worry about workplace culture. It’s a bit harder to foster when you only see one another…