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 only have our daily team call. We have no policies about communication. We do have an emergency channel for customers, but it’s only needed…
We try to avoid too many emails, instead using Trello to communicate, Skype for IM, Jing for training, etc. On weekdays due to the timezones…
We don’t have any overarching rules or norms, other than to ensure that mandatory meetings are remote-friendly. Each team sets their own norms as necessary.…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
Yes we sure do! Jungle Camps twice yearly. It is a great way to meet, work, and grow together. It is also a time when…
Yes – see my blog where I wrote the definitive guide to planning an offsite.
I’d say that it’s important to organize the retreats with time in advance to make sure the team works smartly together (discuss ideas and works…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
Our central New York office serves as a hub for remote workers and team members who are in the office every day. We accommodate any…
Yes, whenever we can. Typically 3-5 times a year.
We have had conversations with team members at other remote working companies (some of them big) and, while the company offers remote working, they end…
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…
It’s not a perfect science; we have had situations where employees were “skating” for a month or so and we did not notice. But, eventually…
We work with project management tools and have set goals and KPIs. We rely on Asana, a project management tool, to keep track of projects…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Weekly calls are important, as is setting and communicating realistic and exciting goals.
Trust is critical.
Make sure there is not an “us vs. them” culture of HQ vs. remote workers. Treat everyone as remote, regardless of their location.
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,…
One of the hard parts we’re working through now is adding layers of management we didn’t have before. We’ve grown a lot over the past…
Making sure everybody has the same access to information, which is a matter of making information both available and easy to find. We manage this…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
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…
XWP includes every XWPerson in a regional “Homebase” with monthly meetings. We also host regular XWP Live town halls, open to everyone at XWP. XWP…
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…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
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…
All gig workers are required to supply their own equipment as a business owner.
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…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
We do not have a time off limit. However, for it to be worth my while to manage our resources, they have to contribute a minimum…
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.…
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
I think my biggest fears are when we lose touch with someone. Every once in a while, someone will just “disappear” – they don’t answer…
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…