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?
Partially. There is a company scrum at 10am every morning during which people are expected to come, but it’s not a big deal if they…
We created the 10 Slack agreements of Buffer just for this.
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…
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…
Airbnb works great and really strengthens the team. Understand any dietary restrictions and assist in any way possible getting your team from their house to…
Logistics are a pain, but the outcome is always worth it. Just allow plenty of time for planning and be frank with everyone that it…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
We organize team gatherings three times per year (when it’s safe to do so) where we all meet and work together, but also have fun…
Yes, we aim for once a year meetings in person.
We have an all company summit every year where the entire organization gets together for 3+ days. Regional team members are encouraged to cowork and…
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.
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…
1Password was founded by software developers, so we use a variety of tools to track objectives, milestones, and the resolution of technical issues. Our support…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Weekly calls are important, as is setting and communicating realistic and exciting goals.
Communicate, communicate, communicate. And when you are done with that, follow up with good communication! You have to be able to express yourself well on…
Constant communication. This is by far the most important part of having a relationship with your remote team. As a manager, if I don’t communicate…
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,…
Communication and understanding people’s personalities via text and email.
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…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
We have a whole team in charge of teacher community in China and the U.S. that keeps our teachers informed through the portal. Emails from…
We have a monthly newsletter called Yours Virtually and the team takes turns to write in it from their perspective, and to share a little…
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?
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 let everyone choose their own devices, computers and operating systems, and reimburse a set amount for each employee every 3 years. We do have…
We have all of our team members use their own computers, but we provide all the apps necessary.
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
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.…
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…
Aha! currently offers 15 days of paid time off to all teammates in their first year and 20 days in the following years, as well…
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
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…
My biggest fear was probably that everyone was just going to goof off and not get any work done with little oversight. This has been…
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…