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?
No, yuck. Responsible people do what they know needs to be done.
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.…
We are starting to implement this a little more as we grow. We have a lot of de-facto standards just from having done this for…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
We do organize a company-wide trip twice a year. This gives everyone a chance to mingle and meet face to face. It also encourages the…
Yes. We find one place that can host us all. Make sure it’s not in a city, you want everyone to be huddled up together…
Yes! The events count as one form, and they love to meet up for potlucks and meet and greets. We’ve also sponsored two successful trips for…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
Yes! Every fall, we gather for our annual “All Hands” meetup with our entire team. We started doing these meetups in 2013, and they have…
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…
We don’t require it, but we do have hubs of team members in New York and Florida, and try to get together and cowork as…
How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?
We’re an Agile organization, so self-examination is built into our workflow very naturally. We set goals, then examine and measure progress, output at regular, discrete…
We’re only five people, so we’re not yet in a position where we have to measure everyone’s productivity. We estimate how long projects take. Sometimes…
We monitor both hours worked and hours billed to clients. Virtual assistants describe the work they do each day, which allows us to assess productivity.
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Communication, community, and transparency. Without those three things, your relationships with remote workers will fail.
Weekly calls are important, as is setting and communicating realistic and exciting goals.
An empathetic understanding of one another’s roles, expertise, and workflow. Over-communication in Slack or on video chat. Honesty, vulnerability, coaching, and feedback.
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
Building rapport with new coworkers can be difficult when you don’t get the casual social interactions you often get for free when everyone is in…
We’ve had the most success with employees who came into the experience with a realistic understanding of the nature of the job and what it’s…
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…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
We talk all the time. A short, daily all-hands meeting allows everyone to understand the what and the why. We make a point of being…
We do a lot of remote fun-time activities to help our remotes enjoy the jovial parts of our office culture. We have remote beer bashes,…
Each team that is working for a client takes responsibility for all the issues: financial stuff, agreements, customer relations, etc. Thanks to our policy, people…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
We don’t have a formal BYOD/A program like some companies do, however it’s important that people can do their jobs effectively, and that means supplying…
Canonical requires that all team members (remote or office based) use their own device. Team members have the flexibility to choose their preferred laptop or…
We don’t have hard-and-fast rules. We expect our team to be adults, and we expect everyone to have a sense of ownership and respect, treating…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
Our PTO/VTO is generous and flexible. Our full-time employees get five VTO days/year (Volunteer Time Off), as well as 15 days PTO (personal 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…
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We have a fairly standard PTO plan for full-time [A]gents.
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
I had no real fears of managing remote workers, but I always am cautious to ensure I communicate regularly and that my virtual door is…
Not being able to meet some people in person means we have to rely more on references and our gut to gauge a potential hire.…
Never really had a fear, if you fail in managing remote workers, it is not the system causing the failure, it is you.