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?
Within a global team, expectations are much closer to a 24-hour response time to chat-based communications, and meetings are scheduled well in advance and coordinated…
We do not. There has not been a need in our environment.
We don’t set specific norms for the sake of creating true flexibility. Once you start putting in rules like this, or even once you start…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
No, we did try to do meet-and-greet lunches in various locations. There was little to no interest since those who work remote do this for a…
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…
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…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
We don’t host meetups, but the Hubstaff team members who live in the same areas often work together. For example, both Dave and Jared live…
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…
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?
We use a productivity-tracking tool called Worksmart, which helps managers and their team members assess how team members spend their time. Worksmart has a variety…
Depending on the type of work, we have different KPIs and have developed a business process that allows measuring most of the day-to-day activities. Development…
We try not to measure productivity. Instead we value working with passion. If someone is not working with passion then we want to know why. We…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Open and frequent communication: It is so important to over-communicate and follow up with team members afterwards to ensure the message was perceived as intended…
Open and honest communication at all times, with frequent video calls.
Weekly calls are important, as is setting and communicating realistic and exciting goals.
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
Our team members span the globe, from Mexico to South Carolina, from California to Indonesia. Our biggest challenge is accommodating the different time zones and…
Surprisingly, one of the hardest parts of managing a remote workforce is that as the company grows, working across teams becomes a challenge. For instance,…
Making sure people are consistently aligned with the mission. People can start to lose track as they get heads down on the day to day…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
It’s very important for new team members to feel connected to their coworkers, so a new hire buddy is always assigned to them from the…
Nearly all of our meetings are conducted through video chat. The face-to-face time helps people connect with their team members and build rapport. We’ve got…
Our weekly staff meeting, done via Skype, keeps everyone on top of the company’s initiatives.
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
Team members can use any hardware that they please. After you’ve worked with Doist for six months, you are granted a generous hardware and software…
We provide equipment to our remote employees.
Our team is free to use whatever tools work for them! In fact, since we integrate fully into our clients’ businesses, we encourage our team…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
As a mom friendly organization we have a generous time off policy that includes paid sick days and paid family leave.
Nothing atypical here. Typical holidays and vacation time and sick days.
We have an open time off policy, which translates to take the time off that you need. We ask each person to discuss time off…
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
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…
We very naively started all being remote, so there were no fears. Here’s a challenge that surprised me: on the same day, I had a…
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…