-
It depends on the team. I don’t know of any teams in our company that mandate response times for internal communication, but plenty... -
We are generally very flexible with working hours and sensitive to everyone working in different time zones. People need to collaborate... -
We don’t set specific norms for the sake of creating true flexibility. Once you start putting in rules like 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... -
There are very tight guidelines for communication around classes, and we expect immediate communication if there’s any reason a teacher... -
Yes we do, and they are awesome. My tip would be to keep the work content to a minimum. A brief... -
For a remote team, the main focus is actually just to spend time together face-to-face, so plan everything around that. We find a yearly... -
No, we did try to do meet-and-greet lunches in various locations. There was little to no interest since those who work... -
Yes we sure do! Jungle Camps twice yearly. It is a great way to meet, work, and grow together. It is... -
At our team meetings, we do organize loads of stuff, which are fun and supports team building. Most of the time... -
We meet up at least once a year for a Company Retreat. It’s a “no spouse/significant other” event. The format really is... -
Each year we hold a company meeting and try to gather together as many remote teams as possible. These meetings last... -
Currently, we meet on an as-needed basis (e.g. once/twice per year), However, similar to Automattic (the WordPress folks), we would like to... -
We get together every three months for three to seven days, changing the location almost every time. -
We meet with our core team in person twice a year. It is somewhat of a retreat in that we work, and strategize but... -
We’re only five people, so we’re not yet in a position where we have to measure everyone’s productivity. We estimate how... -
We use an agile development methodology that incorporates daily progress checks for the team. Also, if a developer’s velocity falls below a certain... -
We measure productivity the same way traditional office workforces measure it – we look at the results. Being a remote workforce truly... -
Productivity is easily measured by the output each day. Our platform provides metrics which will show the productivity of individuals and the company. We... -
![Simple [A]](https://remote.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Simple_a_twiter.png)
We rely on the outputs from both independent and team work to understand how individual [A]gents are doing. We also... -
I do not believe that the principles of a successful working relationship with remote workers differ that much from any other... -
Communication and trust are the two most important things – and if you want them, you need to empower your team and... -
Communication is key. I’ve found in a remote environment people actually work harder at communicating because they have to. Especially... -
It is critical to have open communication and no silos. Everyone should be able to communicate with anyone and be open... -
Communication – In the absence of face-to-face conversations, communicating thoroughly, effectively and with respect is the key to working well remotely. Trust –... -
Sometimes remote workers just don’t have that much time for your company. They may have multiple clients, be traveling the... -
You don’t develop such close relationships as you do with people whom you see every day. This can be a... -
The most difficult part is helping your team stay motivated and feel part of a team when they have never met.... -
Different laws in various states and keeping on top of that while trying to be fair to the masses. 2. Keeping everyone motivated and energized,... -
The biggest challenge, I think, is that working remotely means you need to be over communicative, and very verbal — when you work in an... -
Each team that is working for a client takes responsibility for all the issues: financial stuff, agreements, customer relations, etc. Thanks to... -
We do a lot of remote fun-time activities to help our remotes enjoy the jovial parts of our office culture. We... -
We have done three company retreats so far, and plan on doing at least two a year. Every time we do... -
We encourage everyone to talk about what they’re doing on Slack, and to be transparent about it. For example, a... -
We strongly believe that face-time is critical to keeping our remote team happy, engaged and productive. Many of our team members are in sales... -
All our team members are welcome to use their own laptops and phones. There are some cases where we provide additional equipment that belongs... -
People can use whatever device they’d like, as long as they can use the software and apps our team is already on 🙂 -
Everyone does BYOD, mostly because everyone has different preferences and environments that make them most effective, but we will sponsor apps at times. -
Our employees get a laptop for administration work, as well as a display, keyboard, and mouse. The software developers and QA... -
We provide a monthly stipend for these sorts of things via a prepaid debit (Pex card) and we offer to front-load it on hire... -
As a mom friendly organization we have a generous time off policy that includes paid sick days and paid family leave. -
We don’t track time off but expect people to take roughly 4 weeks vacation. Most of our team doesn’t have set hours so... -
First of all, we have a flexible schedule and the only condition for the remote team members is to have at least some overlapping... -
We have an open time off policy, which translates to take the time off that you need. We ask each person to discuss time... -
On top of 10 company-observed holidays, SitePen offers four weeks of paid time off to start which increases with seniority. Very flexible... -
Trust is a big fear and challenge. At the end of the day, as a business owner of a remote team, you aren’t... -
My biggest fear is that remote work becomes too lifestyle-driven where people become complacent, too comfortable and chilled out. I still... -
To me, making the work visible was a big fear. Even in traditional companies, there are people working nobody knows what... -
Not being able to meet some people in person means we have to rely more on references and our gut to... -
Accountability. The fear that people would simply flake, walk off into the distance, play video games instead of work. Sure they...
131 companies answer 10 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.
