Working Remotely
140 companies answer 6 questions
Working remotely comes with unique day-to-day challenges. From the initial step of implementing remote policy to nurturing company culture while operating remotely, we ask leading remote companies to share how they approach running their distributed teams from an operational level.
How did you implement a remote work policy?
That grew more organically, even though by now we consciously make decisions that favor remote work.
It was completely organic; our very first employees were remote.
Organically
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Of course. Culture isn’t only a product of proximity, it’s a product of how you treat your staff. We know from studies that remote companies…
Of course. I would argue that having a team that feels fulfilled in their work and personal life provides the best company culture. It also naturally…
Sure, by following a similar transparent process and a welcoming environment nurturing remote teams and rewarding proactiveness, feedback, and criticism. Our CEO and our top…
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
Retreats are a huge thing. We have an annual all company retreat, but we also have more focused retreats pretty regularly for smaller teams within…
(a) At the start of our weekly one-on-one calls, we take a few minutes to talk about something that we are enjoying being involved with…
We make sure to all get together as a company on a regular basis. For example, we have two team members that live out of…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
First, do your due diligence. Explore if—and to what degree—your organization can support flexible work arrangements. Talk with other companies to gather best practices and…
Because of the nature of our business, we often work with small businesses who are making their first remote hire. We emphasize the importance of…
The key to a successful remote workforce is in the hiring. You must recruit highly skilled, professional team members who have demonstrated that they can…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
In a word, “scale”. As the company grows the challenge of maintaining relationships grows as well. Since success in business is highly dependent on successful…
One thing we’ve seen is that you have to invest a lot of time and energy into hiring well. Growth is hard, but it’s much…
Personality conflicts are particularly difficult to resolve remotely. We’ve found that when a team is having a hard time seeing eye to eye, the only…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
We have a few different platforms and standards for communication. First off, each team has weekly Zoom meetings to discuss progress on various projects and…
Communication is key on our teams. We use Slack as a central hub for daily communication, with clear channels to help team members know what…
We use Hipchat, a company instant message platform, to communicate as a team on quick or fun topics. You can devote rooms to certain themes…
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
As software tools have evolved, we’ve reached for solutions that boost transparency and real-time collaboration.
As our team has grown we have been slowly shifting from a company of generalists where everyone does a bit of everything to a place…
As the number of employees has increased, we have increasingly standardized procedures. With a smaller team, communication often occurs organically, but as the size of…
How does your team address different time zone challenges?
We make sure everyone coming on board understands the different time zones. We work together to identify when the majority of workers are available and…
We work in EST/CST business hours for the most part. Certain roles that are not client facing have more flexibility, but we still require at…
Time zone differences can cause confusion within a remote team. Luckily, while the overall workflow has to be coordinated, the specific tasks for providing our…