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?
We’ve been a remote company since the beginning, so I guess that makes it organic. When we hire team members, it’s always with the understanding…
The idea came with the growth of our team. Once we decided to go remote, we implemented the formal processes. And we never looked back!
We don’t have a formal remote work policy like tracking time or something like that. We mainly look at defining outcomes that we want to…
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Definitely. FlexJobs has been a remote company for over 15 years, during which we’ve developed an award-winning culture recognized by Outside, Quartz, Entrepreneur, and many…
Absolutely, although it takes a lot of hard work and conscious effort. You simply have to be honest about the challenges of working remotely, actively…
Absolutely, but it probably takes more time. The “watercooler” conversations might have to happen in a chat room, and company-related extracurricular discussions and the like…
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
No gossip policy Empower employees who know they are trusted Servant leadership—invest in our people (holistically, not just professionally) Live out our core values and…
There are a number of events and all staff communications that strengthen relationships and ensure we have an engaged, high performing organisations. At any point…
The best thing we do, I think, is our yearly meetup. It’s a very democratic meetup, meaning that we vote on everything—where we want to…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
Companies should not underestimate this task: a few laptops won’t do it. It needs a profound change in the way of working and culture. It…
I’d say it’s the best opportunity a company can have to work with talented people from all over the world—you’re not limited to post and…
Remote work isn’t right for every company, but we think it could work for more companies than many people think. Online tools and in-person meetings…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
Not being able to fully rely on people holding themselves responsible for their work goals and deadlines. Micro-management is always a pending threat with new…
The biggest challenges are logistical and infrastructure based, much the same as any company, I’d imagine! Unique to us as a distributed company are the…
For Doist, it has been a very natural, organic process. We have always been remote-first, so it is integrated into our company’s DNA. Nevertheless, as…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
We use a central system for tracking all tasks and projects (Asana). All task/project relevant communication is in that system instead of those conversations going…
We use email and the phone a lot. Email to share our plans, give feedback on each other’s work, share interesting articles and be in…
We primarily use Slack, Telephone Conferences and JIRA.
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
When Automattic first started, everyone reported to Matt (Mullenweg, our founder). When we reached about 50 people, we divided into teams. The teams have evolved…
The biggest things that have changed are directly related to scalability – the routines and policies we maintained as a team of six people just…
We developed a concept of core hours and started to avoid hiring from locations where the core hours are during the nighttime. We did this…
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…
Slack and JIRA—the platform we use to track development tasks—are asynchronous tools, allowing us to manage communication even with different time zones. Of course, sometimes…
Time zones are always a challenge to address, especially in Remote Year with our global presence. We find that making sure our staff on the…
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