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?
Some of both. Many people wanted some remote work. We formalized it. A recent acquisition only worked well because the acquired colleagues all went remote.
My co-founder Kerry takes all the credit for setting up our amazing guidelines, policies, compensation packages and benefits programs. She worked closely with a Seattle…
I would say more organically to begin with. We had employees volunteer to work remote to test it out. Then it became more formal over…
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Yes! At Parse.ly, we believe that a distributed team is an asset, not a problem to be managed. It allows for radical transparency about how…
Of course! A few things that we do is have team retreats to get together where we all meet in person. This helps bring a…
We host a weekly “Huddle” where the team checks in, gives a quick update on how their week is going, and then answers the weekly…
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
Annual company retreats, weekly Google hangouts (non-work related), and gif battles on Slack.
(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 try to infuse fun into our remote work environment to nurture our culture. We do things online together like get festive for birthdays and…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
Go for it! Do audio calls instead of draining video calls. Do daily all-hands meetings of no more than 15 minutes. Make your schedule conform…
We recommend going all in. Being virtual works for us because it’s embraced by a significant portion of our team – including top leadership. It’s…
Go all in, if you’re going to make the leap. In order to select and build the tools, systems, habits, and culture that really enable…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
Getting everyone on the same page! Since we don’t “see” each other on a consistent basis every day, we have to constantly be thinking about…
Sometimes I take things for granted, that everyone is working happily along. That’s why weekly check-ins are useful so that things are NOT taken for…
Finding the right people, who can manage themselves, be focused at work and able to work on their own.
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
We utilize email, web-and-tele-conferencing, chat, and of course, telephones. Group chats that can be archived for future reference are very effective in many cases.
Remote work has become much easier now that there are so many tools to help teams stay connected and collaborate. We of course do most…
We use all the normal apps like Email, Slack, Skype, Github. And the not so common P2. But at the end of the day, it’s…
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
We have gotten smarter about the tools we use, better at documentation and checklists, better at reporting, and we’ve spent more time in-person periodically throughout…
We are more organized now. You have to be extremely organized if you want to go remote because it’s easy to get lost in emails,…
As we grow, we build out more processes and planning. Done wrong, this could equal bureaucracy. Done right, these systems help us function despite not…
How does your team address different time zone challenges?
Everyone adds their working hours to company calendar, then each team leader knows very well when everyone is on working time. This allows us to…
We are very conscious of the times that different teammates work and ask them to include it in their Slack profile so that everyone can…
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…