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?
Totally organically. We did what felt right, we learned from our mistakes, and we continue to evolve by listening to what our staff needs.
Our remote work policy was a formal part of our business plan from the beginning. The company is now 3 years old (formed, 2013).
We use Slack to communicate throughout the day; Google Hangouts and Skype for group calls and demos; Jira for spring planning, executing, and bug tracking;…
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Yes, definitely it can. A healthy company culture involves good communication and mutual respect among members. It also needs people who are happy and healthy…
It must in order to do great work. Everyone in Help Scout loves what they do and we all share common values like excellence, craftsmanship,…
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?
We have Slack channels dedicated to all sorts of interests, from fitness to cooking to travel. Our teams meet anywhere from daily to weekly by…
Annual company retreats, weekly Google hangouts (non-work related), and gif battles on Slack.
We have a “take-your-birthday-off” policy that every team member takes advantage of. On a team member’s birthday, our office manager will send out an email…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
Communication between remote teams can make or break them. Remote teams function very differently than teams that are entirely in house – work hard to…
It’s a lot easier if at least ⅔ of the team is remote. When only a few people are remote, it is easy to make…
If I had to pick one piece of advice, it’s to be ready for trust issues and to know that it’s OK that you have…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
We’ve had some bad experiences with remote workers. There are freelancers who try to work on other projects while billing time to Hubstaff, and we…
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…
Getting the word out that teaching online is even a thing. We find a lot of our teachers are either confused about the whole concept…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
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…
XWP relies heavily on Slack and an asynchronous style of communication, which allows us to communicate effectively across 17 time zones.
Digital tools like Zoom, Miro, Google Docs, Trello, or Slack work great! For more complex issues, Zoom calls can save a lot of time.
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
One of the biggest achievements for Skillcrush is that we have adopted transparent salary tiers where every team member has insight into what their colleagues…
Our planning process used to be off the cuff, and mostly done in the meeting with the whole team. We’ve moved to a planning process…
We are constantly looking for new and better tools for sharing and communicating information, which is great because the technology supporting virtual work is only…
How does your team address different time zone challenges?
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…
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…
Currently, all of our remote employees are in the same time zone. We are a 24/7 operation so we do encounter scheduling conflicts with our…