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?
Our remote work policy started organically when the founder, Ryan O’Connor, unexpectedly attracted clients from around the world–Australia, UK, India, U.S.– looking for help improving…
It was a natural step to build the company with a remote workforce, but it was done with mindfulness and intention. We feel that is…
It was completely organic; our very first employees were remote.
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Absolutely! It’s important to help everyone feel engaged, and we do this in a variety of ways. Our CEO holds an all-company meeting via conference…
It absolutely can. Just like a company located in an office can have a dysfunctional culture. The key to any healthy culture is having everyone…
The company culture is something that exceeds the office boundaries, it should drive what you do and how you do it, at all time. So figure…
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…
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…
We have remote social hangouts every Friday. Everyone is invited to hop onto a video call to hang out with their coworkers with a beverage…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
Try it, it’s not as scary as it seems! If your company is focussed on outputs and not inputs, then it shouldn’t matter whether your…
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…
Stop considering and take the leap! We started out as a remote team and we didn’t look back. We think the numbers speak for themselves:…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
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…
Certainly, communication is vital. When you’re in the same office together, you have more natural, unplanned meetings and from those come some of the best…
To find the right people who can live with having a remote boss.
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
We organize our communication and company activities around specific actions. So, instead of chatting about something that’s just popped up or sharing more ideas, we…
In Slack, in our video meetings, and in the notes/comments in Trello. We rarely email each other unless it’s a memo for the entire team…
We use a chat and video client we developed ourselves, called Anywhere Works. Because Anywhere Works is still in development, we back it up with…
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
We actually started as a fully remote team. So one change was having a “home” office and having some of the staff working together in…
As the Internet has changed, we have opened more and more channels for communication with our teachers and between teachers. As we expand globally, our…
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…
How does your team address different time zone challenges?
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…
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…
Sign Up for Our Weekly Fresh Jobs Newsletter
