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?
It happened both organically and formally. Formally in that it was something we deliberately wanted to champion and structure. Organically in that during 2014, we…
It emerged organically, but my company started as a distributed company.
We started the company as remote, so there is no other way for us!
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Absolutely! The most important thing is for the leadership to actively discuss and decide what the company values are up front, and then act upon…
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,…
Yes! Communication is key for building a healthy company culture. An open-door policy through the entire organization flow chart plays an important role for remote…
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
We embrace working remotely rather than shying away from it. All of our crew get a Timely robe on their one year anniversary. We celebrate…
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…
Broadly speaking, our culture is based on the Relationship Care approach to servicing, an ethos that says service is a people business driven by the…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
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…
First, make sure you have the type of people who can actually get work done at home (and thrive in that environment). It came naturally…
Running a successful remote company really comes down to trust and accountability. You have to have the right people on your team that you can…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
We focus very hard on hiring the right individuals and then training them to a high standard. This leads to a large investment of time…
Onboarding – It can be challenging to onboard new hires who have never worked remotely before. Day one looks quite different being remote vs. being…
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…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
We love Google for Work! Google Hangouts are a great way to connect face to face with teammates on a video call or to quickly reach…
We are all connected on Slack, using different channels for different company areas. Most of the day-by-day communication is public on these channels. We also…
If I had to pick one, it would be group chats. We have always used group chats (a la IRC) since we started. At first,…
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
As Trello has grown, we’ve had to implement various other communication tools. For example, we have a weekly “Company Overview” board, where we update projects…
For a long time, we operated with a very flat team structure. As you can imagine, it’s much easier to maintain that structure at 15…
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…
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 have a very social and collaborative culture, where we talk about what we’re doing and what we’re up to personally. This tends to solidify…
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