Working Remotely

The idea of building a remote company wasn’t something we explicitly discussed at the start – it simply grew out of necessity. One of...

It was a decision I made early on and decided to roll with it. I was already living the lifestyle when...

Our remote work policy is very structured and clearly defined from the beginning. While everyone is remote, we still need our...

Organically.

First we developed the idea for our business model, then we implemented our plans by hiring a workforce of talented employees...

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...

Of course! A few things that we do is have team retreats to get together where we all meet in person....

Of course a remote company can have a healthy company culture. In fact, we think remote work positively contributes to company...

Sure, by following a similar transparent process and a welcoming environment nurturing remote teams and rewarding proactiveness, feedback, and criticism. Our...

Yes, sure. It is all down to how you communicate with each other.

Our culture is the product of everybody involved, so we try to reflect if the culture we have is the culture...

Make sure that everyone feels they belong to the company. Ensure that every employee has what he or she needs to feel comfortable at...

Our head of community in the U.S., Kevyn Klein, is critical for this process. She understands our teachers so well because she talks...

Retreats are a huge thing. We have an annual all company retreat, but we also have more focused retreats pretty regularly for smaller teams...

We consider our remote employees for any event we plan as a company. We limit office parties to only twice a...

Make sure you evaluate anyone you hire to be proven self-starters. The trick with remote work is it requires individuals with a solid concept...

The remote environment is not for everyone. If a company wants to implement a 100% remote environment, I would highly recommend speaking to an operations...

You can build relationships in person and maintain them over video calls, not vice versa. “Remote” does not mean walls – in...

Because of the nature of our business, we often work with small businesses who are making their first remote hire. We emphasize the importance...

Making the transition from office to remote work can be tough. Set-up some clear processes around communication, planning and constantly iterate. Don’t give...

Planning around time zones may be our biggest challenge. For example, when two people are working on the same project, one in Australia and...

Our company was built on its foundation as a remote organization since 2007, so it’s always been in our DNA to...

Inside sales is one of the things we have struggled with, but it’s finally beginning to work well. I believe representatives feed off...

The biggest challenges are logistical and infrastructure based, much the same as any company, I’d imagine! Unique to us as a distributed company...

Onboarding – It can be challenging to onboard new hires who have never worked remotely before. Day one looks quite different being...

We organize our communication and company activities around specific actions. So, instead of chatting about something that’s just popped up...

We use several tools to maintain constant communication throughout the day.  Sqwiggle is our on-demand video platform, Attentiv.com offers us a constant stream...

We utilize conference calls for solving immediate issues as well as for operational meetings. We hold “Cockroach Meetings” if a problem requires immediate attention...

We use a number of great commercial productivity tools such as Slack for real-time communication, Github for code management, Hangouts and...

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 big thing was the introduction of monthly face to face meetings. Then we introduced open policy for everything, which resulted in opening finances...

We used to all be in Maryland.  We had four team members in Maryland and it was really easy for us...

We found quickly that being fully distributed wasn’t going to work well for us. We missed seeing each other in...

Our growth has played a large role in us becoming even more intentional about our communication. When we had a team...

We’ve only been around for about one year now. Our culture and operations are evolving.

Slack and JIRA—the platform we use to track development tasks—are asynchronous tools, allowing us to manage communication even with...

Time zones are always a challenge to address, especially in Remote Year with our global presence.  We find that making sure...

We offer some flexibility in work schedules so that team members can have somewhat of a normal schedule, but we also...

Thankfully this isn’t a big issue, but as our team grows, it will become a challenge. More clearly communicating goals...

We have a very social and collaborative culture, where we talk about what we’re doing and what we’re up...