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?
Organically.
We did not implement a remote work policy. Building a distributed company was our intention from the start. Dr. Chris Waters (my co-founder) and I…
It began organically — the company co-founders lived in different geographic areas. As the company began to grow, it made sense to implement a remote…
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…
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…
We have a strong company culture, and we are 100 percent remote. We do this by making sure our company core values are not aspirational, but…
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
I think adopting Slack has been the biggest improvement to our remote culture. It’s a lot more informal than Asana which lets us have more…
We focus on the pillars of our culture: Fun, Action, Communication, Transparency, Trust (FACTT). Fun – Meetups, video chats just to make each other laugh.…
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?
Every company has different needs, so it’s not one size fits all. If you are thinking that remote work could be good for your company,…
Trust is key. Employers must trust the employee to execute, and employees must trust the employer to give them the space to work. Employers need…
Live, breath, think, love remote. Don’t do it because others are telling you it is the best. You have to be convinced it is, with…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
You really do get so much more done when you can all sit in a room together for a day and hash out the big…
Planning around time zones may be our biggest challenge. For example, when two people are working on the same project, one in Australia and the…
Working remotely isn’t for everyone. It is well documented that it can be lonely for people who rely on work for most of their in-person…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
The most effective communication method we’ve used is video calls on Google Hangouts. Text-based communication channels such as email and HipChat/Slack certainly have their place…
We detest emails. That means that the vast majority of our communication falls into 3 channels: Slack, Asana and Skype. We communicate a lot though,…
We have a few different platforms and standards for communication. First off, each team has weekly meetings to discuss progress on various projects and what…
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
Our team has just gotten a lot bigger. Our head of teacher recruiting, Bel Chan, has done an amazing job with that. When she started…
The most noticeable change for me has been the size of the company and the effect that has on team (and inter-team) dynamics. When I…
The team is constantly growing, so communication changed. We need to make sure to stay as transparent as possible, for example by sharing meeting notes…
How does your team address different time zone challenges?
We generally work on East Coast time (8am to 5pm) but have early birds on the East Coast and night owls on the West Coast,…
We have a 24/7 support team to handle communications around the clock. We also have specialized remote workers available to answer questions in the most…
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…
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