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?
The remote workforce grew organically based on our hiring philosophy, which remains to hire the best people in the world, no matter where they live.
It was planned with the release of the VIPKID app. Our founders realized that recruiting teachers to come to China was a challenge. Setting up…
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Yes. Our company culture is based on shared values. We have a company full of independent people who love making the web a better place.…
Yes, absolutely! We put the team at the very center of the business, and by making an every day conscious effort to ensure everyone believes…
Absolutely! Our teams tend to focus on communication because we do have so many remote members. We hold Town Halls quarterly so everyone hears the…
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
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…
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…
Our online forum is an important part of our company, a place where everyone can share ideas and chat—a virtual water cooler, if you will.
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
If you’re going to do it, go all in. Remote doesn’t work well as an option or as a partial solution. Working remotely is a…
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…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
Communication across time zones means things can take longer than you would like. For instance, if I send an email on Monday at 3 p.m. to…
Onboarding – It can be challenging to onboard new hires who have never worked remotely before. Day one looks quite different being remote vs. being…
One of the biggest problems is finding a team to build the application with the right skills at the right cost who are available when we…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
Our communications stack is pretty typical for a remote company: chat, phone, email, video conferencing, regular meetings. Each of those channels can be extremely effective…
Most communication at Mokriya happens on Slack. This is supplemented though with one-on-ones, team huddles and all-hands meetings on Zoom.
A combination of online tools such as email, video conferencing, and real-time messaging apps such as Slack brings everyone together at The Cheat Sheet.
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
First big thing was the introduction of monthly face to face meetings. Then we introduced open policy for everything, which resulted in opening finances and…
We’ve grown at such a rapid pace that adapting and scaling has become second nature. Because we are now spread so widely across the globe,…
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…
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,…
Our entire company is online from 3pm-7pm GMT which means we have a 4-hour window for all hands meetings, daily standups, and the off-hand meeting…
Sign Up for Our Weekly Fresh Jobs Newsletter