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?
Well, I think we have a huge advantage of being remote-first or remote only—whatever you call it, remote is natural to us. So, I’d say…
Organically. We learn as we grow. Thanks to the generosity of the remote community, there is a lot of best practices being shared and we…
It started organically as a result of our founders needing to leave the U.S. because of visa issues, and it was made a formal part…
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
I feel like we have a very healthy company culture, and we’re constantly working to make it better. We do little things sometimes like spend…
Remote companies can have a healthy culture. In one sense, you don’t have the constant interpersonal contact that can sometimes damage relationships which might inadvertently…
Of course a remote company can have a healthy company culture. In fact, we think remote work positively contributes to company culture.
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
(a) At the start of our weekly one-on-one calls, we take a few minutes to talk about something that we are enjoying being involved with…
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.
We encourage people to bring their whole selves to their work. We have channels in Slack for people to share their love of games, literature,…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
For companies forming from day one, I would start incorporating remote work immediately. Attempting to move a centralized business to a distributed one is incredibly…
There are some things that Appirio has done to maintain a sense of community within our remote workforce. Since most employees don’t go into an…
Remote work isn’t right for every company, but we think it could work for more companies than many people think. Online tools and in-person meetings…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
Aha! is growing more rapidly than any other company that I have founded or worked for. Chris and I founded Aha! because we believed so…
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…
Developing a high level of trust and collaboration with people who are half-around the world. It’s a challenge, but it’s possible, and as the various…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
Of course we place huge value on audio and video communication at Speak. I think that a lot of remote teams aren’t embracing this to…
We have a few different platforms and standards for communication. First off, each team has weekly Zoom meetings to discuss progress on various projects and…
Emails. We work in all time zones. Emails are great. People can open them as they wake up. Telegram Messenger is good for chat groups.
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
We have gotten smarter about the tools we use, better at documentation and checklists, better at reporting, and we’ve spent more time in-person periodically throughout…
We used to all be in Maryland. We had four team members in Maryland and it was really easy for us to all get together…
Being remote, we spent a lot of time perfecting the best way to convey information so that content remained clear and intact. Our current tools…
How does your team address different time zone challenges?
Mostly that’s a challenge for our teachers. Class schedules have to revolve around Chinese kids’ lives. In New York time, class slots are open starting…
Currently, all of our remote employees are in the same time zone. We are a 24/7 operation so we do encounter scheduling conflicts with our…
We make sure everyone coming on board understands the different time zones. We work together to identify when the majority of workers are available and…
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