Managing Remotely

Ha, no. This sounds terrible. Where is the trust?

As with an office based role, remote workers are required to be available during the working day.  Generally most managers will establish the norms, as…

There is no hard and fast rule, but as a general rule of thumb, the quicker the better. Because we are a startup company, things…

We meet once a year and vote for the location that most people want to do. So far, we’ve been to Barcelona, Bulgaria, the Philippines,…

For a remote team, the main focus is actually just to spend time together face-to-face, so plan everything around that. We find a yearly all-team…

Yes, in-person time is important. For us, the most important part of the retreat is all of the non-work time. We plan a fun activity,…

It is informal and unscheduled, but sometimes employees living near each other will get together for a lunch or dinner.  We also have our yearly…

The full team meets together at least twice a year. There are meetups by various teams based on need and geography throughout the year.

Every department is different, but for the most part, yes. The marketing team has what we call a ‘marketing summit.’ Every quarter, we get together…

As a fully remote company, we’re results-oriented by necessity. We’ve identified key metrics for most of our team that allow us to see results, and…

Our main tool for managing work effort is Basecamp.  We use that both to schedule out the work that needs to be done as well…

We have sales and other deliverables which are measurable. I think it more difficult to measure the productivity for roles that don’t have clear deliverables…

Communication, community, and transparency. Without those three things, your relationships with remote workers will fail.

Being able to measure the output of your employees. Trust.

Clear expectations are critical for remote workers. Training a remote worker is different than training an in-house worker; it is doubly important to be clear…

Making sure people are consistently aligned with the mission.  People can start to lose track as they get heads down on the day to day…

The hardest part about managing a remote workforce is the propensity for terse communication.  Often times, people are chatting, trying to quickly accomplish something or…

Making sure we build relationships offline as well as online.

Each team that is working for a client takes responsibility for all the issues: financial stuff, agreements, customer relations, etc. Thanks to our policy, people…

We talk all the time. A short, daily all-hands meeting allows everyone to understand the what and the why. We make a point of being…

At Goodway, we don’t treat our remote employees any differently than if they were in an office setting. They can’t be seen as exceptions or…

Our employees get a laptop for administration work, as well as a display, keyboard, and mouse. The software developers and QA team may have different…

We buy people computers but expect them to use their own phones and make sure they have a quiet, comfortable space in which to work…

Everyone does BYOD, mostly because everyone has different preferences and environments that make them most effective, but we will sponsor apps at times.

No specific policy. Work when you want, take time off when you need it. Coordinate with your teammates so your time off is not disruptive…

It’s quite flexible. We ask that people are respectful of company deadlines and crunch times, while also being respectful of their health. As of early…

Aha! currently offers 15 days of paid time off to all teammates in their first year and 20 days in the following years, as well…

We were a bit worried about our teachers not feeling a sense of belonging. But it turned out most of our teachers just love us…

Accountability. The fear that people would simply flake, walk off into the distance, play video games instead of work. Sure they came true. And then…

Not being able to express when an issue is truly urgent. This is a problem, but it’s gotten easier the more we all work together.…