Managing Remotely
140 companies answer 6 questions
Managing a remote or distributed team successfully requires good support, planning, and communication. Whether deciding if and how to get the team to meet in person or defining the line between vacation and flexible work, the management of a remote team has differences from managing traditional on-site teams. In our Managing Remotely section we ask top remote companies how they keep their teams running smoothly from thousands of miles away.
Do you have remote communication protocols for your remote workers?
There is a constant communication buzz around AnswerConnect. With all of the platforms for chat, video call, email, etc, we are always able to connect…
We don’t have a specific policy for how soon or how often things need to be communicated. I’d say the Golden Rule applies here and…
Communication in a virtual environment is absolutely key to building trust. And so for this reason we expect our team to respond to emails, and…
Do you organize remote team retreats?
Yes we sure do! Jungle Camps twice yearly. It is a great way to meet, work, and grow together. It is also a time when…
The biggest thing is to understand what you want to get from the trip. On some trips, we’ve focused more on team-bonding and relaxing together,…
Yes! We organize three all-company events per year. One focused on working together on specific company projects, one focused on training, and another focused on…
Do your remote team members meet in person?
We were meeting together about once or twice a month in person. Now we will probably shoot for about twice a year to get everyone…
All of our events are optional, but yes we have a lot of in person events. We have a very active community that organizes events…
Absolutely. We have some very structured events such as week-long annual engineering team meetups. Many of our remote team members also come by headquarters in…
How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?
As attorneys, we measure productivity through billable hours generated by the employee.
We don’t- the culture around productivity is the same for both office and remote- get things done.
We look at a lot of different metrics – from crude things like time (it’s remarkably easy to see if someone is “showing up” and…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
If you can, by all means spend a week with new colleagues onsite. That immensely helps in building trust. Ongoing, having regular video calls helps.…
Communicate, communicate, communicate. And when you are done with that, follow up with good communication! You have to be able to express yourself well on…
Communication is key. Keep the lines of communication open at all times, whether through regular meetings or just a quick check-in via instant messaging.
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
Creating a healthy balance between trusting our team members to manage their work time and monitoring their activity. We have team members use time management…
Balancing socializing in a virtual workspace with not working in a silo. When working remotely, it’s so easy to either block out everything and become…
The most difficult part is helping your team stay motivated and feel part of a team when they have never met. In the office, a…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
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…
Well, by giving them a lot of responsibility. They need to feel needed and wanted.
Nearly all of our meetings are conducted through video chat. The face-to-face time helps people connect with their team members and build rapport. We’ve got…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
As a company we have internal policies that helps us to have key security measures that protects us from any liability concerns that possibly could…
Our company provides computer hardware and software to all our team members.
Our teachers have to use their own equipment. We have a team of hard-working IT support employees called “Firemen” who are ready 24/7 to jump…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
In short, “take some”. We used to not track days off, but it resulted in some people (mostly US employees) not taking enough time off.…
You take it when you need it. The responsibility that everything you promised gets shipped when promised is still yours. And you are the one…
Melewi has an unlimited leave policy. As long as it’s within reason, of course. Surprisingly though, since we’re remote and it’s quite easy to bring…
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
To me, making the work visible was a big fear. Even in traditional companies, there are people working nobody knows what they are actually doing.…
My biggest concern is worrying about the happiness of our team members. It’s easy to tell how someone is feeling in person. Fortunately, we haven’t…
My biggest fear is having a team member that is not dedicated and pulling their own weight. This is harder to identify when not working…
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