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…
As we transitioned from being a traditional print marketing company to an all-digital firm (in 2006), we simply began hiring remotely. And once we began…
Our remote work policy was implemented formally in 2009 via Dell’s Connected Workplace program. This program enables eligible team members to work remotely, at variable…
Can a remote-friendly company have a healthy culture?
Sure, by following a similar transparent process and a welcoming environment nurturing remote teams and rewarding proactiveness, feedback, and criticism. Our CEO and our top…
Yes! Within our hiring process, we put a lot of emphasis on the cultural fit of potential employees and therefore have a pool of people…
Absolutely. Culture is something that we are constantly working on. For us, it started with a globally connected workstyle, an independent lifestyle, and pride in…
How do you nurture your company’s culture in a remote work environment?
We train our new employees on our company culture, which is based on Accountability, Visibility and Respect. We have weekly onboarding meetings for all new…
Tools are important… github, slack, hangouts, gdocs, trello Meet-ups are very important 15five has been a great tool for us to organize work Tinypulse has…
We love the work but we also know when to have fun and connect. Alongside the two retreats a year, we have our Friday Fikas,…
What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?
Plan ahead. Get the right communication tools in place. Also consider that working from home might not be right for everyone. For that reason I’ve…
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…
It’s a lot easier if at least ⅔ of the team is remote. When only a few people are remote, it is easy to make…
What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?
The biggest challenge has been hiring; primarily making the false assumption at the start that any talented employee would make a great remote employee. It’s…
For Doist, it has been a very natural, organic process. We have always been remote-first, so it is integrated into our company’s DNA. Nevertheless, as…
The main challenge is finding the right fit, since as I mentioned before, it is not for everyone. Remote working can be very isolating, so…
What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?
We rely on tools such as Slack, Zoom, and Trello to communicate and plan our daily work commitments. I’m not saying we are perfect and…
Slack! I couldn’t imagine communicating as well as we do today without Slack. Our systems (finance, servers, schedules) all integrate with this communications tool, and…
Phone calls are useful. As are group chat tools like Slack, and email too. It’s a mix.
What has changed about how your remote team operates?
As our team has grown we have been slowly shifting from a company of generalists where everyone does a bit of everything to a place…
As we’ve grown, we’ve incorporated technology more into our daily operations. With more people involved in each process, it’s important to continually increase efficiencies. We…
The biggest things that have changed are directly related to scalability – the routines and policies we maintained as a team of six people just…
How does your team address different time zone challenges?
Everyone adds their working hours to company calendar, then each team leader knows very well when everyone is on working time. This allows us to…
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…
Time zones are always a challenge to address, especially in Remote Year with our global presence. We find that making sure our staff on the…
Sign Up for Our Weekly Fresh Jobs Newsletter
