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?
We set communication norms by job function. Some team members, like customer service, are connected to the chat system throughout normal business hours. Others, like…
The only hard routine is our Monday review call where everyone gets together for 90 minutes. As CEO I have scheduled 30 minutes of 1:1…
Not at all. Everybody should balance his needs with that of the company and act accordingly. As we don’t have working hours, people are not…
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…
Yes! The events count as one form, and they love to meet up for potlucks and meet and greets. We’ve also sponsored two successful trips for…
Yes – see my blog where I wrote the definitive guide to planning an offsite.
Do your remote team members meet in person?
Currently, we meet on an as-needed basis (e.g. once/twice per year), However, similar to Automattic (the WordPress folks), we would like to meet much more…
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…
We get together every three months for three to seven days, changing the location almost every time. While there are things that can’t be postponed,…
How do you measure the productivity of remote workers?
When looking at developers the code quality is essential. We focus on output, not on working hours.
We agree upon targets with measurable results for all our team members, allowing them and us to keep track of their progress. The reality though…
We do not. It either works or not. The mutual feeling has to be positive and the client has to be happy. There’s really nothing…
What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?
Clearly defined feedback mechanisms, high levels of daily contact, use of communication tools such as Skype, Fuze, or GotoMeeting to create face to face exchanges.…
Open and frequent communication: It is so important to over-communicate and follow up with team members afterwards to ensure the message was perceived as intended…
Communication is key. I’ve found in a remote environment people actually work harder at communicating because they have to. Especially if you’re dealing with an…
What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?
One of the hardest things is making sure you have a good set of managers overseeing the remote employees, and making sure they are fully…
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Knowing what to do with all the awesome.
At GitHub it’s important to us that we look after our employees. We’re not just in this for short-term productivity, we’re in this for the…
How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?
We are in constant communication with members of our team using online communication tools, and it’s very easy to work together and collaborate toward a…
Our leaders are continual learners in what good leadership truly is. Ultimately, we keep ourselves moored in our mission, the continual development of a warm…
It’s really all about creating intentional communication to ensure everyone is “in the loop.” We also have a Director of Employee Happiness whose job it…
What is your BYOD policy for remote workers?
We do not provide any computers, cell phones, etc. since keeping inventory of items like that would be extremely expensive and difficult to retrieve at…
We tend to equip people with a strong Mac so they can be effective wherever they are.
We don’t have hard-and-fast rules. We expect our team to be adults, and we expect everyone to have a sense of ownership and respect, treating…
What is your time off policy for remote workers?
We don’t track time off but expect people to take roughly 4 weeks vacation. Most of our team doesn’t have set hours so it’s really…
We do not have a time off limit. However, for it to be worth my while to manage our resources, they have to contribute a minimum…
Everyone has a set amount of days per year that they can use as they like.
What were your biggest fears in managing remote workers?
I never had any fears. We’ve been told countless times that at some point we need to get an office and have a headquarters so…
We very naively started all being remote, so there were no fears. Here’s a challenge that surprised me: on the same day, I had a…
My first opportunity to manage a full-time employee came at Fire Engine RED! I had previously supervised contractors and freelancers … but now I was…
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