5 Questions To Ask Before Taking A Remote Job
Great, your company is remote! I’d love to work with you.
Hold on, not so fast. Just because a company is remote does not mean they give you that ‘remote nomad’ experience. There are actually many caveats to working remote you probably haven’t thought of.
When Do You Work? What Are The Mandated Hours?
Many of us think as a remote worker, you can pick your own schedule, work when you want, and just hit your mandated weekly hours through your own preference.
But as I noticed when interviewing with several remote startup or tech companies, some have strict policies around the hours you work.
For instance, here are a few schedules companies stick to:
- Trello: 12–4 Monday — Friday EST
- Invision: 10–6 Monday — Thursday EST & 10–3 Friday
- Buffer: Everyone works at few hours a day together, I’m not sure what time that is, or what time zone. But here is some more info on their remote working habits.
How Does Scheduling Work?
Some companies will schedule you to work certain hours every week based on others who have taken time off, based on the amount of traffic to a site, the need for people to be available for customer service, etc.
You’ll want to know how you get hours, what part of the day you’ll be working and if you can get all of the hours promised.
A friend of mine works for a company providing customer support remotely. Once a week they get an email that time for the next week is available, and they all jump on an Google spreadsheet as fast as possible to grab hours.
When Are Team Members On That I Will Work With?
Even if you aren’t mandated to work with people at a certain time, you are going to want to get on to work with certain team members when you need to collaborate on a project.
You should ask in advance when people regularly work, so that you can decide if that time works for you.
Luckily, most people will work Monday-Friday during business hours, I’ve noticed in my experience anything from 7AM to 9PM in their timezones, so with a remote team that can get messy fast.
What Tools Do You Use For Scheduling, Time Tracking?
Some companies are intensely strict about time tracking and scheduling, while others are laid back.
I worked at Inbound.org and we didn’t have a specific tool to track our hours. But when I worked at FullQuota we used Clarizen (I hate that tool).
Now at Sticker Mule we have another tool for hourly employees. But the important thing here is that every company has their own policy on this.
A popular company for time tracking is Hubstaff, they also offer screen shots for companies who want to make sure you aren’t wasting their work time.
I hate having people look over my shoulder, critiquing what I’m doing so this feature would drive me bonkers, but Hubstaff is great for time tracking and they are a very customer centric company, meaning they’ll be there for you when you need it.
What Tools Do You Use To Stay In Touch?
Most companies are using Slack or HipChat, but there are others people use to stay in touch. Here are some commonly used tools:
Video: (by the way, I don’t like being on video so this is a real challenge for me)
- Sqwiggle
- Hangouts
- Skype
You’ll want to know ahead of time what you’ll be expected to do.
Some companies aren’t even using email anymore, while others focus on it heavily.
Conclusion
Many of us prefer to work from home, and while the job market for remote working has expanded exponentially, it’s still difficult to find a perfect fit.
Keep these questions in mind, so you don’t get yourself into a situation you regret.