How Remote Teams Can Unlock Great Cultures

The typical 9-to-5 has been turned on its head in recent years. With jobs increasingly moving online and more tools being introduced that allow teams to connect from wherever they are in the world, remote work is becoming just as mainstream as commuting to an office every day.

Physical distance shouldn’t stop your company from hiring high-quality talent. If the experts you seek aren’t available locally, remote job situations not only allow businesses access to experienced and qualified candidates, they also offer flexibility to employees or contractors, and everyone ends up happy.

While there are many advantages to working with your team in person, remote teams still have the ability to unlock great cultures if you make an effort to provide members the right tools, as well as opportunities for valuable connection.

Here are some ways you can create a supportive, open culture for your remote team:

• Video meetings: Working from home or another remote location doesn’t mean employees never have to see each other. Having regular face-to-virtual-face meetings, instead of traditional dial-ins, helps offsite employees feel more involved and part of a connected team. This can be key for one-on-one meetings too where facial expressions and other non-verbal cues may provide more insight than words alone. Keep in mind, however, that video meetings are not universally loved by all — for some it can cause anxiety or hinder them from being vocal and participatory — so make video optional on the team calls. Consider recording these meetings as well to share with team members who may not be able to attend.
• Occasional in-person meetings: At Upstate Interactive, we schedule quarterly strategy meetings for partners to connect in person, and cover travel as our team is not all located at our Syracuse office. Although we have video calls regularly, seeing each other in person a few times a year helps fortify our partnership, as there’s value in these meetings that you just can’t replicate in a Google Hangout. For instance, brainstorming sessions are a lot easier to do all together, and more fruitful as well, than if we all put ideas in a shared document.
• Using web-based tools for information-sharing: Because your team isn’t all in one place, all of the information everyone needs will not be all in one place either. This is where the communication and project-management tools come in to help organize information and keep teams on track. Slack, Trello, Basecamp, Asana, Dropbox, Zoom, and more are all great options for storing important documents, completing assignments and updating members on progress, and communicating with each other in real-time. Without using these tools, you run the risk of alienating remote team members who cannot readily access information that they need.
• Travel budgets: We are big on continuing education, especially working in a field that is constantly and rapidly evolving, so for us it’s important to provide a budget for travel to conferences and other events. For instance, Kseniya is headed to Prague at the end of the month for Devcon4. We coordinate with each other on who is heading to what event (and sometimes link up to go together), and report back to the team with what we learned.
• Monthly lunch budget: Many remote workers get their jobs done while patronizing coffee shops and restaurants, or they may even rent space at co-working offices, which can add up over time. Footing the bill on your team’s lunches every so often is a simple gesture to show your company appreciates the work they do.
• Surprise!: Once in a while, our team members will surprise each other and send gifts to one another from opposite coasts, like coffee, alcohol, local foods, etc. It’s a fun way to stay connected and remind each other that we don’t only exist to each other on Slack, but out in the real world too.
• Flexible job perks: Connection with your team is important, but allowing them to connect with family and friends in their life outside of work is important too. Offering team members flexibility through unlimited paid vacation time, for instance, increases their happiness and work/life balance. This comes with its pros and cons, as you have to trust that the team will do their work before they head off to paradise, but most people use it as expected and end up happier and more productive as a result.

For more tips on creating a great remote culture, we highly recommend checking out the book Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, founders of the project-management tool Basecamp.

Interested in working with us? We’re always looking for great people to join our team! Check out our Jobs page for the latest opportunities.