Working remotely & globally

Working remotely and within a global team, being able to structure ourselves in a way that maintains our mental and physical wellbeing is not only more possible and comes with some real advantages in doing so, but also even more vital to avoid or mitigate the challenges that come with such an environment.

Let’s go through how we manage working in this environment successfully.

Self discipline and structure

We encourage our team to set up their own work structure, and one that works for them. Being a remote company we cannot, and do not wish to micromanage our team. We will however make it clear that we want them to feel empowered to manage their own time, and where possible, to choose their working hours, and if they have worked over hours, to use Flexitime.

We can only consistently perform to a high standard when we manage our work time and well being in harmony.

Team Structure

As we operate 24/7, we “follow the sun” and have teams in 3 main timezone regions (APAC, EMEA and AMER). We tend to structure a lot of our team meetings to allow for two time zones to meet at once. In some roles this will mean that you’ll start your day with a handover meeting from one region, and end it by giving an update to a team in another region. Allowing you to have the sense of handing over control and being able to switch off.

Document whatever is appropriate

In order to support everyone’s work/life harmony, and ensure we aren’t “pinged” at a bad hour by colleagues on the other side of the world, we document relevant updates and tasks for our colleagues via easy-to-use tools. This allows for better asynchronous working, meaning less unnecessary meetings, especially at inconvenient hours. This doesn’t mean tons of extra work, in fact long term it means less work for everyone.

Social time

We set aside time for social meets and “Donuts”, and have Social Slack channels to share personal updates, and contribute to discussions on hobbies or causes we care about.

When working remotely there is also great value in taking out just to connect with your colleagues, even if the call is work focused, we encourage employees to take time to connect with each other on a personal level during it.

Little things help

Saying “hi” on Slack in the morning in the team channel makes other people aware we’re available, and importantly lets them know there is a colleague online. If none of us said pleasantries on Slack all day, it could feel a little lonely.

Equally saying “bye” lets people know that that person is no longer available for the day. In general as we start and end the day, or if we need to pop out throughout the day and become unavailable, we update the team Slack channel to make the team aware and do our bit to add a bit of community buzz and friendliness to the Slack traffic.

Support Structure

If someone struggles, or needs support, we have support systems in place. They can speak to HR, speak to the Feel Good Managers, or if preferred just speak to colleagues, many of which are remote work veterans who can help support them.

Most of these points will be covered at a deeper level in specific parts of our internal handbook on Confluence, for existing employees.