Even before the pandemic and the big shift into remote and hybrid work models, one-on-ones were considered critical to the professional and personal development of managers and their employees. Today, they’re even more crucial.

In the Manager Tools podcast, host Mark Horstman calls one-on-one meetings “the single most powerful thing we know a manager can do to improve their relationship with direct reports and get better results.” One-on-ones go beyond an open-door policy: They create a space for leaders to coach, mentor, and build a working relationship with their teams.

Benefits for managers: Self-reflection and growth

One-on-one meetings are an excellent way for managers to speak candidly with their direct reports, strengthen relationships, and create safe work environments built on trust. However, one-on-ones also present managers with a unique opportunity to focus on their own growth as leaders, reflect on and hone their coaching and mentoring skills, their ability to give feedback, and listen to constructive criticism. This is especially true for managers of remote teams.

Research by Google showed that one-on-one meetings directly correlate with managers’ overall performance. They concluded that higher-scoring managers were more likely to have frequent one-on-ones with their team members than lower-scoring managers.

The benefits of one-on-ones: more employee engagement

People thrive in their work when they receive focused, uninterrupted time from their managers. When managers create a space for their direct reports to talk honestly about things that impact their work and experience, it gives people a chance to truly reflect on how they feel about their workload, mental health, and team dynamics.

In a study published in HBR, researchers used Microsoft Workplace Analytics to take a deep dive inside two Fortune 100 companies and found that people with managers who didn’t have regular one-on-one meetings were four times as likely to be disengaged.

Meanwhile, people who had twice as many one-on-ones with their managers as their peers were 67 percent less likely to be disengaged. More research by The New York Times showed that frequent meetings with direct reports were “one of the strongest predictors of success for managers.”

This data shows us that when professionals have the opportunity to discuss things outside of task status updates or daily to-dos, they’re more engaged and motivated. This is especially true for remote and hybrid teams, as a lack of communication can make people feel isolated and disconnected.

How can managers leverage their one-on-one meetings?

Regular meetings with individual team members are beneficial in myriad ways. Managers can get even more out of them–while improving their own effectiveness–when they adopt a few techniques and approach meetings with a positive, employee-focused mindset.

This time is for your team members

These meetings are all about the individuals managers are meeting with. What does this mean? The focus should remain on the team member. Equally important is the employee’s participation in the meeting. These meetings provide a safe space for leaders to hear every team member out and organize future check-ins. Personalized time can also have incredible long-term benefits on retention, collaboration, and team dynamics.

Don’t choose favorites

Not everyone on your team is a top performer or vocal about their opinions or concerns, but it’s vital that managers dedicate time to every person on their team. Giving your people dedicated, uninterrupted time with managers–whether it’s once a month, bi-monthly, or multiple times a week–goes far when it comes to boosting team-wide morale.

Not just a conversation

One-on-one meetings aren’t performance reviews. If anything, regular one-on-ones help take the pressure off performance review meetings and offer managers and employees the opportunity to build open and trusting relationships. These meetings are a time for asking honest questions, encouraging honest answers, listening, and coaching. Starting the meeting with questions like “How’s everything going?” or “How has working on xyz project so far been?” can help break the ice.

Collect feedback for growth

These meetings provide an excellent opportunity for growth. They’re also perfect for working on improvised management and leadership skills. Collecting feedback from the team can help identify gaps and spaces where managers can improve their leadership skills.

Hear your people out

If there’s a conflict or disagreement between team members, take the time to pause and listen. Managers who recognize and respect people’s concerns are more likely to build stronger relationships with their teams. The simple act of listening is easy and effective.

Take notes

A study published in Psychological Science found that people who take notes with a pen and paper retained more information than those who typed away on their screens. Taking physical notes in a meeting also shows people that you’ve taken an active interest in what they have to say, especially in a remote setting when it’s easy to be distracted by Slack or other open tabs.

Book a follow-up

Don’t let your one-on-ones be a one-off. Make sure to take the final five minutes of the meeting to recap what you’ve discussed, review agreed-upon actions, and schedule your next one-on-one.

In fact, research by Upwork found that one-on-one meetings are six times more effective than group-level communication. Tim Sanders, Upwork’s VP of Customer Insights, recommends scheduling weekly one-on-ones.

What to discuss in one-on-one meetings

Above all, it’s essential to use these meetings to create a safe, shared space for asking questions, getting feedback, and discussing long-term personal goals. Your agenda items should help you get a better understanding of how your team members are collaborating and how managers can assist in the career development of team members. 

It’s always a good idea to structure the meeting. Setting an agenda helps team members prepare and feel more relaxed before diving in. Here are some topics you can consider building into your one-on-one meetings:

• Weekly and monthly priorities
• Checking in on team and company goals
• Identifying any roadblocks or pain points and resolving them
• Identifying successes or big wins and giving credit where credit is due
• What worked well on a recent project? What didn’t work well?
• Pinpointing the biggest time wasters and finding solutions
• Team collaboration: What’s working and what’s not working?
• Where are the opportunities for growth and development?
• Does your team member feel supported?
• Identify any challenges in a remote work environment and find a solution

Make one-on-ones a mainstay of your company culture

One-on-one meetings are a cornerstone of healthy company cultures. While these meetings can feel time-consuming, especially in a remote work environment, the return on investment is key to developing trust, solidifying teams, improving collaboration, and boosting engagement.

The post How to optimize one-on-one meetings for your remote teams appeared first on HiBob.

Before the pandemic, 7 million people in the US worked remotely. Currently, with most businesses embracing the idea of location-independent people, this number has significantly increased. While remote work has become the ‘new normal,’ many companies still struggle to adapt to these changes. I have 10 years of experience managing a remote company. This is what I’ve learned about successfully scaling a remote workforce.

Why hire remotely?

People no longer chase jobs or roles with the corner office in a plush building. The Future of Work is here, and people now chase roles that give them a better work-life balance and perks and benefits that align with their values and purpose. From the employer’s perspective, there are significant benefits that come with hiring people remotely:

1. A huge cost-cutting move: According to a Global Workplace Analytics study, companies that hire remote employees can save up to $10,000 per person each year. Those savings go up to $100,000 for every person a company doesn’t have to relocate. So, while a remote team will save the employer some essential infrastructure costs, it’ll also promote a richer company culture of flexibility. The cost of living for a distributed team plays a big factor, too. For example, hiring a developer in the United States is typically more expensive for a startup than hiring a developer with a similar skill set in Slovakia.
2. A larger pool of talent: When employers only hire locally, they could miss the opportunity to have an inclusive and diverse team. But when you expand your search, the talent pool becomes bigger and opens up opportunities for growth, potential partnerships, and sales avenues.
3. Productivity: The biggest myth of remote working is that people will not be productive, or they’ll slack off their priorities or tasks. When companies give people the chance to work remotely in an environment where they feel more motivated, they work at their own pace. According to a survey by Airtasker, people working remotely take longer breaks (22 minutes) compared to people working on-site (18 minutes). However, those working remotely work an average of 1.4 more days every month and almost 17 more days per year than people on site.

Effective remote hiring strategies

I’ve seen many companies hire the wrong people for their remote teams and pay the price for it. A wrong hire doesn’t just waste essential resources. It also affects the morale of other people on the team. Before employers start looking for a remote candidate, follow these three strategies to help scale your team the right way:

Write a good job description

Create a clear and concise job description. Job descriptions should be attractive, with a small introduction to your company and its values, the kind of talent you’re seeking, and the responsibilities of the role you’re hiring for.

Search on the right platforms

Are you hiring a freelancer, a part-timer, or is this a full-time position? This is important because you’ll need to search for candidates in different places, depending on which type of contract you’re hiring for. These are some of the most effective places to recruit top talent:

1. Social Media: Platforms like LinkedIn, closed Facebook groups, and even some Instagram communities are unique platforms that can help you find new talent. 
2. Job boards: This is one of the most effective and efficient platforms because many candidates will appear if you write a good job description with attractive options. All you’ll need to do is handle the vetting process and the interviews.
3. Remote recruiting agencies: If you want to hire remotely and fast, these agencies are probably the best way to hire remote talent.

Host productive and constructive interviews

When hosting interviews, test the candidate’s technical skills to see if they have what it takes to handle the role’s responsibilities. Ask questions about previous experiences, their most significant challenges when working on a remote team, and what they learned.

Tips for hosting successful remote interviews:

• Prepare the interview questions (never improvise)
• Know what type of people you want to hire
• Look out for the soft skills (time-management, self-reliance, communication, etc.).
• Camera on!

Company Culture

Culture is probably one of the most important things you need to consider when scaling a remote team. People seek work environments that encourage people to grow professionally. If you want your people to value you, you’ll need to invest in improving your virtual workplace. 

With my experience managing a remote team at DistantJob, I learned that culture goes beyond establishing your goals and company values. It’s about creating a virtual environment where everyone feels connected and valued.

Sharon Koifman is the founder of DistantJob, a remote staffing agency from Canada specializing in finding full-time remote developers.

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We sat down with Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett, a workplace psychologist and president/co-founder of Work EvOHlution, to get an in-depth understanding of what tools and skills high-performing managers need to lead highly-engaged, distributed teams.

Q: What are the challenges of managing a remote team?

The biggest challenges I’ve witnessed over the last decade when it comes to managing remote teams are: 

1. Trust building: It’s difficult for managers to build and maintain trust within the team. Trust is harder to build and easier to damage from a distance.
2. Potential risk of overwork and burnout: It’s up to HR leaders and managers to promote healthy company cultures with work-life balance and wellness at the core. It’s easier to burn out fast and fall into a pattern of working long hours and skipping breaks.
3. Miscommunication when working remotely: It’s up to managers to tailor communication to their team’s needs and the individuals on it. The frequency of communication and the tools used to communicate are not one-size-fits-all. As remote managers, it’s key to practice versatile communication with your team members.

Q: What are the three most common communication mistakes managers make regarding remote work?

1. Misunderstandings: One of the biggest mistakes managers make is expecting people to understand their messages as they intended them to be understood. A lot gets lost in translation. When working remotely, the “intent-impact” gap is so common. Managers need to be very clear every time they communicate to ensure mutual understanding. Avoid making assumptions.
2. Meeting saturation: When working with dispersed teams, managers often make the mistake of spending too much time and energy in meetings. Before setting meetings, think through these essential criteria: a) is a meeting actually needed? b) who absolutely needs to attend? c) what’s the agenda, and can a manager send it 24 hours in advance? d) set clear deliverables during the meeting and share within 24 hours after the meeting has ended.
3. Use the right communication channel: Managers must be intentional about which communication medium or tool they use for which purposes. At Work EvOHlution we call this concept “communication medium match.” Leaders of teams need to be mindful of when video communication is needed, when to use instant message vs. email, and when to use Slack or Teams. Too often, we get into habits and patterns that may be inefficient or not the best way to communicate or collaborate.

Q: What can companies do to support their managers when working remotely?

Remote management requires new skills and behaviors. It’s harder than leading when we’re all together in the same physical space. Companies who do this right will invest in developing their managers to become skilled remote leaders. Development is best as a combination of learning from experts and on the job. Companies can benefit greatly through assessments to understand a manager’s strengths and gaps when it comes to remote leadership and offer development initiatives as needed. The Distributed Leader Profiler is a key example of what can help many leaders and organizations globally.

Q: How can managers develop more trust in their remote teams, and what tools would you recommend for this?

First and foremost, developing trust requires getting to know your people. What are their lives like? What challenges do they face? What motivates them in their work? Too often, we don’t make time to focus on the human being and focus only on tasks and outputs.

Once that’s achieved, it’s important to honor commitments. If we can’t meet a deadline, communicate that! Don’t drop the ball, as that would literally break trust when everyone is working apart. We don’t have the luxury of running into the person and talking it out in real time.

Q: How can managers stay connected with their team and boost employee retention during this time of remote work?

Communicate regularly and in different ways. A quick “drive-by” or huddle to say hello is key.  Don’t just reach out when you need something. Like any relationship, we need to nurture it by checking in and caring about how the person is doing. One of the most important questions a manager can ask is, “how can I help support you?”

One winning tip from Dr. Laura

“Each week is a new opportunity to become a better leader. Ask yourself the one thing you can do to communicate better with each of your remote direct reports, then implement it and review how it went. Take time every Friday to look back and then plan ahead for next week. Leadership is built over time and through being aware and intentional.”

Dr. Laura is an organizational psychologist and the co-founder and President of Work EvOHlution, innovative assessment and development solutions for remote employees. Join her for her podcast that explores the best ways to integrate work and life and live a purposeful life. 

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Research by Glassdoor found that organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent. When you’re an engineering lead, a critical part of your role is helping other engineers grow and setting them up for success. That means making sure they have the tools and processes they need to have an impact from day one. 

But how can you make new team members feel supported and included when they don’t have any face-to-face interactions? How can new employees experience the company’s culture when they work remotely?

While we understand that every onboarding process is unique to an organization, and there’s no one right answer, we want to focus on how remote engineering managers can set up a successful process for dispersed teams.

Manager onboarding checklist

First, managers should think about what new engineers and developers need to work remotely in their first eight to 12 weeks. This cohesive checklist can help you onboard new employees and set your entire team up for success.

Week 1: admin setup

• Draft a digital contract.
• Set up new employees across all internal systems (e.g., payroll).
• Create a data-driven review system for developer cultural fit, skills, project work and quality, and timeliness.
• Draft a welcome email, including links to the company’s intranet, the software required, knowledge and policies documents, first week plans, etc.
• Share the new remote team member’s details with your existing team.
• Have the developer conduct speed tests and test out hardware, and make sure a new employee is set up in their remote office with all equipment they need.

Knowledge sharing

• Find a mentor or buddy for the new hire.
• Draft company and team workflow documents.
• Create an initial project for all new hires with defined success metrics.

Meeting schedules

• Schedule one-on-one chats with other team members.
• Schedule a weekly one-on-one meeting for the first month with the remote developer.
• Send meeting requests for team-wide stand-ups.
• Communicate the company’s remote culture and set expectations.
• Brief new employees on day-to-day expectations.
• Brief new hires on review processes, and how their performance will be measured.

Next steps

Now that you have a checklist in place for yourself, here are some pointers to consider when you’re figuring out how to integrate your department and team onboarding processes with the company culture. For best results, managers should focus on taking a more data-driven approach to the onboarding process and development of an induction space that’s packed with all the information remote workers need. This can be the intranet, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or a platform where new hires can log in securely and adapt to the company’s culture.

Here are some additional best practices to consider as part of the onboarding process.

Be intentional about company culture

COVID-19 forced engineering teams into remote work, and remote (and hybrid) work are here to stay. To adapt to this new mode of work, engineering leaders are encouraged to migrate all icebreaker events to virtual formats. 

For remote onboarding, start with being intentional about your company culture and introductions to each team member. This is incredibly important, as you can’t bring a new hire around to everyone’s desk and introduce them. For new hires to get the vibe of the company culture, managers need to foster a sense of belonging from the very start.“In my 20 plus years experience in the tech industry, it’s become clear that when you hire an engineer no matter where they come from it’s imperative to help them through your organization’s processes. This can be as simple as getting the right equipment and login information for their first day, to educating them on how to review code. It’s the simple things,” says Christine Wood, Director of Product Engineering, Cox Automotive.

Give everyone a buddy

According to HCI, 87 percent of organizations that assign a mentorship or buddy program during the onboarding process say that it’s an effective way to speed up new-hire proficiency. This “buddy” or “mentorship” system guarantees that each new hire has someone they can go to with questions they don’t feel like talking to their manager about.

How do you implement a buddy program? Just match a seasoned employee with your new hire. Request that they check in once a week for the first month, and one to two times per month thereafter, to make sure your new hire is acclimating to their new remote workplace.

Which organizations are doing this?

Zapier

On their website, Zapier explains what they “call … the ‘Zap Pal’ program. Every new hire is assigned a Zap Pal, who reaches out to them in their first week, sets up at least one Zoom call with them, and continues to check in throughout their first month or so. It gives everyone a guaranteed 1:1 relationship, which is so important when you’re spending most of your time alone in your house.”

Drop

“We don’t expect new engineers to have experience with our precise tech stack and so the first 3 weeks are allocated for ongoing education of architecture, frameworks, programming languages, and more,” says Ian Logan, VP of Engineering at Drop. “Beyond a new hire’s first 3 weeks, we help define a roadmap and mentor engineers to be increasingly autonomous, self-sufficient, and driven.”

Pair together for the first month

Many engineering leaders say the most thoughtful approach to onboarding new developers in a remote setting having them pair with seasoned team members. When employees code together, make sure the veteran employee actively makes time to drive the session for the new hire. “[Pairing] naturally fosters alignment across the team, and largely prevents early performance issues … this process also empowers happy and productive engineers,” says Steve Pereira, CTO at Statflo.

Plan a weekly onboarding schedule

HCI states that most organizations stop their onboarding process just after the first week, leaving new hires feeling confused, discouraged, and lacking resources. Agreeably so, a week is hardly enough time for a new hire to become acclimated to their company, culture, and role.

To avoid this, engineering leaders should construct a week-by-week plan that fully supports new hires in a distributed environment.

Ted Goas from Stack Overflow says they comprehensively plan out every new hire’s first month in advance:

“We now have an onboarding process that spans a new hire’s first month, broken out by week. Everyone now knows what’s expected from a new hire after their first week, after their second, and so on. A new hire can skip ahead if they want, but expectations are clear and what should be happening at any given point.”

Establish a code review process as part of onboarding

Once new engineers are up and running, managers should establish weekly code review process tasks during the first month. This is an invaluable tool to ensure your team consistently learns from each other and recognizes any minor errors in the process. Code review also presents an opportunity for cross-pollinating information and expertise between team members. And new hires need to be part of this team culture to engage meaningfully with new teammates.

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According to Forbes, workplace bullying costs the U.S. economy an estimated $360 billion annually due to high turnover and diminished work productivity. Research conducted by Monster.com, the global employment service, found that 90 percent of workers have been bullied at work. The research found that 51 percent reported being bullied by a superior and 39 percent were bullied by a co-worker. A similar survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com found that 56 percent of LGBT workers reported being bullied. This is why experts refer to workplace bullying as the “silent epidemic” in today’s office environments.

What is bullying?

Bullying can be intentional, repeated, aggressive behavior that takes place over a period of time, and has a devastating effect on those targeted. In this article, we discuss different types of workplace bullying.

Physical bullying

Physical bullying involves unwanted physical contact that is meant to assert power. It takes place when a person, their possessions, or property are subjected to physical assault. Physical assault causes bodily harm by hitting, kicking, tripping, shoving, punching, and vandalizing.

Verbal bullying

Various forms of verbal abuse undermine self-esteem and exert control. Verbal attacks involve insults, mocking, taunting, homophobic or racist remarks, inappropriate sexual comments, or threats that create fear and cause emotional distress.

Social bullying

Social bullying may be tricky to notice because it can be conducted covertly and does not always take place in the presence of the target. Sometimes, this type of bullying starts as a baseless rumor or nasty gossip that quickly gets out of hand. Social bullying damages a person’s social standing, reputation, or relationships, and often dents self-confidence. Social bullying also includes gesturing (bodily or facial), and pranks that humiliate, embarrass, or isolate people.

Cyberbullying

With the proliferation of devices like smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and computers, cyberbullying has become prevalent online. Cyberbullies often send abusive and disparaging texts, posts, emails, hate speech, and offensive images. A cyberbully can be someone you know or an anonymous stranger. However, with cyberbullying, there’s a good chance hundreds or even thousands of people experience intense anguish in the digital space.

Bullying and mental health

According to Mind the Workplace, a report by Mental Health America (MHA), workplace mental health has received increased attention in recent years, in large part because it’s been directly linked to an annual loss of 500 billion dollars in productivity and performance. But the loss is more than financial. Overstressed, anxious, and unhealthy employees contribute to the creation of unhappy workplaces and lower overall employee morale.

A different study undertaken in the UK revealed that exposure to workplace bullying increases the risk of developing depressive and anxiety disorders, along with PTSD symptoms and stress-related psychological complaints. 

The same study also found that 33 percent of patients with mood disorders attribute their mental health struggles to their work situation, citing problems and unhappiness at work as the most common self-reported cause of depression. The fact that work can have a significant negative impact on mental health isn’t surprising, especially since people spend the majority of their days at the office.

How can managers prevent workplace bullying?

Eitan Meiri, an expert psychologist in the field of Abuse and Bullying, shared his top 6 steps that management can adopt to prevent workplace bullying with me.

According to Meiri, the first step is for companies to implement a clear no-tolerance policy that specifies bullying in any form will not be tolerated. If bullying occurs, it will be addressed with disciplinary procedures.

This next step is publicizing the policy so that all team members are made aware of the company’s standards regarding unacceptable behavior. The policy should be presented across the organization. If done well, it should promote company-wide awareness and healthy modes of communication.

Measure and track using effective tools or products that help analyze the atmosphere at work and detect the risk of offensive behaviors. With the right tools to measure employees’ experiences, companies can identify potential behaviors before they escalate, and maintain a positive and healthy work environment.

Facilitate anti-bullying training at the management level, as well as for the rest of the company’s employees. In addition to sensitivity training, managers should be trained on how to take appropriate action after receiving employee complaints and on ways to resolve them.

Nominate a professional contact that is reliable and trained. The contact should be internal and accessible to every employee who needs to reach out if they are being bullied or if they see someone else being a bully.

Establish a detailed process for dealing with any bullying incidents. The process can include grievance procedures, investigations, the timescale for action, and counseling.

As companies continue to look for ways to improve employee experience, they should remember that creating a favorable work environment does wonders for employee morale. It’s also a major driver for happy and healthy work cultures. We spend a large part of our time at work and incorporating the right measures against bullying can help managers better influence their employees’ day-to-day lives, resulting in a positive and more inclusive workplace.

The post How to foster bully-free and healthy work environments for your employees appeared first on HiBob.

Morale drives productivity and engagement among team members. When morale is high, the company and department can thrive. And managers need to ensure their team’s morale stays high—especially in a remote setting when you don’t have the physical cue. Managers will have to find new ways to work together and communicate, ensuring your teams can still feel the company culture in their own homes.

The biggest challenge for managers

“The biggest challenge that managers face is understanding how human motivation works…This is also because studying this was never part of their education, instead they learned this on the job,” explains Philip Vanhoutte.

Philip Vanhoutte is a big advocate for Smarter Working: a holistic human-centered work design practice that unifies space, technology, and people disciplines. He co-authored “The Smarter Working Manifesto”, a definitive guide on how to shape the best work style.

He explains that Deci & Ryan—in the Self-Determination Theory—identified autonomy as the catalyst for human development. It boils down to satisfying three innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When those needs are satisfied, we’re motivated, productive, and happy.

Vanhoutte says it’s really important for professionals in leadership roles to be emotionally intelligent and have an understanding of the human dimensions that come as part of an organizational structure.

5 strategies to improve team morale

1. Show interest and provide feedback: Vanhoutte says it’s really valuable when managers show real interest and respect for value contribution. “I remember vividly employees thanking me profusely for reading/critiquing their work product and giving impactful feedback. When I said ‘it’s my job to critique’, they said how rare it was to get such a response,” he adds.
2. Encourage professional growth: Vanhoutte suggests managers should have real interest in their team’s professional totality of competencies, interests, strengths, richness of personality, and where they want to take it. “This offers the opportunity to co-shape tours of duty as their career unfolds into human realization,” he says. Other ways to do this is by:
   • Offering truthful and specific praises and appreciation.
   • Recognizing when a job is well done—even if it’s a mundane task.
   • Actively listening to your employees during 1:1 meetings.
   • Providing undivided attention during Zoom calls—don’t be distracted and do other tasks.

3. Identify and celebrate small victories: There’s often a lot going on in any team, but often there are times when managers miss smaller wins. Teresa Amabile’s progress principle supports this in her theory where she states that of all of the things that can boost emotions and motivations during the workday, the most important is making progress in meaningful work. And while you’re here, Vanhoutte recommends saying “thank you” every so often. It’s a simple act of gratitude making people wanting to more of the same good work.
4. Embed nature into the remote workspace: In a remote workspace, being on video calls is getting increasingly monotonous, especially when you’re on the call with the same team for hours on end. As a solution to this, Vanhoutte recommends embedding nature into a work, ditching exhausting video calls for a voice calls during one-on-ones. “Prepare well for the session, put on a great headset and go for a virtual walk. You’ll be surprised how well you connect, how much you achieve and remember, even if you don’t take notes! I call this Nature@Work. No 5G needed!”
5. Focus on positivity over negativity: It’s so easy for negativity to overwhelm a team, especially when working remotely can sometimes include long working hours, people’s calendars drowning in endless meetings, or lack of collaboration between departments. When you want to keep your team’s morale high, be positive and focus on improvement rather than manifesting on the negative. A few innocent complaints and negative remarks can knock your team’s motivation down, so focus on the positives of your team more.

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Using data from Glassdoor and Comparably, we have shortlisted eight global companies who have completely embraced this shift to remote work, and in the process, improved their team dynamics and company culture.

1. INVISION

• Fully remote pre-COVID
• Industry: Design & Internet
• Company’s mission statement: “Bring design-driven innovation to every company in the world.”

A leader in the remote working game, InVision has 700 fully distributed employees working from across the globe. When onboarding new employees, they lean into their core company value—trust. Employees are trusted to show up on time, be present and deliver. 

Each team also has a daily 30-minute standup to discuss progress on ongoing projects and priorities for the week. InVision truly believes in the power of data, which is why they equip each employee with access to Degreed, an upskilling and learning platform.

The highlights: There are 54 reviews on Glassdoor that state InVision’s “remote work really enables employees to live their best life at work and home.” Plus, based on users who have contributed to ratings on Comparably the Engineering department consists of 34% men and 66% women.

2. BUFFER

• Fully remote pre-COVID
• Industry: Internet & Software
• Company’s mission statement: “We want to build a different type of company that’s focused not only on the bottom line, but also the happiness of our customers and team, and our personal growth along the journey.”

With 85 members working in a fully distributed team from 15 countries, Buffer has been experimenting with location-independent work since 2016. The global team adds an advantage to their product, as being distributed across time zones means there’s someone to speak with customers around the clock. More availability translates to more customers.

Buffer also cultivates a culture of collaboration on a managerial level, where executives can schedule 1:1s with their team leaders for an open feedback session every week if needed.

The highlights: On Comparably, 83% of employees at Buffer believe their meetings are effective. As per Glassdoor reviews, the company has received 4.5 stars out of 5 on work-life balance, and its senior management has 3.9 stars out of 5.

3. TREEHOUSE

• Fully remote pre-COVID
• Industry: E-learning and Coding
• Company’s mission statement: “Diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams.”

Treehouse’s biggest win is their 4-day working week, and the biggest company perk mentioned on both Glassdoor and Comparably. An e-learning platform for coders and testers, Treehouse has been running a fully remote operation since 2015. However, its remote success comes down to loyalty and trust among team leaders and employees.

Being proud of their foundations, founder Ryan Carson has shared the benefits offered at Treehouse on many podcasts and interviews, including lunch stipends, paid sabbaticals, retirement contribution, 4-day work week, health insurance, a quarterly increase in salary, and more.

The highlights:

• 80% of employees at Treehouse feel they are paid fairly.
• 80% are satisfied with their benefits.
• 50% of Treehouse employees feel their work environment is positive, meaning Treehouse is a happy place to work.

4. HUBSPOT

• Fully-remote post-COVID
• Industry: Software & Technology
• Company’s mission statement: “We believe businesses can grow with a conscience, and succeed with a soul — and that they can do it with inbound.”

Before Hubspot went 100% remote, they had a very public “no door policy” in place, which provided employees with full transparency into everything going on in the company. Employees have access to the company’s cash balances and information on the big picture of what departments are working on. Since the shift to remote work, this culture continues, albeit remotely.

HubSpot says that many of their people managers “focus on employee growth rather than just their team’s ability to hit quotas or goals.” Managers at HubSpot encourage employees to grow and learn from their mistakes. 

The highlights: The management team at HubSpot incorporates a people-centric approach, which is why the company has received an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 regarding culture, values, and senior management. 

5. WISTIA

• Fully-remote post-COVID
• Industry: Software & Internet
• Company’s mission statement: “We work hard to bring together people from a wide variety of backgrounds and identities, all with the goal of building more inclusive, more useful, and more impactful products and experiences. We foster an environment where everyone is encouraged to bring their unique personalities and skills to the office every single day.”

When a company is built on creativity, you know they aren’t taking any shortcuts in their creative approach to managing a team and fostering an inclusive culture. A former employee summarised the team culture as “compassionate, smart, sincere, weird, and inclusive. They make us want to come to work every day!” Wistia primarily makes educational video content for brands worldwide and invests in remote management and remote leadership.

There’s a real need for creativity and resourcefulness to keep your company culture thriving and keep new employees engaged. When the pandemic started, Wistia announced that every new joiner had to produce a 2-minute introductory video as part of their onboarding process.

The highlights: 50% of Wistia employees are excited about going to work each day, and 100% look forward to working with coworkers and are happy in their team, as per stats on Comparable.

6. WONOLO

• Fully-remote post COVID
• Industry: SaaS
• Company’s mission statement: “We’re passionate about solving these problems with a technology platform that empowers people to choose work that works for them instead of the other way around.”

Short for “Work Now Locally,” Wonolo is an on-demand staffing platform that helps people find flexible work while helping companies fill their immediate needs. They save companies recruiting money by connecting them with talented people within minutes on their platform. However, internally, Wonolo does things very differently.

Their product is their ‘people,’ so the company asks employees to join the platform every quarter and do at least one job with a registered Wonolo company. This enables them to test the platform for a 360-degree user experience and network with other companies and clients.

The highlights: On Comparably, the current management has a rating of 87 out of 100, being in the top 5% of companies of similar size in San Francisco. Wonolo also fosters an inclusive culture from within, with over 50% of their senior leadership team consisting of women with a strong background in tech, engineering, and product management.

7. UPWORK

• Fully-remote post COVID
• Industry: Internet
• Company’s mission statement: “To create economic opportunities so people have better lives.”

Upwork has built a 20 year-business around remote work. Remote working has been embedded in their company’s DNA from the word go.

The entire company has gone remote until the foreseeable future. Still, when their officers were open, their mission was to ensure employees in the office had everything they needed to focus on their work. This included a daily lunch program, holding insightful in-office events and experiences, and performing quarterly evaluations. With its distributed team, the company emphasizes supporting employees’ mental health and physical health. Resources include “family activities, mental & physical health, community outreach, personal growth, and guidance for employees to host virtual team-building events.”

The highlights: 52% of employees at Upwork believe their remote meetings are effective. Upwork’s work culture scored 71/100, placing it among the top 40% of similar-sized US companies. The Engineering and Design department also ranked the highest for work culture, as reported on Comparably.

The post 8 tech companies with amazing remote work cultures appeared first on HiBob.

“Effective brainstorming is about clear context, a safe space for unexpected ideas, and emphasis on quantity over quality,” advises Bruno Bergher, VP Product at Gladly. As a product management leader with experience leading product and design teams, Bruno knows how to guide creative brainstorming sessions and promote innovation in a virtual workplace, adding, “You can accomplish a lot of that without being in the same room.”

Here are Bruno’s best tips for remote brainstorming. 

1. Use an online whiteboard

If your teams are used to brainstorming visually, don’t give that up in your remote work environment. There are many apps and tools that offer templates where colleagues can drag, drop, write, draw, comment, and attach files—all in real-time—and work on a task together.

2. Remember to warm-up

Bruno recommends doing a warm-up brainstorm to make people comfortable and get them thinking outside of the box. “I’m especially fond of funny ones, where it’s easier to demonstrate that unexpected, even silly ideas are welcome.”

3. Work alone before working together

It can be hard to align with everyone’s schedules within remote teams, especially if teams work across different time zones. Managers can use this to their advantage—in most brainstorming sessions, you don’t need the entire group to develop the best ideas. As a manager, think about finding the right mix of people to attend these virtual sessions to get different perspectives and use everyone’s time effectively. Start your brainstorming process by having each person generate potential solutions independently and jot them all down in a document. What you want to avoid is having the entire group start throwing out ideas at one another in a group chat. Bruno recommends using software like Notion, Google Docs, and Figma. “There’s something extra fun about seeing the cursors of other people moving around on the screen.”

4. Always brainstorm on video

Brainstorming is a lot easier when you can screen share on a video call app and have others draw or highlight on your screen. Managers can also use in-built app features like breakout rooms on Zoom to break up a larger group.

Bruno recommends all participants have sticky notes at their home desks to make things a little more dynamic in a video setting. “Have each participant write ideas down one idea per note, as fast as they can. Then read them back to the facilitator, who writes all ideas down in a shared document that everyone can see (works best for describable, not drawn, ideas). This allows all participants to see others’ ideas, re-read something they may have missed, and add their own,” he adds.

Some brainstorming formats:

There are many brainstorming techniques. Here are some to get you and your team started.

1. Mind-Maps: Set up a central question in the middle of a whiteboard (or other shared document). Invite your team to add their ideas or thoughts. Link up related points to create a visual map of information, opportunities, recommendations, and roadblocks.
2. Rapid Ideation: Give your team a limited time to come up with as many ideas as possible. Sometimes time pressure brings out the best in everyone in terms of creativity.
3. Figuring Storming: Ask your team to imagine what someone else thinks about a topic. Tell your team to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, whether that’s a customer, supplier, client, or another department. Treat this as a role play, which will in itself present an opportunity for innovation.
4. Stepladder Brainstorming: This method is great if you want to give everyone the space to speak and present. Pose a few centralized questions, then send smaller groups off to breakout rooms to discuss their ideas and report back with one solid idea. Repeat the process until your full team is involved.

Exercise your remote brainstorming muscle

If you’re new to virtual brainstorming, remember that this is a process that will become more comfortable the more you do it. Give your team time to reflect and provide feedback on the sessions to optimize future sessions. During uncertain times, businesses rely on innovative solutions to keep the momentum going, and managers have to keep finding innovative ways to keep their distributed team inspired. 

The post How managers can brainstorm with their teams appeared first on HiBob.

Cassiopeia’s team has partnered with HiBob since the early days of Cassiopeia. We always felt a great connection to the people, HiBob’s leaders, the product values, and the company mission. 

That’s why I’m so excited to share that Cassiopeia has been acquired by HiBob.

Cassiopeia’s advanced technology will be added to the stack of features in the Bob platform, giving thousands of companies the tools they need to maximize collaboration and team potential in our increasingly remote and global world. 

Together, we aim to leverage our technology, helping people-centric companies grow their workforce and business in a dynamic, ever-changing landscape.

When we created Cassiopeia, we pulled from our own experiences managing and working in remote teams distributed across time zones. We know the difficulties in fostering collaboration and communication in flexible and hybrid work environments. We created Cassiopeia to help people leaders and managers improve team dynamics and communication, maximizing team potential. 

Cassiopeia analyzes team relationship patterns to deliver actionable insights (we do this without accessing communication content). Take, for example, the frequency of one-on-one meetings with managers.  Managers are at the center of team communication, productivity, and collaboration. In a remote workplace, manager check-ins take on a new level of importance in caring for employee mental health and ensuring employees feel supported.

Cassiopeia’s technology highlights to managers when it’s been a while since they had a one on one, helping them manage their relationships and communication.

Cassiopeia’s technology tracks progress against your team’s goals and offers recommendations and best practices to improve team dynamics, communication, and avoid burnout. 

The shift to flexible and hybrid work means that companies also need to invest in the right tools and technology to keep employees connected and help teams succeed. We’re thrilled to join HiBob and be a part of that solution for growing companies worldwide. With our technology integrated into Bob, we’ll offer more robust analytics for companies operating in the digital workplace by identifying teams’ interactions and providing actionable insights for better and more effective teamwork. 

The post Cassiopeia joins HiBob, providing tools to support flexible work models appeared first on HiBob.