Working with different time zones, building a solid corporate culture, ensuring work-life balance, and team monitoring are some of the challenges of starting remote work, among others. So how do you solve them?

Well, my team and I turned to industry experts and collected 7 practical tips for successfully managing remote work in startups. If you are the CEO of a new idea, then read on.

These tips will help you overcome remote work obstacles, increase employee productivity, and ultimately help you successfully build a fully remote startup.

Let’s get to the meat of the story.

1. Hold weekly check-in calls

Managers or CEOs should have a weekly check-in conversation—where everyone is in the meeting, top-down. The call doesn’t need to be in-depth, but rather a high-level overview of what’s happened over the past week and the priorities for the next week.

Everyone should share their progress, what they are up to and their game for the next assigned task. Everyone will feel involved and be on the same page.

The weekly check-in calls are also a great place to find out if a team member is facing any roadblocks. You should share it here so that the relevant department can fix it as soon as possible.

For example, if a copywriter wants a specific online tool that can double productivity, managers should ideally provide it.

2. Go deep when assigning tasks—even if you need to record screens

Communication is everything in a remote work environment. Especially when you’re a startup, you’re constantly struggling to meet deadlines. So it’s always best to save time on revisions or going back and forth with the team.

Ideally, you should assign new tasks via Zoom calls. Record the screen and then share the recording with relevant team members – so they always have the reference point.

Tom Miller, Marketing Director at Fitness Volt says, “When I reassign my graphic designer, I record my screen and explain everything I want in my design. I would show competitor examples and our best-done examples so far, and set clear expectations for what I’m looking for.

Then I would also share relevant links and resources my graphic designer could get help from. Finally, I give them free rein, even if they still have questions. This saves us time for constant back and forth and they understand exactly what I expect.”

An interesting study by Mckinsey found that employees feel five times more productive when they are well informed by their employers. In addition, clear communication helps employees to better understand the projects and to feel involved and valued.

3. Create personal “Hangouts” groups in addition to working channels

Working is important. But team spirit is also very important. Especially when everyone is working virtually. Remote work is flexible and everyone on your team may love it, but one of the downsides of it is that it can’t replace a “real world touch.”

Steve Rose, Vice President at MoneyTransfers, puts it this way; “That water cooler gossip in the office, scary pranks with co-workers, surprise pizza parties, cheering together when the new product launch goes live and singing happy birthday songs – all of this is important to a collaborative, connected and passionate community build team.

You can’t do all of this virtually. But fortunately, you can create personal Messenger groups of teams where they can share photos of their personal lives; Cook meals, eat outside, do something fun and more.”

Even as simple as creating water-cooled Slack channels can be fun; Teams can share their daily activities outside of work, inspirations, hobbies, or even memes. As this is a fully remote team, there is a chance some of the team members will be working while traveling to beautiful locations. You can share adventurous photos, inspire others to explore, build confidence, or even meet up in different parts of the world.

4. Hire the right team

Anyone who has worked remotely can attest that it takes a certain type of person to be successful. Startups often consist of young, ambitious employees who are passionate about their work and focus on success.

Hiring the right people is essential to running a successful remote team. Look for candidates who are self-motivated, organized and good at communication.

Tom Hamilton-Stubber, Managing Director of TutorCruncher, says: “Not everyone is cut out for remote work. Some feel distracted at home. Some may not have the necessary quiet spaces in their homes.

Some of them may not have fancy laptops or fast, stable internet connections. Therefore, you just need to filter out the right candidates who are self-employed, have a passion for working remotely and have the necessary setup.”

5. Invest in your team

Investing in your team is one of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of your remote working arrangement. You can help your team members feel confident and competent in their roles by providing training, mentoring, and support.

Additionally, regular check-ins and feedback help keep everyone on track and accountable. Finally, investing in your team will ensure success and ensure your remote working arrangement is productive and sustainable.

They will also feel valued and willing to grow with you. In fact, LinkedIn’s report shared that when you invest in employee career growth, 93% of employees stay at your company longer than usual. So it’s an investment that will ensure your long-term profits, which is much needed if you want to succeed as a startup.

6. Allow them to work non-traditional hours

As strange as it may sound, I believe there is no such thing as a “perfect” work-life balance. There will be days when you are overworked and overwhelmed. There will be days when at 2am you need to solve an urgent problem with a client or customer.

There will also be days when you check out at 2pm. This is life. I’m not suggesting you completely forget your limitations, but in the real world such scenarios can occur.

While you definitely can’t expect your employees to work as hard and passionately as you do, you can certainly keep remote work flexible. Understand when your team is feeling burnt out, overworked, or stressed.

If possible, try to give them relaxation and a sense of control. Let them set their own working hours. Some people are morning junkies. Some are night owls. The only concern you should have with your employees is meeting deadlines or meeting annual goals.

7. Use apps to keep track of everything

There are tons of great apps to help you track your tasks, projects, and team performance. These apps can be helpful in keeping everyone accountable and on track. Our favorites include:

• asana,
• trello,
• Relaxed,
• zoom and
• Google Drive.

You can seamlessly share files, communicate, assign and manage tasks, and monitor teams. There is even software that allows you to record employees’ check-in times or their desktop screens.

Some of your employees may feel uncomfortable being recorded, so communicating this clearly up front is absolutely essential. They don’t want to get into “unethical employee record-keeping” lawsuits.

“In a remote work environment, you have to maintain a certain level of trust. You need to give your employees a sense of control. This is what actually separates remote work from an in-house setup.”

Conclusion:

The future of work is remote — and that’s not to say a study by Upwork found that 73% of all teams are likely to be working remotely by 2028.

The future of work is changing drastically. The only thing you can do now as a remote startup is embrace the new workplace norms. Implement the above 7 practical tips to successfully manage a fully remote team.

How long have you been a fully remote startup? What experiences and insights have you had? We are always interested in learning directly from our audience. Comment below. Keep the discussion going.