In early July, a new resource for the remote work community launched called Remote.co. The new site is a blend of articles about remote work, a listing of remote jobs, and Q&As with remote companies. Created by FlexJobs CEO Sara Sutton Fell, it has the aim of helping out companies who are interested in remote work or already getting started with it.
FlexJobs has long been an advocate of remote work, citing benefits like lower costs, higher productivity, and higher retention rates. Since 2007, they have been connecting workers interested in remote or flexible jobs with companies progressive enough to hire them.
But simply hiring remote workers isn’t enough. A distributed workforce comes with special challenges, from communication challenges to a diluted company culture to employee loneliness. Remote.co is the next step, where companies and workers already committed to the remote philosophy can learn how to put it into practice.
Remote.co launched with Q&As from 40 remote companies, on topics like company culture, BYOD and vacation policies, communication and collaboration tools, transparency, goal setting, productivity concerns, and human resource issues. Here’s just a sample of the advice they share:
GitHub
“If your biggest competitor was completely distributed and you weren’t, would that give them an unfair advantage?”
– Coby Chapple, product designer
Automattic
“If this is the first time someone has worked remotely, they may not anticipate that they may have feelings of isolation. We pair people with a mentor in a similar time zone when they first join, so they have a designated person to chat with if they have questions about how we operate, or if they just want to chat. We provide a USD 250/month co-working allowance if Automatticians would like to work with others on a regular basis.”
– Sara Rosso, marketing manager, and Lori McLeese, head of HR
Balsamiq
“The danger is that your remote staff might feel like they’re second-class employees. Focus all of your efforts on avoiding that.”
– Giacomo “Peldi” Guillizzoni, founder and CEO
Trello
“Always [assume] your coworkers have good intentions. For example, an emoji can be translated in different ways. Knowing your coworkers have good intentions means you will hesitate to interpret an emoji as sarcastic or mean, which can throw off a team’s vibe.”
– Stella Garber, VP of marketing
Read more Remote.co Q&As here. (If you want to be featured on Remote.co – and 50% or more of your employees are remote – contact them here.)
Related reading on remote work:
- 76 Companies You Can Work Remotely At
- The Top Tech Companies with Remote Jobs
- The 10 States with the Most Remote Workers
- 4 Best Job Fields for Remote Work and Where to Find Them
- Read more about remote work on Tech.Co…