Remote Work Norms and Best Practices

We believe that effective remote work comes down to three rules for success: get your work done while taking care of yourself, be available, and overcommunicate.

Get your work done while taking care of yourself

We’ve all got a lot on our plates both as individuals and as a collective, and while both the office and remote work have distractions that need to be mitigated, a transition from office to remote work can be jarring.

We advise:

Having clarity on weekly priorities. In your check-ins, come to an agreement with your manager on your priorities and outputs for the week, and reflect each week on what did and didn’t happen.
Finding a dedicated work space. Many of us live with partners, children, or roommates, that will likely also be home given the coronavirus. Having a dedicated space for work that frees you from the distraction of others is really helpful.
Calendaring specific time for breaks/lunch. It’s helpful to set aside dedicated time to take care of yourself, including breaks to step outdoors. Communicate proactively with your manager about these times.
If you’re sick or need to care for someone who is, take time off. Rather than attempting to work through sickness or distractions, we encourage employees to take a sick day just as they would if they were in the office.

Be available

Without physical proximity, it’s essential for team members to remain available during working hours so that work can be driven forward. As a nimble organization, we’re proud of our adaptability in adjusting workstreams as needed throughout a day or week, but this can only happen if everyone is available.

We encourage you to:

Be reachable by Slack and phone during working hours. All employees should work from a location where you have power, internet, and the ability to participate in phone calls and video meetings. If a portion of your day is going to be spent in an area where this isn’t the case, you should inform and get approval from your manager.
Be patient. While a colleague may be accessible via Slack or phone, they may be in other meetings, dealing with a time-sensitive work project, or on a break. If you’re making a request or need a response, recognize it may take some time for your colleague to get back to you.
Indicate urgency when needed. When contacting your colleagues with a request or a need for their input, try to communicate the urgency of the request or when it would be ideal for you to have a response by, Otherwise, everything seems equally and highly urgent.
Bump once. If a colleague hasn’t gotten back to you in a requested timeframe, give them the courtesy of bumping something to their attention 24 hours later. If they haven’t responded after a bump, seek your manager’s advice or help.
Stay focused when in meetings. When participating in video meetings remotely, avoid the temptation of multitasking on other work and give your full attention to the topic at hand.
If an in-person is necessary, try to give at least a week’s notice. On rare occasions there is work that requires an in-person meeting (e.g. check signings, delivering technology or documents, etc.) When in-person is necessary, give your colleague as much time as possible - we recommend a week’s notice.

Overcommunicate

One of the costs of working remotely is that there aren’t the same number of opportunities to casually pop-in and update each other on our work. Luckily, that can be solved through overcommunication.

Overcommunicating entails:

Sending proactive updates. Update your manager and colleagues on the status of work products throughout the day or week using Slack, rather than waiting for a designated time like a check-in or team meeting.
Keeping and communicating records of next steps. Every meeting or check-in should close with “next steps” and a discussion of who needs to be looped into these steps. These steps should be documented and, where appropriate, put into Asana.
Prioritizing video. Use video for meetings whenever possible.
Providing a heads up when you’re away from communication tools. If you’re stepping out to grab lunch or a cup of coffee, have a sick family member that requires attention, or need to be on the road, let your manager know.