Assessing performance and job satisfaction can often be more challenging without the daily in-person interactions, that many people managers rely on. Let's look at a few of the common issues that can arise for remote employees and how to implement systems that help empower team members to thrive and advance in their careers. Newly remote employees and managers may have a tendency to mimic the in-person office culture in a remote setting. They can bring with them many of the habits they learned in their corporate organization. Be aware of the learned behaviors that, while you may not be encouraging or promoting them, can still become pervasive. You already know that communication is a challenge at every level of a remote organization. At the individual level in particular, people feel pressured to communicate synchronously. Most people instinctively respond as quickly as they can to a message from a manager or a teammate. Many managers also expect quick responses. Particularly among team members who have worked in traditional corporate environments, it can be difficult to avoid the urge to check messages or respond to notifications well past normal work hours. This leads directly to stress and burnout. Meanwhile, cross-cultural communication is often more important and therefore more challenging in a global distributed team. People who have only worked with others from similar cultures often aren't aware of more subtle cultural differences that can block inclusivity and collaboration. It can be a challenge to maintain inclusivity and to encourage team members to develop more awareness and perspective for what their teammates around the world are accustomed to. Finally, many people will initially be uncomfortable with the level of transparent communication required in a remote environment. Managers and leaders in particular might revert to private messages, hidden meeting agendas, and so forth. This quickly blocks information flow and creates an atmosphere of non-inclusion. For many people who work remotely, the home and the office are the same place. Sometimes it can be difficult to let go and truly be off work. However, when people don't take time off, they become less efficient, less happy, and ultimately they can burn out. Taking time to recharge and time off should be communicated from the top of an organization and modeled at every level. Leaders should be advocates for paid time off, what we call PTO, and should actively encourage everyone to use theirs. In a remote setting, it can be difficult to detect burnout and dissatisfaction. As a manager, you need to build a safe environment where team members feel comfortable bringing up issues of overwork or burnout. You do not have as many opportunities remotely to check in on your people. Encourage managers to use one-on-one meetings as personal check-ins. Create guidelines that include asking teammates how they're feeling and how their workload is. Likewise, team meetings shouldn't be all business. Ensure your team members make time in their weekly meetings to get to know each other better. Getting to know people remotely may take twice as long to build relationships, so it's essential to create opportunities for this to happen, supporting better team cohesion. Team building should be done at the team level. While team members should also have regular coffee chats or one-on-one calls, always prioritize inclusive team-building as a group. A lack of career mobility can block motivation, while teams with active skills development programs can be more engaged and more effective. Implement learning and development tools and practices throughout the year, regularly offering opportunities to learn new skills or tools. This is valuable, not just because it helps upscale your existing team members, but because it increases motivation and performance. Likewise, use your handbook to document career pathways for every role and function. Particularly in a distributed team, people may not know where their job pathway can lead them and they may be uncomfortable asking. Provide clear documentation to empower people to thrive and build longer careers with your organization. There are many tools and practices to address the challenges we've just discussed. One of the most powerful tools you can implement is a strong, supportive feedback cycle. As a leader, you'll need to create an environment where team members feel empowered to take their career to new heights. Employee evaluations are an important part of a remote organization. Evaluations often consist of performance analysis that is used in employee improvement, as well as internal promotions and pay raises. At GitLab we use annual 360 reviews. These are the basis for our annual performance evaluations and our primary method of documenting formal feedback. This feedback is implemented in the promotion process as well, and is a prerequisite for promotion. We use this to gain a clear understanding of an individual's strengths and development. 360 reviews are done asynchronously. Over the course of several weeks, every team member gives and receives feedback through a secure tool. Then the feedback is reviewed between the individual and their supervisor and a relevant action plan is created. In-between the annual reviews, we encourage active feedback sharing and proactively share best practices for doing so. Feedback should be given in real time whenever possible. For positive feedback, thanks, and praise, we encourage using a public channel. Praise should be given in front of an audience, unless the team member being praised isn't comfortable with that. For negative feedback, we recommend giving it privately. Either in a face to face call, or via private message. Strong handbook documentation is essential to this process. Make sure it's easy for team members to find out what to do if they have a problem or a piece of feedback. It should also be clearly documented how feedback can affect an individual's career trajectory. We have all this information easily accessible to team members. As a reminder, it's easy for people to feel lonely, isolated, or invisible in a remote environment. One easy way to combat this is to encourage managers to give frequent recognition and praise. This helps employees know that their work is valued and understood.
