吸引、入职、补偿和激励远程团队的策略

为什么远程工作需要新策略

为了适应 COVID 后的“新常态”，雇主不能再将在家工作视为例外。需要围绕如何在不同地点支付员工工资、如何在当地雇佣法不同的许多地方合法雇佣员工以及如何帮助避免因在家独自工作而产生的孤独感、断开连接和 Zoom 疲劳做出决定。

我们研究了运营远程或混合模式的最佳公司的策略，包括那些在大流行之前很久就开始分布的公司。在此远程招聘指南中，您将学习如何回答以下问题：

什么样的远程文化适合我们公司？
在我们没有国际实体的情况下，我们如何合规地雇用人才？
对于我们团队的设置，正确的薪酬和福利方法是什么？
我们如何导航时区和位置复杂性？
当我们不在同一个物理房间时，我们如何建立一个敬业且高绩效的团队？

远程招聘和合规

什么适合您：远程、混合还是 IRL？

要围绕员工的工作地点制定有意识的战略并将其清楚地传达给您的团队，领导层需要明确他们的目标：

1. 你为什么要考虑任何形式的远程工作变化？

这主要是由于必要性（例如全球大流行）而不是可取的吗？
是为了在竞争激烈的市场中吸引和留住顶尖人才吗？
是不是要招募一个能够与多个全球市场的客户建立联系的国际团队？
是因为在其他国家招聘可能会节省成本吗？

确定分配团队的前 1-2 个根本原因将有助于平衡目标和权衡。

2. 你对拥有一个远程团队有什么偏见或顾虑？

一些领导者是否担心人们在远处表现不佳？
财务和人事团队是否担心额外的税收和合规工作？
你认为面对面的时间最适合建立关系吗？

3. 您是在规划以办公室为中心的战略、混合战略（部分或全部）还是全远程战略？

以办公室为中心意味着您可能有一个中心辐射模型，其中在关键位置有多个办公室，员工可以彼此分开居住，但可以在办公室工作。
混合意味着有一个办公室或多个办公室，但员工也可以选择以某种身份在家工作。完全混合意味着有些人可能完全偏远，从不去办公室，但其他人可能会选择一些混合。
部分意味着所有员工仍必须以某种身份在办公室工作，但每月可能只有几天。
所有远程意味着没有专门的办公室。可能会有共享办公桌津贴或会员资格，但主要设计是没有办公中心，每个人都在家或热办公桌上工作。

4. 是否每个人都有资格进行远程工作，还是只有少数人可以享受远程工作？

相同的工作安排选项菜单是否适用于任何团队成员，还是仅限于特定的任期、资历/级别、团队或地点？这可能是一个冒险的决定，重要的是要记录所做的选择以及这些选择的推理，以了解公平和包容性。也就是说，某些员工没有资格进行远程工作（例如，需要 IT 等办公室职责的工作）可能有很好的理由，只要可以正确沟通，就可以设置限制。

5. 所有地点都符合条件吗？

当您提供远程工作时，您是否在办公地点的半径范围内提供在家工作？
在您拥有业务实体的特定州、国家或地区进行远程工作？
特定时区内的任何位置？
还是在世界任何地方？
您是在为关键业务或人才市场战略投资特定地点，还是只是希望无论他们身在何处都能找到最优秀的人才？

请记住，让每个人都处于相似的工作时区为安排会议和同步沟通创造了更好的条件，但是拥有更多的时区覆盖范围对于客户支持和在停机情况下的工程覆盖特别有帮助。

初创公司招聘步骤#1：定义雇主品牌

您会成为允许远程、远程优先还是远程友好的组织？

允许远程意味着远程工作可能会被批准或允许，但它本身被视为一种福利，并且组织不会超出该许可来启用或授权远程工作的员工。
远程优先是光谱的另一端，这意味着公司完全致力于远程工作，并以远程工作体验与办公室体验为中心。这可能表现为上班族和远程团队的通勤者的福利和津贴（例如，与办公室午餐相匹配的送餐服务）或与每个人分别拨入的全体会议，以平衡远程工作者和人们的体验在办公室（例如，一个人，一个缩放方块）。
远程友好介于两者之间。考虑到远程员工（例如，在虚拟和面对面之间轮换团队活动），并为远程员工提供一些津贴（例如，每季度到办公室的旅行报销），但办公室内的体验仍然是中心.

通过调整这些最重要的哲学问题，并记录团队的方法，您可以开始回答次要问题，例如：

我们是否想在我们所有的地点创建实体，与PEO 或 EOR合作，或某种策略组合？
我们是否想为所有人才支付单一费率而不考虑地点，或者根据生活成本适应当地市场或等级？
我们是否希望我们的远程团队成员以某种节奏通勤到办公室，我们的旅行政策是什么样的？
我们是否希望远程人员在本地时区工作或调整他们的工作时间以与总部重叠？
有人可以随时移动到批准的位置，还是我们需要批准？

接下来，我们将帮助您设计回答上述问题的策略和流程。

如何在国外合法雇用：实体创建、EOR/POR 或承包商？

Airbnb 和 Spotfiy 等公司让团队“在任何地方工作”的新闻报道未能详细说明这一决定的冰山性质。事实证明，合规性并不是一个令人兴奋的公关故事。在表面之下，大型法律、财务和人力资源团队必须确保公司可以在任何地方合法雇用或与这些团队成员签订合同。以下是如何导航核心决策。

工作关系+工资

在同一地点的团队中，通常可以使用像 Gusto 或 ADP 这样的具有工资单集成的标准 HR 平台来管理与员工和承包商的基本工作关系。但是，由于税收和合规方面的复杂性，其中一些系统不适合国际或分布式团队。雇主不能在不考虑当地劳动法、休假法、工资税等因素的情况下简单地在世界任何地方雇佣和支付员工工资。

在全球就业分类方面，基本上有 3 种选择，每种都有优缺点：

实体创建–最适合在特定国家/地区发展大型团队– 所有公司在其注册地已经拥有至少一个实体。在美国，团队必须在每个新州注册才能雇用新的团队成员（或者他们可以使用 PEO，见下文）。在国际上，实体创建也是一种选择，但更具挑战性。好处是可以灵活地在所有注册实体的国家/地区雇用员工和承包商。如果您的公司打算真正投资于特定地点的招聘（通常无限期招聘 10 人以上），我们推荐此路径。缺点是团队必须在内部管理对当地就业法、税法的遵守情况，并成为这些细微差别的专家。如果某个国家只有一两个人，尤其是留任不超过几年的员工，那么在国际层面设立和管理实体对公司来说并不是一笔巨大的投资。

与记录在案的全球雇主 (EOR) 或专业雇主组织 (PEO) 解决方案合作——最适合在多个国家/地区雇用少数人——这类供应商在过去几年中真正爆炸式增长，许多公司承诺帮助初创公司招聘任何地方。（例如： Oyster 、 Papaya 、 Pilot 、 Velocity Global 、 Remote等。）请务必检查供应商是否不仅为承包商提供工资单，还允许雇用全职员工。这些供应商通过在您想要运营的所有国家/地区建立实体并通过他们的平台雇用您的团队来工作。好处是初创公司可以比等待建立自己的实体更快地在国际上招聘，同时保持合规并降低风险，因为这些公司是所有国家/地区的专家并管理复杂的行政管理。缺点是它们可能非常昂贵，有时仅花费工资成本的 20-30%。此外，它们提供了管理员工离职后的知识库，但公司有责任遵守当地的劳动法（例如，在某些国家，因绩效而解雇员工，如果是固定合同，则需要全年支付） .这就是为什么一旦一家公司在一个国家或税收管辖区拥有 10 人以上的人员，创建一个实体更具成本效益。

将雇员分类为承包商——最适合顾问或测试远程工作——了解每个国家/地区承包商分类的细微差别很重要，以确保一个人被雇用的工作类型与承包商的定义一致，否则公司冒着错误分类的风险，这可能是非常昂贵的。导航就业分类是一种走钢丝，可能非常有限，特别是在一些分类法严格的国家（注意：拉丁美洲、德国、法国、加拿大是最严格的国家之一，但名单还在继续）。有时选择此选项与“远程优先”是对立的，因为雇主无法在不承担巨大风险的情况下为承包商提供医疗福利或将其提升到某些工作级别。这个选项的好处是它可以作为一个很好的“候诊室”，同时确定实体与 PEO 策略是否最好地为公司服务。这是最便宜的预付费用（超出所需的任何应付账款软件的 0 美元），但诉讼的风险可能意味着罚款和欠款，最终比其他选项贵得多。

寻找最佳选择可能很复杂，尤其是公司选择在更多国家开展业务。当然，一些公司在成长过程中选择混合和匹配所有 3 种策略，这可以实现最佳效果，尽管它确实增加了导航不同员工和承包商细分的工作流程的复杂性。

供应商

现代平台	传统服务提供商	实体扩展
远程网站	保障全球	瑞致达（国际）
牡蛎HR	速度全球	Mosey （美国本土）
飞行员	全球化合作伙伴	速度全球
木瓜全球
迪尔

提醒一句：在这些努力中聘请法律作为合作伙伴

以上分享的所有内容都是关于如何考虑远程工作设置选项的一般建议，并不构成法律建议。目标是考虑哪些选项可能适合特定的招聘策略，然后与可以更正式地就设计、沟通和执行最佳方法的最佳方式提供建议的法律合作伙伴进行接触。

大多数公司会惊讶地发现他们的主要法律顾问无法在少数州或国内提供建议。有专门从事国际劳动法的律师事务所。 Baker McKenzie是一家顶级律师事务所，它支持从设立实体到在各国授予股权/股票的所有内容， Susan Eandi负责该业务。我们建议从每个有实体和/或大量团队成员的地方聘请本地化就业律师，然后聘请 Baker McKenzie 处理特定范围的项目或本地法律顾问范围之外的更困难的国际问题。

在您做出上述选择后，有许多供应商（包括工具和服务提供商）可以为您提供支持。 SignalFire 与其中一些供应商有合作折扣。 SignalFire 的投资组合公司可以查看创始人门户了解详细信息。

订阅 SignalFire 的时事通讯，获取更多关于招聘、筹款、成长等方面的指南

远程补偿和入职

远程薪酬和奖励策略

在此处了解有关设计核心薪酬策略的更多信息。

远程团队的薪酬变得更加复杂。您不仅需要在雇用时考虑这一点，而且还需要在个人的整个就业过程中以及与全球类似职位的人相比。考虑以下问题，以帮助制定有效的薪酬策略：

无论地点或基于地理的层级结构如何，您都会提供单一的工资率吗？
您将从哪个百分位策略和市场位置建立您的薪酬范围？
您会以总体奖励价值主张为目标（例如，在具有相似总价值的国家/地区区分收益）还是全面提供相同的收益？（例如，如果雇主赞助的退休福利是亚太地区最慷慨的 10.5%，那么美国团队成员将获得相同的 401k 匹配）
您对远程工作策略和运营的选择将如何影响您的薪酬和奖励策略？（例如，远程优先组织可能会争取类似的价值主张，而允许远程可能在整体价值主张中存在明显差异）
考虑到未来的增长和执行的投资成本，您选择的战略是否具有可扩展性？
您是否拥有内部工具和资源来管理您选择的策略设计？（例如，如果您有一个地理位置分层策略并且需要评估团队成员何时移动城市或州，那么谁将监控、评估和调整与移动相关的薪酬变化？）

我们建议您查看 SignalFire 的现金补偿策略指南，但还要考虑对总奖励的决定，包括根据地点放出哪些假期、当团队中的一部分可能获得办公室内的津贴时福利和津贴将如何发挥作用等等。

远程面试流程和技巧

在任何地方招聘的好处意味着您的潜在候选人库比办公空间周围的可通勤区域的传统范围要大得多。但是公司必须对候选人的体验有意识，因为现在需要通过虚拟方式传达公司文化，这种文化在参加现场面试时通常是一种氛围。

在远程面试过程中，候选人通过职业页面、Zoom 与面试面板的互动、有关员工体验/雇主品牌的公开信息 [请参阅此处的指南] 以及招聘团队在整个过程中发送的通信来寻求文化信号。由于来自其他远程公司的竞争加剧，雇主应迅速完成招聘流程，并且需要找到创造性的方式来表明角色适合，而无需在现实生活中遇到候选人。以下是设置远程招聘策略的战术提示：

远程面试流程：

远程候选人使用面试过程来评估公司的组织性。一个杂乱无章且准备不足的招聘团队会向候选人发出他们的就业经历可能是什么样的信号。成功的远程组织需要大量文档，以便在异步工作时创建清晰并快速移动。

上述流程的主要考虑因素以及如何针对远程招聘进行优化：

雇主品牌：考虑一个更强大的职业页面，突出您如何管理远程团队运营，以及候选人在与您面试以及最终加入时的期望。还可以考虑其他网站，如 Glassdoor、BuiltIn 等，世界各地的候选人可能会在这些网站上发现您和/或审查他们自己的研究。
职位发布：考虑团队的时区重叠要求（在大多数团队成员的 4 小时内是协作同步会议的最佳实践）以及地理位置，并在职位发布中注明这些（例如美国远程、美国东部标准时间）时区与基于 EMEA 的团队重叠）。此外，在发布职位时考虑法律合规要求。一些州要求补偿范围和有关背景调查的特定语言。
招聘人员屏幕：在确认他们的位置时，要提前说明你的薪酬策略和职位范围。此外，确保他们对他们计划工作的地方/如果他们现在或将来需要赞助具有有效的工作权利。您还需要分享他们在未来可能或可能无法在您的远程策略中定义的工作地点。
工作样本：异步工作样本、技术配对编码挑战或与团队中主要利益相关者的工作会议是了解候选人将如何沟通、协作和展示该职位预期的技术能力的好方法。它还让候选人和团队都了解了一起工作的感觉
小组：在远程招聘时，1:1 对话之间的时间会使整个过程感觉漫长而冗长。在可能的情况下，将所有小组访谈安排在同一天。这有助于流程快速推进，并让候选人在流程中体验积极/最多 5 个不同的步骤。从通勤到面对面面试再到 Zoom 面试的转变意味着，如果你的速度太慢，其他雇主可能会突然介入。

除了流程之外，切记要考虑到适合候选人所在时区的时间安排，提醒面试官在面试前检查他们的技术联系，不要迟到/没有在之前没有主动与候选人沟通。面试的预定时间。

如何制作创业招聘页面

通讯：

使用任何招聘人员外展活动作为分享贵公司使命、愿景和雇主品牌的机会——链接博客文章、对文化和员工体验的赞誉、行政领导在书面沟通中谈论公司愿景或使命的录音。
在面试过程中，嵌入让候选人了解在贵公司工作的方式。例如，如果他们想与具有特定身份的团队成员交谈（例如 BIPOC、担任领导职务的女性、LGBTQ+ 等），请创建包容和友好的方式在内部召集社区成员并创造公司文化时刻。
通过书面期望和更新在整个过程中创建清晰度——面试过程通常需要多少步骤，预计需要什么样的时间承诺，以及与反馈和后续步骤相关的时间表

远程入职计划

如需更深入的了解，请查看 Robert Walters 举办的网络研讨会，其中介绍了我们自己的 Heather Doshay 远程新员工入职培训

当员工远程且不坐在一起时，入职可能更具挑战性。人与人之间的联系越来越少，而自主学习却更多。第一个月可能会感到孤独，特别是如果团队成员正在从传统的办公室环境过渡。除了合规性之外，这里还有一些帮助新的远程员工快速增长的技巧：

飞入或虚拟入职：要完全融入远程优先团队，要么让每个远程团队成员亲自到办公室进行入职，以便所有员工获得相同的第一周体验，要么创建完全虚拟的远程体验，以便远程员工无法获得办公室内人员所获得的二流体验。
入职文档：创建一个公司范围内的入职指南，新员工可以转向并获得问题的答案，而不会觉得他们在打扰他们的经理。在此处查看我们的入职模板。
传承您的文化：考虑实施一个伙伴系统，您认为是文化载体的员工可以在新员工的前 90 天内与他们匹配，并可以回答任何问题。为新员工和好友提供少量津贴，以资助虚拟咖啡或午餐，以便他们有机会建立社交联系。
反馈方式：经理应该向新员工询问他们的反馈和认可偏好——公开的还是私人的，他们如何获得最佳激励等，并确保经理了解团队中每个人的偏好，以平衡整体认可动态.
调查：考虑在每次招聘开始 90 天后进行一次新员工调查，以获得洞察力，以不断增强入职能力，并拦截任何可能出现但在虚拟环境中未被注意到的新员工问题。

专业提示：这是我们在新员工开始时推荐的经理活动。明确地与新员工分享这些内容：(1) 为什么专门聘请他们来从事这项工作，(2) 为什么这项特定工作对企业的成功至关重要，以及 (3) 前 30、60 人之后的成功是什么样子, 90 天及以后。

在入职及以后完成工作的设备

硬件和远程办公室设置是大多数远程工作的办公室工作人员的生理需求。作为一家公司，你为员工提供多少取决于你的顶级战略和方法。远程优先团队可能会在向他们运送设备（或为购买计算机提供报销）的基础上，提供远程办公室设置津贴或当地联合办公空间的会员资格。

无论您选择什么策略，都要明确。告诉员工“我们认识到您在这里花费大量时间坐在电脑前进行 Zoom 通话，因此我们特意设计了一项福利，让新员工可以设计符合人体工程学的办公桌，以避免压力伤害，以及升级的网络摄像头和麦克风以实现更有效的会议。”

以下是远程友好型和远程一线团队可能为其员工提供的一些示例，范围从预期的基线（公司计算机）到更慷慨的方法（家庭办公室津贴和每月津贴预算）：

有些供应商可以使这更容易管理。例如， FirstBase提供远程办公室设置即服务，包括硬件和办公家具。 Compt允许公司将关键类别的报销预算设置为一次性或经常性产品。当然，还有一些工具可以帮助人们在远程工作时提高效率和生产力，例如用于视频消息传递的Loom 、用于降噪的Krisp以及用于任务和日历管理的Motion 。

异地文化小贴士：没有二等公民

归属感归结为隐性和显性因素，因此我们将在此回顾影响某人是否对您的公司感到真正舒适的动态。风险在于，混合工作策略可以创建规范，向某些员工发出信号，表明他们不属于他们，或者他们在您的文化中被视为二等公民。

远程工作时区礼仪

当您在一个分布式团队中时，不是每个人都共享相同的 9 到 5，并且不是每个人都可以参加每个会议，除非他们 24/7 有空（剧透警告：我们不建议全天候工作 – 凌晨 3 点电话最终会赶走人才）。因此，所有团队成员都可以异步访问关键信息和共享信息，这一点很重要。

许多团队错过了开展业务的文档和沟通步骤，发现他们的公司处于混乱状态或无法扩展且基于异常的现实中，尤其是在关键知识持有者离开的情况下。

以下是在分布式环境中有效沟通的一些最佳实践：

建立一个事实来源，可以在整个组织中记录和访问关键决策和流程。这可以像公司范围内的 Intranet 或官方公司的 Google Drive 存储系统一样强大，也可以像单个 Google Doc 一样简单，该文档链接到其他所有内容作为存档（一旦您超过 150 名团队成员，后者将无法扩展，但总比没有好！）
为大型公告制定多渠道沟通策略，因为 Slack 或 Zoom all-hands 上的低信噪比可能会丢失消息。
记录公司范围和团队级别的 Zoom 会议并提供链接，以便在会议举行地点以外的时区的人们仍然可以按照他们的日程安排访问它。
考虑使用无声会议技术，让所有参与者享有平等的地位，并通过设计将所有反馈和讨论记录在一个文档中，以便随时查看。
通过 Google Docs、Dropbox Paper、Notion 或您使用的任何工具，为 1 对 1 和更大的会议保留完整的会议记录。为会议建立一个单一的笔记文件，供相关方参考。
避免创建超出公司范围或团队范围的事实来源的辅助文档。您不希望人们为他们的目标、优先事项、预算、报告等创建孤立的个人记录的文化。鼓励每个人为已经存在的“官方”文件做出贡献
文档化您的文档规范。是的，它有点元，但鼓励所有团队成员效仿！从电子邮件到 Zoom 聊天，从 Slack 到 Loom，再到老式电话，你很难知道哪种方法适合当时的情况。通过各种渠道接收消息可能会导致分布式团队的效率低下甚至倦怠。有关如何做出这些决定并指导团队遵循的一些示例，请参见下文。

专业提示：发布内部指南，了解哪些电子邮件列表或通信媒体适用于哪些用例，或者如何将 Slack 聊天带到一个不舒服的地方进行实时对话。这里有几个Gitlab和Zapier做得很好的公开例子。

远程优先还是远程友好时区？

从你的团队核心生活在全球各地的员工会有多艰难？明确而有意识地决定您是否选择成为一个以默认方式争取全球包容性的远程优先组织，或者您是否想锚定一个“总部时区作为重心”，每个人都会调整他们的工作时间。

远程优先时区管理：目标是确保所有时区都包含在内。努力推迟决策，直到您听取了所有应该参与的人的意见，而不是在一些利益相关者甚至还没有醒来之前完成决策。全体会议可能每季度轮换一次，以同样方便所有人。如果您偶尔需要让同事在正常工作时间之外加入会议，我们建议您跳过视频。如果您不准备好拍照，加入会容易得多。

以总部为中心的时区管理：如果总部在旧金山，所有员工必须每天至少工作 4 小时，与太平洋时间重叠。亚太地区的员工可能会在当地早上 7 点开始他们的一天，并在下午重叠，而欧洲、中东和非洲的员工可能会在中午开始他们的一天，然后工作到晚上以与早上重叠。公司会议可能在太平洋时间上午 11 点举行，EMEA 员工预计会在晚餐时间收听或在事后观看会议的录音版本。

重要的是要了解会议的命名约定以及社交活动发生的时间和方式，这样每个人都觉得它是为他们设计的。如果一个旧金山总部的团队在纽约市或欧洲、中东和非洲地区有一名团队成员，并在纽约市中午和欧洲、中东和非洲地区的下午 5 点或 6 点举行太平洋时间上午 9 点的站立会议，称为“早上站立会议”，这可能会让某些人感到疏远。考虑“每日站立”来表示考虑和同情。

或者，如果您唯一的虚拟社交活动是下午 5 点在同一个 SF 总部的“欢乐时光”，那么除非他们在午夜加入，否则 EMEA 人可能很难参加，而欢乐时光可能不适合中午亚太地区团队成员的节奏。转向“社交时间”或进一步称其为“某处的欢乐时光”可能会有所帮助。此外，举办不仅仅以酒精为中心的活动不仅对参加午休的团队成员具有包容性，而且对遵循清醒或他们自己的宗教规范的团队成员也具有包容性。

专业提示：制定仪式和规范，让团队成员知道谁在 Slack 和日历上工作，而不是 OOO。要求团队成员更新他们的 Slack 状态，以便其他团队成员知道他们是否可以期待立即响应。 Requiring the team to set “working hours” on apps like Google Calendar is also helpful in scheduling group meetings and setting expectations and boundaries.

Remote work perks and benefits: Building a sense of belonging

Here are some ways to translate culture-building to remote work through incentives beyond compensation:

Office or location-based perks: Think of this as in-office catered lunch and snacks, a free gym membership only at the location next to the office, or even child care. If you’re “remote-allowed” you might remind people of that specific choice and that you believe remote and flexible work choices are the perk in and of themselves (and a few years ago, people might have nodded their heads in agreement and moved on, but in today’s climate, they might move on… to another job that is remote-friendly or remote first). If you’re “remote-friendly” you might offer your remote employees a more flexible option to reimburse a gym membership near them or offer a monthly virtual lunch where remote employees can expense food delivery but not try to match every single in-office perk.
Remote-first and -friendly perks: If you’re remote-first, you’re going to design your remote perk strategy in a way that feels equitable to what the office offers. For example, you might offer a monthly DoorDash gift card in the value of the amount you spend on your in-office catering per person or equalize a remote office reimbursement budget for snacks and supplies at the same amount as a commuter benefit dollar. It’s not to say everything should be dollar for dollar, but the key is explicit intentionality.
Office-first community: Think of this as the big annual company holiday party, the weekly happy hour, or the in-office yoga class at lunchtime. If “remote-allowed”, you might communicate that when it is easy or practical to do so, you’ll create virtual invites to in-office events. If remote-friendly, you might ensure that at least one event each month is specifically designed to be remote (eg virtual bingo instead of a happy hour, bring in a virtual yoga instructor, or play a guided meditation). In other words, some programming budget is dedicated to include those remote team members. You might even offer to cover the costs for team members to fly in for the holiday party and build a team offsite around it to align with a business purpose.
Remote-first or -friendly community: Here you would design a majority of their programming around remote team member needs, and might choose to give every team member up to $300 to take their family to a nice holiday dinner in lieu of a single location holiday party but ask that everyone who utilizes that budget to share a photo of their dinner and how they celebrated in Slack. They might design policies that allow every team member a budget per year to visit one team member in another location and work with them for a day or two to encourage decentralized social time.

Remote employee advancement and internal mobility

Advancement and internal mobility is a powerful way to retain top talent while filling roles in a competitive market. It’s truly a win-win and drives a deeper sense of belonging, though when teams are hybrid, it can get a bit tricky.

While perks and social events can make remote employees feel included, what’s most important is them believing that a bright career future is possible outside of HQ. If you decide the executive team must be in office, does that mean a remote emerging leader can never be promoted beyond a certain level? In a more informal sense, how much water cooler talk turns into mentorship or sponsorship that may result in promotion over someone without those opportunities? Or what about a Zoom meeting that ends, and everyone working remotely logs off, but the manager stays behind in a conference room to chat with the employees physically in the office that later turns into a changed decision or context the remote employee misses? These informal moments create proximity bias .

The first step is to decide what limitations you want to formally construct (if any), and then the second step is to identify all the implicit and explicit ways people may feel held back by being remote and find ways to mitigate those dynamics. These could be documented advancement and internal mobility policies as described below, extra office hours especially for remote teams, or a special rule that no decisions happen after the Zoom meeting turns off if there is even one remote person on the call.

Most small companies don’t (and shouldn’t) start out by over-architecting complex promotion and internal mobility processes (though when you’re ready to think about designing performance management processes, check out this guide and all the templates in this folder! ). Typically, when companies are small, all it takes is someone raising their hand and asking for an opportunity, and based on a number of factors (eg, business need, readiness, how good at influencing they are), a promotion or new role is forged. This is not sustainable with scale and can lead to remote team members feeling like second-hand citizens.

So how do we solve this dynamic with scale?

Provide equitable opportunities to build social connection: The goal is not to block some relationships or casual connections from forming, but rather to create transparent paths for all to gain access to the same opportunities. How can companies create spaces for those who want virtual sponsor relationships? Can we empower virtual channels through which all can participate in water cooler culture such as a weekly casual coffee chat or using Donut to create more connections between senior leaders and emerging talent?
Create a written overview of your promotion/internal mobility process: It doesn’t need to be a 40-page legal policy, but can be policy- or process-“lite” where there’s a consistent way internal opportunities for promotion or mobility are advertised inside the company and approvals happen. Here are some helpful templates to get you started: Internal mobility & promotion policy template , promotion request template/form ! Consider including content on the following:
- Do employees need to hit tenure (eg 12 months in role before being considered, unless business needs justify a move sooner)?
- Will all new role opportunities be posted? Will they be posted internally and externally? If internal only, how many days will it remain open for applications?
- Will all internal moves require an interview process that assesses competencies for role fit?
- How will in-line promotions (eg not a new role, but someone moving from X to Senior X) differ in process?
- Will promotions be available to happen anytime? Or at key points in the year (eg at the start of each quarter)?
- Will promotions assume an approved backfill? If not, how will backfills be decided?
Enable your managers with training. Training managers on the processes and making them aware of their biases can help mitigate inequitable internal mobility and promotion decisions. The biases most common in this scenario are:
- Similarity bias – “We work the same way and think the same way, which makes it easy to communicate and work together.”
- Familiarity bias – “I like them and know them on a personal level, so I’ll weigh that higher than attributes required for the role.”
- Halo effect – “They are really nice and well-liked by the team, so they must be good at their job.”
- Horns effect – “They made a mistake on that one project we worked on cross-functionally, so there is no way they would be good for this opportunity.”

Remote work, mental health, and burnout

There are a variety of reasons team members may experience burnout, isolation, and anxiety regardless of how an organization is structured. Not only are remote workers subject to all of the same risks for burnout and other mental health issues as their co-located counterparts, they are physically isolated which may add to these concerns, have to put extra energy into enduring Zoom marathons, and it’s also more challenging for managers and teammates to see what’s really going on.

Research in the Applied Psychology academic journal reveal employee’s ability to align their work and personal responsibilities to avoid some types of common burnout are improved by people managers that demonstrate these four strategies:

1. Connect: Make employees feel comfortable. Normalize personal life moments in the workplace, from saying hello to a disruptive child to making it clear that the team cares more about results than clocking in at a certain time if something comes up.

2. Respond: Work effectively with employees to creatively solve conflicts between work and personal responsibilities. Be open to listening and helping problem solve, using discretion and not overstepping of course.

3. Rethink: Organize work in their department or group to jointly benefit the employees and the organization. If an employee is feeling burnt out, are there specific buckets of project work that could be reassigned to them to help reinvigorate their excitement in exchange for taking something off their plate that’s causing burnout?

4. Model: Demonstrate effective behaviors on how to juggle work and personal responsibilities. As a manager, model good behaviors like truly taking time off at regular intervals and disclosing that you sometimes feel burnout and then share what you do to manage it effectively.

Burnout isn’t always something that stems from too many competing responsibilities and a consistent state of being overwhelmed. It can also stem from a lack of personal alignment between one’s personal values, the company mission, and the role itself. We recommend managers communicate why each team member’s individual job responsibilities are mission-critical to the company’s success.

Companies should design systems of resources and processes to not only mitigate, but also respond to burnout, isolation, or unproductive job-related stress. Stigmas around mental health in the workplace are diminishing, which is great, but not everyone is open to talking about these experiences. That why it’s vital that help and resources are easily discoverable within a company’s intranet or handbook.

We recommend companies provide resources for team members to confidentially get the help they need as well as train managers on navigating mental health and burnout in the workplace. Here are a few resources that can help, and some can even be positioned as perks for those looking for preventative measures. You’ll also typically find that your benefits broker can provide free EAP programs and you can also share websites for in-network therapy under your benefits plan.

Spring Health – Certified therapists and counselors
Modern Health – Certified therapists and counselors
Better Help – Certified therapists and counselors
Bravely – Coaches who can help with difficult situations at work including burnout, but not certified counselors
Empower Work – This is not a paid solution, but rather a non-profit free for employees in need that you can share as a resource for your team if you cannot provide one of the above solutions in a paid partnership

Remote employee recognition: More than virtual high-fives

Image Credit: Revel Interactive

In the long run, the most important forms of recognition and engagement are internally derived from the self-perception that the work someone does matters and that it matters to acknowledge their contributions. If an employee can’t articulate how they are important to the business or are recognized for their efforts, no amount of high-fives or shout-outs will retain them. However, that alignment and advancement path is a long-term journey. The little props and bits of public praise or the random Starbucks gift card acknowledging someone’s efforts go a long way to keeping one’s recognition and esteem battery charged.

Develop and maintain channels for verbal and written praise for achievements no matter the location or time zone. Also, remember it’s not all on leadership to show appreciation for their direct reports. Whether a company invests in HeyTaco or Bonusly or simply repurposes a slack channel focused on #props or #appreciation, public recognition that’s accessible to all regardless of seniority or location is key.

It’s important to note that especially when navigating a global team, this dynamic of giving props, shoutouts, kudos – whatever the team calls casual and quick praise – there are two challenging layers to navigate:

Kudos across time zones: When praise only happens as a segment during synchronous meetings, and remote employees tend to watch after the fact, they may feel not only a decrease in belonging but may also receive less praise. Moreover, they have no avenue through which to give others that same praise in kind which may result in less of a flywheel of praise for that person’s work. If coupled with a lack of clear alignment to business goals and path toward advancement, it is likely that the employee will fall prey to low workplace esteem and potentially low engagement or premature attrition.
Cultures and preferences: While not culturally specific 100% of the time, it is common for some people to feel uncomfortable with excessive praise, especially in public. This can result in awkward feelings or interactions due to preference for a different source of recognition, or a more public team-level imbalance of who receives praise and who doesn’t.

There’s no simple answer for managing these areas, and teams will need to adjust what they can when they can to accommodate the diversity of the team. Three vendors in addition to the ones cited above may be helpful in navigating recognition:

Blueboard – Helps leaders provide special experiences to recognize employees that can be sent in public or private.
Compt – Manages distributed benefits and perks broadly, but can also be a platform used for monetary recognition such as a stipend category for work anniversaries, employee appreciation, and more. All perks are 100% customizable and tax-compliant which is a major upside, with the one drawback is they function as reimbursements instead of gift cards.
Fringe – Similar to Compt except that there are specific categories available for the various recognition types and it’s not customizable, but the benefit of Fringe over Compt is that there are no reimbursements and all recognition gifts are virtual gift cards.

Remote work manager checklist: How to know if employees feel supported

Putting all of these tips together

Gallup’s Q12 Survey

How do all of these strategies work together? Consider Gallup’s Q12 – a set of survey questions that measure employee engagement. Gallup has surveyed more than 2.7M people across 100k+ teams to uncover indicators of engagement that lead to performance and retention outcomes we all strive for.

In remote work, we often make isolated decisions about compensation, tooling, and more, but the employee experiences a holistic and integrated working experience at your company. See how all the pieces we presented throughout the guide work together in a list of quick tips aligned with the Gallup Q12 questions:

I know what is expected of me at work.

Deploy a single source of truth like an intranet or a company-wide Notion doc that outlines expectations that managers reinforce during onboarding and one-on-ones. Check out Gitlab’s handbook as a model, but something more concise will do as long as it is up to date.

I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.

Provide remote employees with access to communication and productivity tools as well as a remote office stipend to feel fully resourced, healthy, and effective in their jobs. Check out FirstBase , Compt , Loom , Krisp , and Motion to meet a variety of remote employee needs.

At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

Remote employees work just as hard as anyone else, often logging more hours than their in-office counterparts. Acknowledge their efforts and prime all managers, but especially new managers to build trusting teams where results matter above facetime.

In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.

Consider creating a culture of recognition that extends beyond the in-person high five. Check out Slack plugins like HeyTaco , and feedback features within products like Lattice to help recognition become everyone’s responsibility, not just those in leadership roles.

My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.

One majorly overlooked retention tool is helping employees feel seen as whole people. Managers should normalize and honor extra-office responsibilities in the workplace. It can be as simple as saying a friendly hello to a wayward pet on a Zoom call or asking about the new plant in the remote office background.

There is someone at work who encourages my development.

Consider the way your team designs learning and development programs, promotion policies, and other career opportunities and how these are or aren’t inclusive of remote employees. Consider rotating career development event times or creating asynchronous opportunities for learning.

At work, my opinions seem to count.

Zoom can make it challenging to speak up in meetings, especially when a majority of the team is co-located. Try calling on remote team members to share before co-located team members in hybrid meeting environments. Find ways of collecting ideas and opinions of remote team members in a virtual suggestions box. Tools like Ariglad can be helpful for organizing these suggestions.

The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.

The best retention predictor is feeling a sense of purpose in the work being done day in and day out. Especially with the isolated nature of remote work, a connection or tie between the daily grind and the company mission is more important than ever.

My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.

How can your company design virtual spaces for teams to highlight the work they are doing when they can’t see them in action every day? Consider how teams can highlight their work product at virtual all-hands meetings, create newsletters or async company updates that allow individuals to shine, and practice documentation and transparency wherever possible to inspire the team to row together toward greatness.

I have a best friend at work.

This can be more complicated when there is no coffee station to chat around in the morning or lunch table to enjoy a catered meal with. Consider deploying designated social opportunities for team members to connect as more than coworkers to build real friendships. Try Donut to create virtual hangouts, or create Slack channels that cater to common interests like #parenting, #gardening, #dogs, and more.

In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.

Consider performance management platforms like Lattice with their Grow product or other tools in this space to help managers navigate progression conversations. Alternatively, consider creating lightweight career development plan templates that managers can use or empower every team member to engage with a coach through a platform like Bravely to help them initiate their own progression conversations.

This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Remember that opportunities to learn don’t have to be classroom-based. In fact, only 10% of learning for leadership development works best in a classroom setting. The remainder should come from people connections and on-the-job training opportunities. Managers and leaders should identify opportunities that arise on the job and be extra explicit about their intention so that employees understand that they are being invested in for growth.

WFH 常见问题解答：SignalFire 的初创公司远程招聘指南

吸引、入职、补偿和激励远程团队的策略

为什么远程工作需要新策略

远程招聘和合规

什么适合您：远程、混合还是 IRL？

您会成为允许远程、远程优先还是远程友好的组织？