Effective Strategies for Managing a Fully Remote Team at SafetyWing (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: So, what are the key best practices to follow when managing a fully remote team? At SafetyWing, we are about 200 people distributed over 70 countries, and we have 100% retention rate. So, I can say, and also I've been building these teams from zero to a dozen a couple times in the last two years, and I'm very familiar with what it takes to make this team successful. The first thing we do very well is be more async versus sync. What I mean by that is that we don't need to be together all the time. So, for example, we only meet twice a week, which is mandatory. It's for two hours each time, it's Mondays and Thursdays, and then the rest of the time it's async, which means that gives you ample time to focus on the highest priorities you have for the week, and you don't have to be bogged down by having to be on Zoom calls every hour or so. The second thing we do very well is we do not micromanage people. This is key when it comes to managing remote talent. They do not want to be micromanaged, but this is also key in companies where you're also at the office. The less micromanagement, the better. The third one is to foster a high trust and high-purpose environment. That's where your highest performers are going to thrive. When you have this type of environment, which really comes from your culture, it makes it so easy for high performers to be attracted to it and to stay at your company for a long time. The fourth is to be mindful of booking meetings. We've seen over and over again how a lot of people got burnt out during the pandemic because basically we were translating the office culture onto remote, which really didn't work because they were in back-to-back Zoom call meetings all day long, and they had no room to think creatively, to breathe, and to really deep dive into their work versus having to be on these meetings back-to-back. Last but not least, I would say look at the benefits you're offering. Remote talent wants remote benefits, and those could be anywhere from an office stipend. They could be virtual lunches, health insurance that travels with them from place to place, which SafetyWing provides. I have obviously been very lucky to be able to use all these benefits because I have been living around the world for the last four years, going from country to country, and having this type of benefits is key to making me a happy and productive worker. I'm curious to see if any of you who lead remote teams have more things to add to this list. Thank you.