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The key to being a successful remote worker is a foundation of trust. Its unfortunately Human Nature to assume the worst when a remote contact is unreachab

The key to being a successful remote worker is a foundation of trust. Its unfortunately Human Nature to assume the worst when a remote contact is unreachable when you need them . Therefore it's crucial to establish a reputation where your co-workers trust you to do the right thing connected or not. The moral of the story is not about abusive bosses or misaligned corporate goals. It's just about maintaining that crucial level of trust in the team. And it's a two-way street . Both manager and employee play a an active part. Personally I would never hire a remote worker I could not confidently trust nor would I work for a place that didn't implicitly trust me Edit - I've been a remote worker for over 10 years and will likely continue as long as I possibly can

codyb 9y ago
I find managing upwards is the best way to deal with these situations. I've had micromanagers before and no one enjoys that random "hey wheres X at?" question so what I do is give status updates every so often. I avoid the stressful question entirely this way. It makes your managers life easier and yours as well and allows you to give updates on your time instead of theirs. This works remotely and in person. I work my face off a lot of times so it's valuable to turn the tables and not get caught in the middle of something with a question that can take me out of work flow. At the end of the day, managing people is very hard. Transperency works very well for me.
- e40 9y ago
  I can't stress how good the above comment is at dealing with this. As a long time manager, people that behave this way are a total joy to manage. Also, if you have a smartphone and your company uses slack, there is no reason to be unreachable, unless you are in a deadzone of cell reception or driving. But, if you practice the above, it shouldn't be an issue. For example, a post to #OOO: hey, running an errand for the next hour, offline.
  - kd5bjo 9y ago
    > if you have a smartphone... there is no reason to be unreachable It is totally fine to be unreachable nights and weekends[1] without providing notice to your employer; being able to detach from work completely from time to time is key to minimizing burnout risk, and what you do on your own time is none of their business. [1] With the exception of formalized support rotations, of course
    - balfirevic 9y ago
      I certainly hope parent poster meant being reachable during working hours.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - mulmen 9y ago
        Never assume management's expectations.
    - e40 9y ago
      I meant regular working hours.
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    Being unreachable during core business hours is definitely a huge problem from the perspective of the non-remote employee (me) who's in the office for the typical eight hours a day trying to get something done and being blocked by a coworker who's unreachable because they're remote. If you a remote worker, the onus is on you to never let the fact that you're not in the office become a burden on your coworkers. If you end up being harder to work with because you're less reachable then your coworkers will begin to resent you for it, and that doesn't lead down a good path. If you're not online and available during the expected business hours for your position then you're not really doing 100% of your job, because you're not able to assist your team members as is expected of your role. Note that this applies to members of standard software engineering teams, and not necessarily to contractual work that involves delivering products on certain timetables but not necessarily close collaboration with a team.
    - sbov 9y ago
      Lots of places offer flexible business hours, even for people coming in the office. Not everyone always takes lunch at the same time either. Even people in the office are not 100% available all the time. Your attitude towards remote workers seems unnecessarily hostile.
      - CydeWeys 9y ago
        You're misinterpreting my post. At my current job we are flexible -- people come in and leave at different times, eat lunch at different times, etc. I'm not expecting everyone to be at their desks from 10-6 all day every day. That's why I said "core business hours". There's a difference between someone who is unavailable because they're off eating lunch and someone who is incommunicado for many hours at a time and impedes progress. I've seen remote workers drastically slow down progress by simply being unavailable while all of the non-remote workers are present and blocked on them for something. In theory an onsite worker could do this too, but in practice they don't simply disappear for hours at a time at the office.
        sbov 9y ago
  - BeetleB 9y ago
    >Also, if you have a smartphone and your company uses slack, there is no reason to be unreachable. This is a silly attitude if you meant it very generally. Workplaces should set expectations - remote or otherwise. And people should be judged by them - remote or otherwise. As an example, for my last job (non-remote), I told them during the interview that: 1. I will not be on any IM software. 2. I will check email only 3 times during the work day. "Is that a problem?" They said "No". Just set clear expectations. If you have a remote worker who is often unavailable, but you did not have this conversation when he/she was hired, you are part of the problem. (I had to loosen 1 above once we hired remote workers - it was unfair to them).
- munin 9y ago
  This only works if your management remembers your status updates.
  - krakensden 9y ago
    If you're worried about that, make them public. Middle managers are easier to get than programmers, so you may have leverage walking up the chain to your boss's boss.
    - CydeWeys 9y ago
      You should be sending status updates to your team's email list anyway, not just to your manager, as they are useful to all of your coworkers. I can't even begin to count the number of times that, upon hearing in a daily stand-up/status report that someone was working on or was about to begin working on a specific thing, I was able to give useful direction on it that saved hours of work. Teams that go off to work in isolated silos don't have good velocity. Sometimes the five seconds it takes to say "Yeah I tried that approach already and gave it up, so I recommend Y" can save days. And this will come from your coworkers more often than it will from your manager, so always send status updates to the whole team.
    - Chopsah 9y ago
      Qualified middle managers are not easier to get than programmers, in my experience. And if they (and their reports) are qualified, they'll not micromanage, nor need to.
    - munin 9y ago
      If your manager is the kind that brow-beats when they can't find you, and, they forget things you tell them (in writing), then reminding them of the thing you have told them, in writing, to their bosses boss, will basically get you fired.
  - flavio81 9y ago
    the best is to send them written by email. In that way, it is clear and evident that the status updates were always sent.
- christophilus 9y ago
  Yep. This is sage advice, I think even for in-office workers. Visibility and clear communication to your managers is critical to success.

codyb 9y ago

I find managing upwards is the best way to deal with these situations. I've had micromanagers before and no one enjoys that random "hey wheres X at?" question so what I do is give status updates every so often. I avoid the stressful question entirely this way. It makes your managers life easier and yours as well and allows you to give updates on your time instead of theirs. This works remotely and in person. I work my face off a lot of times so it's valuable to turn the tables and not get caught in the middle of something with a question that can take me out of work flow. At the end of the day, managing people is very hard. Transperency works very well for me.

e40 9y ago
I can't stress how good the above comment is at dealing with this. As a long time manager, people that behave this way are a total joy to manage. Also, if you have a smartphone and your company uses slack, there is no reason to be unreachable, unless you are in a deadzone of cell reception or driving. But, if you practice the above, it shouldn't be an issue. For example, a post to #OOO: hey, running an errand for the next hour, offline.
- kd5bjo 9y ago
  > if you have a smartphone... there is no reason to be unreachable It is totally fine to be unreachable nights and weekends[1] without providing notice to your employer; being able to detach from work completely from time to time is key to minimizing burnout risk, and what you do on your own time is none of their business. [1] With the exception of formalized support rotations, of course
  - balfirevic 9y ago
    I certainly hope parent poster meant being reachable during working hours.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - mulmen 9y ago
      Never assume management's expectations.
  - e40 9y ago
    I meant regular working hours.
- CydeWeys 9y ago
  Being unreachable during core business hours is definitely a huge problem from the perspective of the non-remote employee (me) who's in the office for the typical eight hours a day trying to get something done and being blocked by a coworker who's unreachable because they're remote. If you a remote worker, the onus is on you to never let the fact that you're not in the office become a burden on your coworkers. If you end up being harder to work with because you're less reachable then your coworkers will begin to resent you for it, and that doesn't lead down a good path. If you're not online and available during the expected business hours for your position then you're not really doing 100% of your job, because you're not able to assist your team members as is expected of your role. Note that this applies to members of standard software engineering teams, and not necessarily to contractual work that involves delivering products on certain timetables but not necessarily close collaboration with a team.
  - sbov 9y ago
    Lots of places offer flexible business hours, even for people coming in the office. Not everyone always takes lunch at the same time either. Even people in the office are not 100% available all the time. Your attitude towards remote workers seems unnecessarily hostile.
    - CydeWeys 9y ago
      You're misinterpreting my post. At my current job we are flexible -- people come in and leave at different times, eat lunch at different times, etc. I'm not expecting everyone to be at their desks from 10-6 all day every day. That's why I said "core business hours". There's a difference between someone who is unavailable because they're off eating lunch and someone who is incommunicado for many hours at a time and impedes progress. I've seen remote workers drastically slow down progress by simply being unavailable while all of the non-remote workers are present and blocked on them for something. In theory an onsite worker could do this too, but in practice they don't simply disappear for hours at a time at the office.
      - sbov 9y ago
- BeetleB 9y ago
  >Also, if you have a smartphone and your company uses slack, there is no reason to be unreachable. This is a silly attitude if you meant it very generally. Workplaces should set expectations - remote or otherwise. And people should be judged by them - remote or otherwise. As an example, for my last job (non-remote), I told them during the interview that: 1. I will not be on any IM software. 2. I will check email only 3 times during the work day. "Is that a problem?" They said "No". Just set clear expectations. If you have a remote worker who is often unavailable, but you did not have this conversation when he/she was hired, you are part of the problem. (I had to loosen 1 above once we hired remote workers - it was unfair to them).
munin 9y ago
This only works if your management remembers your status updates.
- krakensden 9y ago
  If you're worried about that, make them public. Middle managers are easier to get than programmers, so you may have leverage walking up the chain to your boss's boss.
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    You should be sending status updates to your team's email list anyway, not just to your manager, as they are useful to all of your coworkers. I can't even begin to count the number of times that, upon hearing in a daily stand-up/status report that someone was working on or was about to begin working on a specific thing, I was able to give useful direction on it that saved hours of work. Teams that go off to work in isolated silos don't have good velocity. Sometimes the five seconds it takes to say "Yeah I tried that approach already and gave it up, so I recommend Y" can save days. And this will come from your coworkers more often than it will from your manager, so always send status updates to the whole team.
  - Chopsah 9y ago
    Qualified middle managers are not easier to get than programmers, in my experience. And if they (and their reports) are qualified, they'll not micromanage, nor need to.
  - munin 9y ago
    If your manager is the kind that brow-beats when they can't find you, and, they forget things you tell them (in writing), then reminding them of the thing you have told them, in writing, to their bosses boss, will basically get you fired.
- flavio81 9y ago
  the best is to send them written by email. In that way, it is clear and evident that the status updates were always sent.
christophilus 9y ago
Yep. This is sage advice, I think even for in-office workers. Visibility and clear communication to your managers is critical to success.