Good Remote Work Policies

Remote work works best when the policies are built around trust and results instead of trying to recreate the office over video calls. The goal is to protect focus time, keep communication clear, and judge people by what they deliver.

Core Hours vs. Deep Work Time

• no work notifications during deep work blocks
• no meetings during deep work blocks
• no mandatory morning standups that kill morning productivity
• Core work hours are hours where everyone would be generally available for meetings or quick response to questions

Communication

• Async by default
• Sync only when necessary
• Document all decisions in writing
• Good use of channels/groups
• Respect time zones
• Urgent means the production site is down, everything else is less than urgent
  • if most things become urgent, then nothing is

Meetings

• Every meeting has an agenda; if there is no agenda there is no meeting
• Default to short meetings (25 or 50 min) so people get a break between them
• Cameras optional
• Write up notes or record it so people in other time zones can catch up
• One meeting free day a week

Onboarding & Documentation

• Written onboarding guide new hires can work through on their own
• Assign a buddy for the first few weeks for the questions that aren't written down yet
• One place for documentation (wiki, repo docs etc) that is kept up to date
• If a question gets asked twice it should be added to the docs

What not to include

These make developers quit and are of little to no good to help the company if the management is good.

• micromanagement
• Time tracking
• Surveillance software
• Always-on camera requirements

Measure outcomes, not activity. If the work is getting done well it doesn't matter how many hours someone was green on chat.

Sample Remote work policy