Collaboration in a remote team - how to do it right

In the article Building a remote team? Look for workers with these 4 traits we described what characteristics to look for when recruiting remote employees. With over 10 years of experience as a software development agency working with remote programmers, we know which personality traits are important from the point of view of remote cooperation. 

We have been relying on this knowledge when providing staff augmentation services to clients located in foreign countries. It helps us to avoid recruitment mishaps, and at the same time, makes the cooperation between our remote team and the specialists on the client's side very simple. 

However, recruitment is not everything. Team management, onboarding, and collaboration are just as important.

Based on our experience, we decided to share some insights on how to make the implementation and cooperation with remote specialists fruitful and hassle-free.

Onboarding

This is an extremely important stage in any cooperation with a new team member, regardless of whether they work remotely or not. The first days in a new workplace are always stressful and generate many questions or doubts. 

Additionally, remember how important the first impression is - this is true not only for meeting new people but starting to work in a new workplace. It's during this period that we form the opinion about the entire company and further cooperation. 

The better we take care of a new team member at this stage, the more positive attitude towards further cooperation they will have. And this will make them happier and more productive.

Here's how we do it:

At Teams by Sunscrapers, every employed specialist, regardless of the project to which they're assigned, gets a complete package of information at the very beginning about who to reach out to for what purpose. 

We have a recruitment supervisor new employees can contact regarding any general questions related to cooperation. We also have a supervisor for the consultant-client relationship who makes sure that the cooperation is as smooth as possible and helps to dispel any doubts or solve problems if they arise. Finally, our staff is supported by an administrative assistant responsible for all administrative matters, equipment, monthly settlements, and perks and benefits. All of our consultants also get introduced to the entire company and get access to our primary communication tool, Slack.

Each new employee also receives all the necessary information about the specific project to which they are assigned. From the method of tracking working hours, accepting timesheets and planned absences, to the contact information for their supervisor on the client's side, and any other important information about the project.

Cooperation with remote experts

Working in dispersed teams is always more challenging than cooperation in a team that works at the same office every day. This doesn't mean, however, that remote cooperation can't be as fruitful as on-site team collaboration. That's especially true since today many specialists greatly appreciate the possibility of remote work. Many of them are experts in their fields. So we can do nothing else than accept this fact and learn how to do it to make everyone happy in a remote setting. It's easier than you expect!

At Teams, we have experience in recruiting entire teams (several developers for one project) and finding individual specialists to complement the client's team and match the client's requirements perfectly. 

Especially in the latter, we take extra care to ensure that the employed expert doesn't feel lonely. It's very important to monitor employees' general satisfaction with cooperation on a regular basis. Naturally, the same goes for the client. This helps to identify potential problems as early as possible and nip them in the bud. Our supervisors regularly talk to our specialists and their leaders on the client-side, collect feedback and pass it on to stakeholders, and make small tweaks here and there to improve the entire cooperation.

We recruit specialists who work from Poland remotely for our foreign clients. This doesn't mean, however, that they have to work alone from their homes. Our developers can work from our Warsaw office, using our equipment and all of the amenities related to stationary work. All of the specialists we employ can get to know each other not only on Slack but also in person during our team integration meetings.

Conclusion

The recruitment and subsequent cooperation with remote specialists are often challenging, at least until we learn how to do it right. In our experience, it's enough to take care of several key stages, especially at the beginning of cooperation, to launch successful remote cooperation and pursue the established goals together.

At Teams by Sunscrapers, we know how to do remote collaborations right. So if you need a new specialist for your team, reach out to us - and we'll take care of the rest.