{"id":75728,"date":"2017-05-25T10:16:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T17:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=75728"},"modified":"2025-12-12T13:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T21:21:17","slug":"managing-a-remote-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/managing-a-remote-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing a Remote Workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"working<\/a><\/p>\n

While Backblaze has customers all around the globe, the company itself is a pretty small enterprise with just over 50 employees. Many of those employees are actually remote. 75% of Backblaze employees work from the main Backblaze office (San Mateo), 15% are data center employees, and 10% are working remotely full-time.<\/p>\n

Many companies that were the pioneers with flexible work arrangements are now pulling back and asking their employees to report into an office. Why? Some part of that is due to not knowing how to manage these types of employees and belief that having an employee in the office will improve work performance.<\/p>\n

At Backblaze, we think that managing our diverse workforce is certainly a challenge\u2026 But, as the saying goes, the juice is worth the squeeze.<\/p>\n

Communication Is Key<\/h2>\n

When Backblaze first started<\/a>, everyone worked out of the same room. Being five feet away from someone tends to make communication easy (sometimes too easy). The first data center was just a few miles away, so if we needed to do something in it, we\u2019d just hop in a car and drive over\u2014calling co-workers from our cell-phones if we needed some help or guidance. Now, things have changed slightly and we use a lot of different tools to talk amongst ourselves.<\/p>\n

It started with emails, then morphed into Google Chat, then to Google Hangouts, and now we have a whole suite of communication tools. We use Hangouts and Slack to chat internally, Meet for video conferencing to bridge remote employees, and good old fashioned telephones when the need arises. Tools like Trello<\/a>, Redbooth<\/a>, and Jira<\/a> can help project manage, as well\u2014making sure that everyone stays on the same page.<\/p>\n

For HR-related needs, we use a variety of tools\/perks to simplify employees’ lives whether they are at the office or at home enjoying time with their families. These tools include a human resource information system (HRIS) called Namely<\/a>, Expensify<\/a> (expenses), Carta<\/a> (stock), Fond<\/a> (perks), and Heal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most popular tool we use is Slack<\/a>. Each department, location, product, and support group have their own channel. We also have social channels where all the GIFs and news links live. Slack also has the added benefit of allowing us to limit what information is discussed where. For example, contract employees do not have access to channels that go beyond their scope and focus areas.<\/p>\n

Solve for Culture, Not Off-site vs. On-site<\/h2>\n

One of the keys to managing a remote workforce is realizing that you\u2019re solving for overall culture. It\u2019s not about whether any group of employees are in office X or Y. The real question is: Are we creating an environment where we remove the friction from people performing their roles? There are follow-up questions like \u201cDo we have the right roles defined?\u201d and \u201cDo we have people in roles where they will succeed?\u201d But by looking at managing our workforce from that point of view, it makes it easier to identify what tools and resources we need to be successful.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no right way to manage remote employees. Every work environment is different and the culture, available technology, and financial capability affects how employees can interact. Backblaze went through a ton of iterations before we found the right tools for what we were trying to accomplish, and we\u2019re constantly evolving and experimenting. But we have found some consistent patterns…<\/p>\n