Feel at Home in a Distributed Company

1 .Feel at Home in a Distributed Company: How to Retain Your Remote Staff Members? Anastasia Raspopina, Marketing Specialist (Percona) 

2 . Why am I speaking about going remote? - 4+ years of remote work experience - 2 different companies (+ interactions with MANY more as both companies hold IT conferences) - 2+ years of work for a virtual global company (Percona, HQ in Raleigh, NC) - 150 Perconians reside in 30 countries of the world - Percona is 90% distributed (people work from home, only 10% of them have desks at HQ, but these desks are not always used - so everyone is remote!) - Percona got media coverage and industry recognition for going remote the ‘right’ way (see links on slide 25) - Corporate book and newsletter brought me enough information to share 2 

3 . Some Statistics from Bitrix24 & J’son & Partners Consulting Agency (2015) - A remote employee can help a corporation save up to 170,000 rubles/year - In the next 5 years remote staff will become a common practice in Russia - 20% of employees in Russia will work remotely by 2020 - Now less than 1% Russians work remotely (in comparison with 34-36% in the US, according to McKinsey) - Find more interesting facts here: http://bit.ly/2msTiF9 3 

4 . Freelancer and Remote Staff Member: What’s Different (And Why Bother?) Freelancer Remote Staff Member - One-time interaction - Long-term relationship - ‘Sink or swim’ attitude - Company is interested (very often) in his/her professional growth - Relatively easy to find - Harder to find a a replacement (one replacement (series of task / no regular tasks / regular responsibilities) responsibilities) 4 

5 .How to make staff feel at home? 

6 .Internal Communications 

7 . Not Completely Remote: Meetings - Meetings for staff from the same department (planning) - Meetings for staff from the same region (parties) - In the picture: Perconians from 7 Philippines (2017 party) 

8 . Management Is Accessible - All-Company Calls (Monthly Practice) - CEO Weekly Chat - CEO Anonymous Feedback Form - Staff members get public praise at these calls 8 

9 . Corporate Newsletter and… Book! - We have a monthly newsletter (‘The Percona Insider’) to repeat the most important announcements, spotlight Perconians of the Month and congratulate staff members on important family changes - For Percona’s 10th Anniversary (2016), we have started the Percona Book project 9 

10 .Work and Life Balance 

11 . Paid Time Off - 20 working days (Saturdays and Sundays excluded) per year - 10 days for national all-country holidays (for Perconians to sync with their family members working for local companies in their countries) 11 

12 . Flexible Hours - Most positions at Percona include flexible hours (you can complete your tasks by certain date, not in certain time!) - Staff members flex time within the day for doctor’s appointments, picking up kids from school, gym exercises or other external hobbies 12 

13 .Professional Growth Opportunities 

14 . Training, Courses and Books - Certifications and trainings are picked by staff members and then sent to managers for approval - Internal Trainings / Mentoring by Percona Experts (if requested) - Book of the Month Practice 14 

15 . Transforming Newcomers into Experts - All staff members with technical roles are encouraged to blog in Percona Database Performance Blog (100+K readers) - Speaking at meetups and conferences is available for everyone if approved by the manager (Events Team coordinates this and offers speaking opportunities) 15 

16 .Simple Human Things :) 

17 . If Home isn’t the Best Place to Work from... - Co-working rooms are paid for some staff members who have small babies or other reasons to work from a co-working space - Changing regular schedule for the time of family changes 17 

18 . Handling Staff Life Events - Positive family changes (weddings / births) - Sad family changes (losses and funerals) - Special alias for sharing personal achievements with the team 18 

19 . Fun to Work With (q) - Positive Atmosphere - Support humor, transparency and informal style where possible (not everywhere) - It can be compatible with fully professional attitude 19 

20 . Percona Alumni (not just ex-Perconians) - Offboarding is no less important than onboarding - Let people try new opportunities elsewhere and then welcome them back if they are unhappy there 20 

21 . Multiple Cultures in the Team - Treat representatives of different cultures with respect - Encourage them to share interesting traditions and explain what’s different in their country/region 21 

22 .Something Physical to Keep - Company Souvenirs - Happy Holidays postcards - Corporate T-shirts - High Performance MySQL Book (signed by authors) - Branded souvenirs - Stickers 22 

23 .So… is everyone happy? 

24 . Well, you can never be 100% sure, but... 1. Glassdoor rating = 4.7 out of 5 2. People come back to Percona (no less than 5 in 2 years) 3. Many Percona alumni speak highly of the company and often help current Perconians 24 

25 . Read More English: http://fortune.com/2016/01/26/remote-workers-business/ http://blog.hubstaff.com/why-let-employees-work-from-home/ Russian: http://rb.ru/article/kak-uspeshno-rukovodit-udalennymi-sotrud nikami-iz-28-stran-opyt-kompanii-percona/7442397.html 25 

26 . Questions? And… Send Superheroes Our Way! 26 

27 .Thank you!