“Culture happens in the office.”

That’s what everyone said when we went remote. Five years later, our culture is stronger than when we had an office.

Here’s how.

What Culture Actually Is

Culture isn’t ping pong tables and beer fridges. It’s:

• How decisions get made
• How people treat each other
• What behaviors get rewarded
• What happens when things go wrong

Remote doesn’t change any of this. It just makes it more intentional.

The Foundations

Explicit Values

In an office, values can be implicit. You see how people behave.

Remote: Write them down. Talk about them constantly. Reference them in decisions.

Our values are one page. Every team member can recite them. We reference them in performance reviews, hiring, and hard decisions.

Clear Communication Norms

What channels for what purpose? When is async okay vs. sync needed?

Our norms:

• Slack for daily communication
• Loom for anything complex
• Notion for documentation
• Meetings only when discussion needed

New hires learn these in week one. No ambiguity.

Trust by Default

Remote requires trusting people to do their work without watching them.

We don’t track hours. We don’t require cameras always on. We measure output, not activity.

This trust is foundational. Without it, remote doesn’t work.

The Rituals

Weekly All-Hands (30 minutes)

Every week. Same time. Everyone attends.

Format:

• Company updates (5 min)
• Wins and recognition (5 min)
• Team highlights (10 min)
• Q&A (10 min)

This is the heartbeat. Miss it for emergencies only.

Monthly Show & Tell

Different teams present what they’re working on.

Engineering shows product development. Marketing shows campaigns. Customer success shares feedback.

Creates visibility across functions. Builds appreciation for other teams’ work.

Quarterly Reviews

Written reflection on the quarter. Shared openly.

What went well? What didn’t? What did we learn?

Transparency about performance, including failures, builds trust.

Annual In-Person

We meet in person once a year. Usually 3-4 days.

Focus on:

• Relationship building
• Strategy discussions (hard to do async)
• Fun (actual fun, not forced fun)

Worth the cost. Nothing replaces in-person for building deep connections.

The Small Things

Virtual Coffee Chats

Random pairing for 15-minute casual chats.

Tools: Donut for Slack automates matching.

Builds cross-team relationships. Prevents silos.

Celebration Channels

#wins channel for sharing accomplishments. Big and small.

Creates positive visibility. Shows what we value.

Learning Together

Weekly optional learning sessions. Someone teaches something.

Topics: Technical skills, soft skills, hobby sharing.

Builds connections beyond work tasks.

The Hard Parts

Onboarding

Onboarding remotely is harder. We over-invest here.

New hire first week:

• Daily check-ins with manager
• Assigned onboarding buddy
• Structured introduction meetings
• Clear 30/60/90 day expectations

Investment: ~20 hours of team time per new hire in first month.

Worth it. Bad onboarding kills remote culture.

Conflict Resolution

In offices, you can read body language. You bump into people.

Remote: Conflicts fester without intervention.

Our approach:

• Address issues directly (don’t let things simmer)
• Video calls for sensitive topics (not text)
• Manager involvement early if needed
• Explicit “no Slack fights” rule

Career Development

“Out of sight, out of mind” is real.

We combat this:

• Quarterly career conversations (not just performance)
• Visible project assignments
• Explicit promotion criteria
• Regular 1:1s focused on growth

Remote employees need advocates. Managers must be intentional.

Time Zone Challenges

We span 12 hours of time zones.

What works:

• Async by default
• Core overlap hours (4-5 hours) for necessary meetings
• Recording everything
• Rotating meeting times so same people don’t always have early/late calls

What doesn’t work:

• Requiring 9-5 from everyone
• Scheduling without checking time zones
• Excluding people because of their location

What Kills Remote Culture

Surveillance

Monitoring software. Screenshot tracking. Activity metrics.

If you don’t trust people, don’t hire them. Surveillance destroys culture.

Always-On Expectations

“Why didn’t you respond to my Slack at 10 PM?”

Boundaries matter. Respect them.

Information Hoarding

Knowledge staying in DMs and private channels.

Default to public. Document everything. Radical transparency.

Ignoring Feedback

Asking for input then doing nothing with it.

Either act on feedback or explain why not. Silence is toxic.

The Measurement

How do you know if remote culture is working?

Employee satisfaction surveys: Monthly pulse checks. Watch trends.

Retention rates: People leave bad cultures. If they’re staying, something’s working.

Engagement in rituals: Are people attending optional events? Participating in channels?

Referral rates: Do employees recommend others to join? Best signal of healthy culture.

The Philosophy

Remote culture isn’t worse than office culture. It’s different.

You lose: Spontaneous interactions, body language, physical presence.

You gain: Flexibility, written documentation, async deep work, global talent pool.

The companies that thrive remotely don’t try to replicate office culture online. They build something new that works for distributed teams.

Be intentional. Over-communicate. Trust people.

Culture at a distance is absolutely possible. We’re proof.