Our guide to working remotely

In recent times we have seen a sharp increase in the amount of businesses working remotely. There were already some large companies that operate remotely like Buffer and Zapier but this has now become the norm for even more businesses. Here we guide you through working remotely.

Working remotely

Many people have the notion that remote working indicates pyjamas, less productivity, and a disconnected team to name just a few. The idea that the only way to get things done is to be in an office from 9am to 5pm is changing. As the world has had to adapt to these unusual times, so have our attitudes towards working remotely.  Does it mean that the future of remote working will look a lot different?

Many businesses that already work remotely, like Buffer and Zapier, find that remote working has a range of benefits. Extra flexibility, increased productivity, reduced overheads, and staff with a better work-life balance. Not to mention eradicating the dreaded commute.

At Seed we have always been a remote team so this change hasn’t come as a shock to us but we have been using the opportunity to change things and make sure that we are all still connecting in a positive way.

Our favourite apps

In a study by Asana, one in five employees are using collaboration tools for the first time since working remotely. Here are a few of our top apps to help you and your team work remotely:

Slack Slack is an instant messaging, remote office communication tool for teams and remote workers. It has some great features for managing projects, assigning teams, planning and keeping in touch with your team.

Calendly Calendly is a powerful and simple scheduling tool – great for avoiding the dreaded emails backwards and forwards agreeing a time to speak. You can link it with Zoom for video calls, and Stripe for paid appointments.

Asana Asana helps you to create, assign and manage tasks. You can organise tasks according to projects and communicate with a team member within a task to keep the conversations organised. You can also upload files from Google Drive, Dropbox or other cloud places, and forward emails.

Zoom Zooms main use is for video conferencing and meetings. It’s perfect when you need a larger amount of people to attend a meeting at once. Their webinar function has also been popular in recent months.

Dropbox Dropbox is a cloud based file storage and sharing platform. You can store files, docs, images and videos and share them easily with others. It’s perfect for collaborating with remote teams and employees

Evernote Evernote is a great note-taking solution. You can keep all your notes organised, sync them across your devices and share with the team.

Toggl Toggl is a simple time tracking tool. You can break down hours worked by project, clients and tasks to see what you are earning money in and what is holding you back.

Xero we can’t miss out one of our personal favourites. Online accounting software designed to make small business easier. Real time information, unlimited users, stay on top of your business any time, anywhere.

Dext the app to manage your receipts. Take a photo of a receipt and upload it to Dext. They will do the rest. It also integrates with Xero.

Pleo The smart company card. Issues cards with limits for your team, automate expenses and integrate with accounting software like Xero.

Working remotely can be a hard adjustment to make, it requires a lot of self discipline and motivation. Tamsyn has shared some tips from the team and some of our client, you can read it here.