Our secret sauce for successful remote work

2024 will forever be remembered as a landmark year for Openprovider. While celebrating 20 years as the home of low-cost domains, we also crossed the 100-employee threshold for the first time. With team members spread across 20+ countries on six different continents, all working remotely in their respective time zones, our company culture stands out from the norm. 

Remote work cynics point to the dangers of employee loneliness and disconnection. But if you ask our team what they love about working at Openprovider, one common theme is likely to surface: it’s our amazing people and flexible approach that make all the difference.

So what’s our secret sauce? Keep reading to discover our approach!

How to optimize remote work meetings

Meetings are essential for staying connected and addressing challenges collectively. However, it’s all too easy for calendars to become overloaded, leaving little time for actual work. At Openprovider, we intentionally minimize the number of meetings to maximize productivity and provide greater flexibility in our schedules.

Each team holds a set of recurring daily and weekly meetings, along with a company-wide weekly meeting known as the “Friday Download.” We use tools like Jira and Bloom Growth to structure our meetings, and once a week, we enjoy “Meeting-free Thursdays.” 

With these key meetings in place, our colleagues have the freedom to organize their schedules in ways that suit them best. Many of our colleagues balance work with childcare or choose to work from coworking spaces occasionally. Some have even embarked on “workations”!

How to build social relationships among remote workers

Social connection is an important part of enjoyment and fun in the workplace, and that’s no different in a fully remote event. Our team spirit, engaging online events, and the chance to interact with colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds are some of the top reasons people love working at Openprovider.

Every week, the Donut app pairs groups of 3-4 colleagues for a quick 15-minute chat, a great way to connect with people outside your immediate team. Additionally, every Friday, we host “Friday Team Time,” open to everyone in the company, where we come together for quizzes and games. It’s not mandatory to attend these sessions but the weekly numbers illustrate just how popular these remote social get-togethers are. 

Furthermore, our HR team organizes an online “Pizza & Quiz” event each quarter. Openprovider covers the cost of the pizza (or the food of choice), and we gather for a fun quiz, which always leads to learning interesting new facts about each other’s countries and cultures. Beyond our online interactions, our colleagues in regional hubs like The Netherlands, Spain, India, and Sri Lanka often meet up for dinners, drinks, or fun activities. 

Remote work here is anything but isolating!

The best tools for remote working

As a fully remote company with a digital product, we rely on various tools to keep our work organized and efficient. Here’s what we use:

• Google Workspace: While we all have Google email accounts, we rarely use email for internal communication! Slack is our primary communication channel, though Google Workspace is handy for Docs, Slides, and Sheets.
• Slack: Our main hub for communication, from critical announcements in #office to sharing the best memes in #fun! 
• Atlassian Stack: All teams use Jira for work planning and sprints, with Confluence serving as our go-to for sharing information and making policies accessible.
• Bloom Growth: This tool helps us structure our recurring weekly meetings and facilitate quarterly conversations between employees and managers.

Join the team!

Interested in joining our multicultural, fully remote team? Visit our “About Us” page to learn more about our company and values. Ready to apply? Head over to our careers page to explore open positions and learn about our application process.