Creating effective channels of communication within and between teams is a challenge most digital workplaces face. However, Discovery Education overcomes this deftly by leveraging communication and project management tools such as Slack, Zoom and Jira. The company’s Slack channels are thoughtfully organized and serve a wide range of purposes. From groups built for specific projects, to ones about pets, to ones celebrating the various accomplishments of peers, DE provides digital watering holes for a plethora of community needs. Slack huddles or Zoom meetings are also commonplace at DE, allowing employees to freely communicate ideas and clarify issues when communicating through text is not clear enough. Lastly, the company’s usage of organizational tools like Jira and Confluence makes working remotely very straightforward. DE’s taxonomy of projects and tasks on these platforms make it is easy to manage one’s time and workload each sprint, a quality especially important when not in an office.
Perhaps the most important facet of DE’s work culture, however, is the people themselves. DE fosters an incredibly supportive workplace – asking questions, exchanging ideas, and leading with compassion are all encouraged and practiced by the employees of DE. Team members are patient and kind, making it easy to bridge any gaps that might exist from not seeing one another in-person. The company also demonstrates its dedication to a healthy work-life balance by making it easy for employees to take time off when they need, enacting programs such as Summer Fridays (where employees get an early dismissal during the summer weeks), and generally making an effort to balance each team member’s workload fairly.
In summary, expert tools and exceptional people make DE one of the best places to work remotely in tech.
