Learn how to build an open door policy remotely using remote office hours. Overcome communication and collaboration challenges that hinder your team's success.

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January 8, 2021
Office Hours: Top Tips on How to Create an Effective
Open Door Policy for Your Remote Team
process.st/office-hours
Jane Courtnell
January 8, 2021
Business, Human Resources, Management
According to a report given by Queens University, 75% of employers rate teamwork and
collaboration to be very important.
Despite this, reports by Globe and Mail and the Harvard Business Review indicate that 20-
44% of employees experience workplace communication and collaboration challenges. And if
you’re operating remotely, well, these challenges just became harder to overcome. There is a
gap between want and reality.
In this Process Street article, we consider how using office hours can close this gap by
supporting the effective implementation of an open door policy for your remote team.
Office hours are times in the week managers set aside to answer questions, address issues,
and discuss topics with employees. This effectively implements an open door policy, to
establish aspirational communication and collaboration goals. An open door policy is a

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culture that supports complete workplace transparency, communication, and productivity by
establishing strong communication channels between employees and their managers.
Today you’ll find out exactly how office hours and an open door policy complement each
other – plus top tips on managing your remote open door policy.
Click on the relevant subheader below, or scroll down to find out all.
Let’s get straight to it!
What do we mean by office hours?
Office hours are times in the day – or week – leaders set aside for listening, sharing, and
helping employees with their questions, queries, or concerns.
Note: The term also refers to the hours during the day when office workers are usually at
work, i.e. the 9-5 grind. In this article, we’ll look at the term as per the definition given
above.
The top challenges with a remote open door policy
Source
Scott Kirsner, the Innovation Economy columnist, goes as far as to state that open office
hours isn’t a simple idea, but an initiative belonging to a wider movement promoting an open
door policy at work.

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As beautiful as the open door policy seems in theory, the Globe and Mail and the Harvard
Business Review report some worrying statistics, bringing us into a crashing reality.
44% of employees stated they don’t feel free to speak their minds to their boss (this is a
communication issue). į
42% of employees admitted to speaking up but withheld information if they felt they
had nothing to gain or something to lose from sharing (this is a collaboration issue). ‫ض‬
20% of employees stated that fear of the consequences kept them addressing ordinary
company problems (this is a collaboration issue). ‫ر‬
Each one of these concerns boils down to significant communication and collaboration
problems, preventing a true open door policy from being established, despite efforts and
theory ideals.
These issues aren’t to do with the open door policy per-say, but poor management in
practice. Furthermore, they’re problems exacerbated by remote work.
Why are we focusing on remote work in this article?
Because, with technological and digital progression, remote work is becoming common-
place.
Today, we have companies operating remotely 100% of the time (take Process Street as a
prime example). In the U.S. remote work has risen by 159%, from 2005-2018. At the
beginning of 2020, the number of remote workers was 4.7 million – in light of COVID-19,
this statistic has substantially increased.
These trends come as remote work brings many team-wide benefits, such as lowered
business expenses, increased productivity, and a reduced carbon footprint. But this trending
working style isn’t without its challenges.
How remote work makes managing open door policy more difficult
According to Buffer’s State of Remote Work Report (2020), top remote work challenges
include communication and collaboration issues. These issues act to hinder the already
present challenges that come from using an open door policy.
To summarize, if you’re trying to establish an open door policy for your remote workforce,
you need to address the following:
Remote open door policy challenge #1: Ineffective implementation of an open
door policy – applicable to in-person work as well as remote work. Ϣ‫ף‬
Remote open door policy challenge #2: Remote work exacerbates collaboration
issues among colleagues, further degrading the effectiveness of an open door policy. һ̏
So, how do we address these challenges?

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Remote open door policy challenges (and how to solve them)
In the next section of this article, you’ll learn how to effectively implement a remote open
door policy using remote open office hours.
Challenge #1: Ineffective implementation
Source
The challenge: Ineffective implementation of an open door policy – applicable to in-person
work as well as remote work. Ϣ‫ף‬
The solution: Open office hours that have been well planned and scheduled.
Step 1: Set clear office hour parameters
Sometimes an open door policy becomes a revolving door sabotaging your time management.
To get through your tasks, you’ll need time for uninterrupted, deep-work. An open door
policy doesn’t mean you’ll need to be constantly available, which is why it’s important to
schedule office hours at a selected time to suit your schedule.
To set clear office hour parameters at Process Street, we use the tool Calendly. With this
application, you can store times and days of preference and then share your Calendly link
within your team. Using this link, team members can pick meeting times of preference, and
all events are added to your calendar automatically. I use this Calendly link to set up 1:1
sessions with my manager Adam Henshall. During these open office slots, I have the option
and free reign to chat and ask for advice.

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“I book all my recurring meetings Monday-Thursday and try to leave Friday open for people to
book in with me if they need/want to.
We use Calendly to easily manage that booking. I put my Calendly link in my Slack profile for
anyone to grab it straight away and book it on my calendar. This means Friday is different from
other days as I’ll often have time to make progress on other projects, or my lower priority tasks.
These office hour meetings give me the time to chat about wellbeing, potential new projects, or
to have conversations with people from other teams. It breaks up my work week as well as
giving some flexibility to my team members. – Adam Henshall
Step 2: Be prepared
You don’t know what issues an employee will bring to you during pre-set office hours, which
is why you’ll need to prepare for all eventualities. For instance, if your office hours lead to
someone raising health and safety concerns, you need to know how to handle these issues
swiftly and according to best practices and policy. You’ll want your employees to feel
comfortable raising these situations, and knowing you’ll provide advice for recommended
action.
In my previous job working for an environmental testing laboratory, I had to schedule open
office hours with my line manager following a mountaineering accident that led me to have 3
months off work. My absence had mistakenly raised concern via the company’s system,
causing me stress. My line manager read up on the company’s policies regarding leave of
absence, clearing up the misunderstandings I had, and resolving the system issues. This
represents good practice during open office hour discussions. My manager’s actions
supported an open door policy by addressing miscommunication through the provision of
correct and up-to-date information.
Step 3: Pay attention
Listen more than you speak for employees to feel heard during open office hours. Make eye
contact, show positive facial expressions, and an open body language to let employees know
you’re engaged and interested.
Let’s take a look at Virgin as an example. Virgin is a multi-industry organization with a long-
standing habit of listening to employees, to show that they’re valued. Virgin Group founder
Richard Branson puts a lot of emphasis on listening to employees and implementing their
ideas.
“We encourage all of our companies to seek feedback from their employees and implement
great ideas where possible.” – Sir Richard Branson, Listen to your employees’ ideas
Step 4: Build trust
A study by Google looked at the organization’s highest-performing teams to evaluate their
effectiveness and discovered it boiled down to 1 factor – psychological safety. To create an

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environment that promotes feelings of safety, Google’s study states that building trust is key.
Trust helps team members feel safer to speak up, take risks, and be vulnerable. As a result,
these teams are less likely to fail.
Coming back to the Globe and Mail and the Harvard Business Review reports, 20% of
employees stated that fear of the consequences kept them addressing ordinary company
problems. Building trust and providing psychological safety will remove this common
collaboration pitfall.
Use office hours to build this trust. Listen, be honest, supportive, consistent, model the
behavior you seek, and assign accountability.
Step 5: Ask questions
Initial concerns may be bigger than presented with further interrogation. You don’t want to
put the employee on the defensive, but have them provide more detail for you both to work
towards a solution.
We know that 42% of employees will speak up, but withhold some information they feel
could count against them.
To get to the bottom of employee concerns, ask questions such as:
What could have been done differently to affect the outcome?
What results are you looking for?
How can I help?
Get to the root cause of the employee’s problem. Does it stem from poor business processes?
Is it indicative of poor relationship management or a negative company culture? Approach
employee issues with the root cause in mind and the employee’s interests at heart.
Step 6: Encourage employees to speak their minds
Another roadblock to a full-functioning open door policy, as mentioned, was that employees
don’t feel they can speak their minds.
Use your office hours to resolve this issue, by:
Making it known you want your employees to take calculated risks, and that they won’t
be punished for their mistakes. For instance, Jeff McCarthy – vice president of
customer success at Reflektive – stated that he’s seen first-hand the impacts of
punishment. He explains that punishment creates…
“…a culture that was fearful of taking risks – more specifically, the company had trouble
innovating“. – Jeff McCarthy, 4 Ways to Get Employees to Really Speak Their Mind
Discourage gossip during and outside office hours. Nip bad rumors in the bud to create
a positive and supportive culture for employees all-round.

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Make sure feedback is continuous – use your office hours to consistently ask for the
employee’s input.
“Regular feedback needs to be normalized in companies today, which is why I advocate for a
culture of continuous feedback. – Kim Dawson, 4 Ways to Get Employees to Really Speak Their
Mind
Step 7: Document your meetings
Any issues raised during your open office 1:1 meetings need to be resolved for your
employees to feel valued and listened to.
Document your meetings to track concerns raised, the topics discussed, and the solutions are
given.
At Process Street, we track our meetings via checklists. For every meeting held, we document
a written transcript of what has been discussed during the meeting. These meeting notes –
otherwise known as meeting minutes – are vital to convert the meeting into an action plan.
Meeting minutes provide transparency and accountability.
In our Meetings Minutes Template, our Approvals feature means action plans are seamlessly
sent for approval by relevant managers, supporting a quick resolution to employee concerns.
Stop tasks ensure no meeting step is missed, and the office hours run smoothly and
according to best practice. Our Conditional Logic feature adapts the steps for meeting
documentation to suit your specific needs.
Consider using a business process management tool, like Process Street, to document your
office hour meetings.
You can also use our Meeting Minutes Template, for free, to guide the preparation and
finalization of your meeting minutes notes for your office hours.
Click here to access our Meeting Minutes Template today!
Document any process using Process Street to improve efficiency and productivity in all of
your business operations. This will free up your time to concentrate on other tasks, such as
providing more support to your employees.
“Process Street has freed up my brain to work *in* my business faster and more efficiently. The
result is that I now have more time to work *on* my business” – Stephen J., Capterra reviews
Sign up to Process Street for free here, and get started!
Challenge #2: Remote work exacerbates collaboration

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Source
The challenge: Remote work exacerbates collaboration issues among colleagues, further
degrading the effectiveness of an open door policy. һ̏
The solution: Carefully and effectively plan your remote office hours.
Remote work can hinder communication in the workplace – i.e. relaying information across
time-zones poses challenges.
Remote work also hinders workplace collaboration. Think about it, if you need information
from your manager, you can’t nip across the office floor to get it.
Setting up office hours remotely can help resolve these common collaboration and
communication issues – that would otherwise degrade your open door policy – allowing you
to reap the benefits of remote work for your team.
In this next section, we’ll show you how to maintain good workplace communication and
collaboration via setting up office hours remotely.
Step 1: Make sure you and your team have the appropriate software installed
Use an online video conferencing software like Zoom to support your remote open office
hours. It’s a great way to create a virtual office space to stay securely connected with your
colleagues.
Also, install online messenger applications such as Slack, for constant communication
between team members across time-zones.

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Step 2: Learn how to communicate asynchronously
You want your remote office hours to communicate information effectively, in a manner that
minimizes confusion, error, and maximizes productivity.
Consider the following scenario. You’re on the other side of the world, in a completely
different time zone to a given employee who needs your help. How do you maintain an open
door policy in this instance, when communication is limited?
The answer is by asynchronous communication.
Asynchronous communication is the exchange of information or data between 2 or more
people where an immediate response is not expected/available.
For example, I send a message to a colleague at 9:00 am GMT. My colleague doesn’t receive
that message until 9:00 am EST (13:00 GMT). A lot of time has already been lost and I don’t
want to lose any more time. So I should include all the information I want to convey to
reduce back-and-forth.
Get comfortable communicating asynchronously; as for some remote employees, office hours
may only be possible via this method, having discussions across time-zones via instant
messenger.
Step 3: Spice up your open office meetings
Lunchtime walks, coffee chats, and dining room discussions all come to an end when you
transfer to a remote work environment.
If you want to maintain an open door policy, you’ll need to find alternative ways to have
discussions outside the confines of this deadline and that deadline, to create a culture
supporting open communication and positive collaboration.
Consider including ice-breakers in your open office meetings. I’ve listed some entertaining
ice-breakers for you to try below:
Just One Lie: Have the employee tell 2 truths and 1 lie. It’s your job to guess what the
truth is and what the lie is. Then repeat, but this time it’s you telling the 2 truths and
the employee telling the lie. This game will break down barriers for effective 1:1
communication by giving individuals a glimpse of the other’s life outside work.
Quotes: You and the employee should pick a quote and then explain what the quote
means to them. This humanizes colleagues, helping to create a strong relationship for
ongoing effective communication and collaboration.
Desert Island: Each participant has to state one book, one music track, and one
luxury item they will take on a desert island, giving explanations on why for each. This
exercise provides a snapshot of individual personalities, likes, and dislikes.

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Step 4: Setup interdepartmental office hour chats
Switching to a remote setting removes daily face-to-face interactions across different teams.
Most workplace projects require a multidisciplinary approach, so if you want to maintain an
open door culture, you’ll need to set up plentiful opportunities for different team members to
come together and chat.
Set up open office hours for employees inside your team, but also for employees outside of
your team, for effective communication and collaboration all around.
The benefits of office hours and supporting an open door policy
Making the effort to execute the above steps will reinforce an open door culture in your
workplace. In doing, you’ll reap the following benefits:
A strong and supportive company culture is created. Managers who
demonstrate high-levels of accessibility are more apt to discuss employee issues. A
culture that re-assures open communication channels are attained.
Managers are kept in the loop with what’s happening in the department
and company. A metaphorically speaking closed-door signals the unintentional
message that the managers aren’t interested and disengaged with daily activities.
Trust and long-term relationships are built – a key component of good
management that leads to greater loyalty and a commitment to excellent performance.
Improved workplace collaboration. According to Simpplr, workplace
collaboration optimizes workflow processes, improves employee and team
relationships, maximizes productivity, and increases efficiency.
Establishing set hours for managerial availability means important information
and feedback reaches managers, who can then take that information to make the
changes needed.
Cross-discipline collaboration is encouraged by developing strong intra-
departmental communication channels. That is, anyone can contact the given manager
during office hours. Employees are encouraged to come by and speak up when issues or
important situations arise. These may be concerns about new software, processes, or
personal issues. Adequate support can then be provided. In fast-past industries, quick
access to information is key.
Transparency and over-communication: The secret to a successful
open door policy
The business landscape has changed. It’s no longer acceptable for managers to come to work
and shut employees out. For remote teams, an extra effort is needed to connect employees
with managers and establish an effective open door policy. Doing so will improve employee
wellbeing, connectivity, and relationships, for the success of your remote-team.

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