Work Your Way With Rachel Carrell, Founder & CEO At Koru Kids

Work Your Way is our new blog series in which individuals give their honest answers about how they like to work when working remotely. From how to create and maintain a work culture when working remotely, to how they best like to work remotely, they share their insights and top tips.

Rachel Carrell, Founder & CEO at Koru Kids shares with us her take on WFH and how company culture starts as early on as with hiring. Koru Kids is London’s fastest growing childcare brand. They are making it easier and more affordable for families to access high quality childcare. Koru Kids don't just believe in providing outstanding childcare to families, they are also using technology to make it seamless for parents.

What is the biggest advantage to the company of working remotely?

By far, the best thing about working remotely is the ability to live 'whole lives' and incorporate our whole selves into whatever we're doing. Personally, I love being able to take a break from work, get a cup of tea and see how my daughter's getting on in her online schooling (it helps that I have in-home childcare to allow me to do this, as you would expect given my day job.) Other people at Koru Kids have combined work and travel, or moved to a remote dream location for good. I'm delighted we can make this happen.

Remote-Friendly or Remote-First?

We started off 'remote-friendly' but now we're 'remote-first'. We are going to have a small London office for those who want to go there each day - it tends to be the younger ones who live centrally anyway - but it's very much optional.

How do you keep remote work visible?

We use OKRs as a tool for aligning individual work to the company strategy. That means everyone knows exactly what they're aiming to achieve and why. Then we can leave everyone alone and trust that they'll do what they need to. To keep each other informed as to what we're all doing, we have daily standups over Zoom, a weekly All-Hands and a weekly Showcase where we celebrate wins and lessons learned. We also constantly share progress on Slack.

How do you maintain and create a company culture when working remotely?

Company culture starts with hiring. We make sure to hire humble, learning-oriented people who are kind and generous team players. That's 90 percent of the work done! Then we make sure we create processes that recognise hard work without people having to self-promote, and ways for people to thank and praise each other. Everyone's favourite Slack channel is #gratitude, where we praise and thank each other. We are really transparent so that people trust each other and know everyone is pulling in the same direction. When people know where they stand, what's expected of them, and trust those around them, magical things result. That's true whether you're in person or remote. But it's all even more important to get right when you're remote.

Where is your favourite place to work from when working remotely?

I have a little office with a very fluffy bean bag, where I sit when I have video calls. It's like a hug :)

A big thank you to Rachel for her honest answers and insights into Koru Kids. Make sure you check out Koru Kids.

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