6 CEOs and executives who've been managing remote teams for years share the tools they use to keep their employees motivated and happy

• People who have been forced to work from home due to COVID-19 may not know what apps are best for collaborating with their remote teams.
• These tools are recommended by CEOs and executives who've been working remotely and managing remote teams for years.
• Apps for aligning priorities and workflows, like Asana and Trello, keep coworkers on track, and collaboration tools like Slack, Zoom, and Confluence make group projects easier to work on.
• Incorporating fun opportunities for bonding virtually, like taking a break to play Jackbox Games, is also important.
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Amid concerns of the COVID-19 coronavirus spreading rapidly across the population, companies worldwide are recommending that employees work from home.

I've spent most of the last decade working remotely, so these closures don't affect me - except for the flurry of text messages I've received this week from friends:

Any tips for working remotely?

What's the best app for a team video call?

Sooo - how exactly do you stay productive working from home?

First things first: Make sure your internet speed can handle your working needs. I thought mine was sufficient, but realized I needed a bump up when my husband - who normally never works from home - and I tried to hold video calls simultaneously.

A site like Speedcheck can check your connection's upload and download speeds. Not sure what you need? Skype has outlined recommended speeds based on the type of call you're trying to do (voice vs. low- or high-quality video) and the number of people involved.

At this point, no one knows how long we'll be working from home, so you may also want to consider a workspace that involves more than your kitchen table and your laptop.

"Most experienced remote workers find that some additional equipment helps them be more comfortable and productive during the day: a separate, larger monitor or dual monitors, a full-sized keyboard and mouse (wireless is a top choice for both), and a headset that works with your computer and/or cell phone," said Sara Sutton, founder and CEO of FlexJobs, a job board featuring exclusively work-from-home gigs.

If you don't have this setup, Sutton added, "Check with your company for possible technology reimbursements or stipends, or the ability to take some of your in-office equipment home with you."

If your office doesn't have specific tools for you to use while remote, such as instant-messaging apps or screen-sharing and web-conferencing programs - or doesn't have particularly effective ones - now's a great time to suggest the tech that will help everyone work more effectively.

To help you out as you set up your home office, I've rounded up the best tips and tech for your work-from-home life, courtesy of people who've done it for years.

"Managers need to take the time with their teams to set clear objectives and define the results they're trying to achieve as a team," noted Deidre Paknad, CEO and cofounder of WorkBoard, Inc., which has 150 people distributed across 15 locations in the US and India. "When everyone's clear on the outcomes they're driving, they can more easily work independently from their own locations on work that really matters."

She also emphasized the need for process transparency, which she said enables managers and teammates to see how everyone is making progress toward key results without having to ask constantly.

Tech tools can help. "We keep a public roadmap on Trello, which helps us have a single source of truth for what we're planning to do," said Sten Pittet, cofounder and CEO of Tability, a plan-tracking platform that helps teams stay focused and accountable. "We also use Jira internally to split big roadmap items into smaller pieces."

Michelle Penczak, CEO of virtual-assistant company Squared Away, said her top two favorites are Trello and Asana.

"Both are easy to use for collaboration on teams, so it just comes down to which platform you prefer," she added.

If you're not sure, give them all a try - each has a free plan, then goes up to $14 to $31 per user, per month.

As for actually getting those priorities accomplished, using collaborative online tools is an easy way to work together in real time, whether you're creating a meeting agenda or designing a new product.

"We like Google Suite since you can see what people are typing and use it during remote collaboration meetings," said Anita Anthonj, CEO and cofounder of Talaera, a platform for personalized professional English training, who runs a remote team spread across different countries. "Milanote is great for flowcharts (similar to Mural and Miro) and brainstorming. We also use Figma (our design tool of choice) to draw together." (Figma's Starter plan is free and larger plans go up to $45 per user per month.)

Pittet's team plans to switch to Figma as well (they currently use Sketch and Dropbox together for design work). "You want to make it as easy as possible for devs and designers to collaborate," he said of the tools.

His company also uses Confluence, which has templates for shared projects, like marketing plans or project timelines. "It makes it super easy to share feedback and iterate on specific items," he added. Pricing starts at $100 for one to 10 users and goes up from there.

Yes, the ability to work in pajamas and not see anyone all day is appealing, but actually getting face-to-face time with your coworkers and boss can go a long way in making solo work feel less isolating.

For larger team meetings, Zoom gets the votes of many longtime remote workers I spoke with.

"It's like being in person without the hand sanitizer," Jennifer LeBlanc, CEO and founder of ThinkResults Marketing, an agency she's headed up completely remotely since 2003. In the free mode, you can host up to 100 participants for meetings up to 40 minutes and access features like screen sharing, breakout rooms, and whiteboarding. (Business plans range from $14.99 to $19.99 per month, per host.)

"It's an incredible platform and so user friendly," said Penczak, who uses the platform regularly for meetings with her virtual team of 89. She structures meetings so that they feel as close to in-person events as possible.

"We catch up for a few minutes before officially starting and then we have volunteers share highs/lows for the week," she shared. "And we always end our team calls with high-fives."

(One really fun feature: If you don't want your manager to see piles of laundry in your apartment, check out Zoom's Virtual Background, which can make you appear like you're working in a completely different space.)

LeBlanc, Anthonj, and Penczak's teams all use Slack for group messaging, the app PC Mag names the editor's choice for the best business messaging apps for 2020, citing its features and integrations as being better than competitors like Google Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams.

Penczak said that her employees are broken into Slack channels of eight to 10, spearheaded by a manager.

"This allows for our team to get to know a smaller group of folks on a more personal level," she explained. "Of course, we have our larger channels that allow for building community with everyone at Squared Away. It also allows for a manager to dive in with a team member and be a phenomenal level of support."

With that said, Paknad cautioned that it's important to know when to jump from text-based chat to face-to-face. "If the chat is longer than three lines, click the video call option on Slack or Microsoft Teams instead," she said.

When you're in an office, people can pop by to ask you a quick question, but when everyone's at home, they might feel the need to schedule a call or meeting. Anthonj's team uses open Google Calendars, so everyone can see each others' schedules, while Pittet recommended Meetingbird, which integrates with Google or Office calendars to let others see when you're available for meetings.

"Only some parts of my days are available for meetings," he added. "It helps me block good chunks of time for focused work."

Just like your week at the office is interspersed with jokes and happy hours, make sure you add some fun into your work-from-home time, too.

"For many, work is a highly social function," said LeBlanc. As such, she encourages her team to meet weekly, without her, for a "virtual water cooler session."

Maxeme (Max) Tuchman's company, Caribu, an app that lets families read and draw together via video, takes it a step further. Every other Friday, the remote team from the US, Canada, and Brazil get together for a virtual happy hour.

"We all get on Google Hangout, screen-share jackboxgames.com, and then we play trivia, drawing, and spy games on our phones and tablets," she explained. "We consciously take an hour out to get creative and get to know our teammates better, which inherently builds trust."

Speaking of trust, remember that what's behind all these tech tools is people - people who may have never worked remotely before.

"For team members that normally spend a lot of time with customers and in high engagement roles - often because that's how they're wired - a week of work from home will be hard and a longer run even harder," said Paknad. "Managers need to think beyond the obvious Zoom-and-Slack response to the human aspects that keep our teams happily and purposefully engaged."

In other words, make sure you're going out of your way to strengthen relationships with your coworkers. A few things the WorkBoard team has implemented: A Slack channel for office views, where people post photos of where they're working, all-hands meetings designed to "keep silos down and create more pathways for conversation," and a weekly "Ask me anything" call where Paknad answers questions while walking and encourages employees to do the same.

And perhaps the most low-tech, high-happiness touch of all: "We're sending spring flowers to people's houses to bring the outside in and brighten whatever it is they're using for a desk," added Paknad "They're $7 on Amazon - a ridiculously simple way to refresh moods and rooms."