As a remote team, communication is incredibly important. It’s how we collaborate, share ideas, and move work forward, along with how we stay connected as people.

At Buffer, we don’t just focus on clear and transparent communication; we also like to keep it fun, thoughtful, and human. A well-placed emoji, a random meme, or a Slack thread about weekend plans all help us build relationships and make work feel a little more like hanging out with great teammates.

We also believe that open and respectful communication is what makes this all work. We make space for different perspectives, give each other honest but kind feedback, and try to be direct while still assuming the best intent. At the same time, we don’t just talk about work—we share wins, challenges, and even our latest baking experiments or pet photos.

This page outlines our communication norms and expectations and reflects our commitment to staying connected as a team.

Etiquette and expectations for communications:

Staying on top of communications:

• Check all communication tools every work day.
• Some teammates prefer to use each tool’s notification system, whereas some use their email to manage and triage those notifications. Either way, make sure that you have a system that works for you. If it would be helpful, speak to area teammates, your mastermind buddy, or the People team for advice on managing this. Read more on prioritizing here: Managing notifications

Replying and reacting:

• Please reply or emoji-react to all DMs directly to you, as well as messages that tag you.
  • Exceptions: If a message is prefaced with “NRN,” this stands for “No Reply Necessary.” In this case, you are not expected to reply. It’s still a nice courtesy to react with an emoji, so please do that when possible.
• Consider a reply or emoji-reaction (reacji) for all other messages to your area. When in doubt, add a reacji. This helps the author know that you’ve seen it.

Transparency:

• Default to a public channel for all written communication so that it is in a transparent space. Use private spaces or DMs only when necessary.
• For zoom calls and other “live” media, consider Transparency of Zoom calls.

Tone:

We try to be positive, clear, and kind in the way we speak to each other. This is partially due to our values (for example, optimism and gratitude), and partially because it’s not as easy to “hear” someone’s tone in a written format like Slack or Campsite. Don’t worry about mimicking this; just be your kind self. When in doubt, use “extra words*” and emojis to convey your tone.

*this is a reference to our original set of values

Using inclusive language:

Be careful in the words that you choose, even if it’s as small as choosing “hey, everyone” over “hey, guys.” Sexist, racist, ableist, and other exclusionary jokes are not appropriate and will not be tolerated under any circumstance. Any language that is unwelcoming—whether or not it rises to the level of harassment—is also strongly discouraged.

Transparency in Internal Communication