When I first started managing a remote PHP team, I made all the rookie mistakes: too many meetings, too few boundaries, and way too much Slack.
Burnout wasnāt immediateābut it was inevitable.
Iāve since changed the way I lead. Hereās what Iāve learned about keeping remote PHP developers productive without running them into the ground.
1. Start With Trust, Not Surveillance
Remote work isnāt about fancy time trackers or monitoring keystrokes. If youāve hired professionals, treat them like professionals.
Set expectations around outcomes, not hours. Give clear goals and let the team figure out how to get there.
Micromanagement doesnāt scaleāespecially remotely.
2. Protect Focus Like It’s Sacred
Developers need uninterrupted time to build. Itās not a luxuryāitās a requirement.
Iāve learned to:
- Reduce daily meetings to the absolute minimum
- Replace stand-ups with async check-ins
- Schedule meetings during shared overlap windows (not someoneās 10 p.m.)
Slack doesnāt have to be on all the time. Itās okay to be āaway.ā
3. Create Space for Deep Work
I encourage āfocus blocksāādedicated time slots for writing and problem-solving. I even block them on my calendar and encourage my team to do the same.
If something’s urgent, we handle it. If it can wait, it should.
That quiet space is where the real engineering happens.
4. Build Feedback Into the Culture
Just because weāre remote doesnāt mean feedback should be rare.
We use:
- Pull request comments for micro-feedback
- Regular 1:1s for deeper coaching
- Retrospectives to talk about whatās working (and whatās not)
This helps me catch burnout early. When someone starts missing deadlines or seems āoff,ā I donāt guessāI ask.
5. Respect Time Zonesāand Personal Time
One of my developers is in Egypt, another in the Philippines. If I try to make everyone align, someone suffers.
So I donāt.
Instead, I:
- Schedule critical meetings in shared overlap hours
- Record calls when needed
- Push for async documentation wherever possible
Also: no weekend pings. No late-night emergencies unless somethingās actually on fire. Work can wait. Health canāt.
6. Celebrate the WinsāEven Small Ones
Remote work can feel thankless if youāre not careful. That “quick good job” someone might say in the hallway? It doesn’t exist.
So I make it a point to:
- Highlight good commits in team chat
- Shout out thoughtful code reviews
- Thank people often, publicly and privately
It builds moraleāand reminds everyone theyāre seen.
7. Let Developers Influence the Process
Burnout often comes from feeling powerless. To fight that, I involve devs in how we buildānot just what we build.
Weāve had devs help reshape our:
- Sprint planning cadence
- Deployment process
- Tooling decisions
Autonomy = investment. When they help shape the system, they feel more ownership (and less resentment).
8. Talk About Burnout Openly
Itās okay to say, āIām tired.ā I try to normalize that.
We talk openly about workload, energy, and mental health in our 1:1s. Sometimes that means encouraging someone to take a breakāor stepping in to reprioritize the backlog.
Pretending burnout isnāt real doesnāt make it go away.
Final Thought
Leading a remote PHP team well isnāt about squeezing more output from developers. Itās about building an environment where good codeāand healthy peopleācan thrive.
The best teams Iāve led didnāt just ship great features. They stuck around, supported each other, and grew together.
That doesnāt happen by accident. It happens when you lead with intention.