Why remote work is here to stay
Why remote work is here to stay
Post-Covid, we’re seeing increasing news of people being required to come back to the office.
Twitter had settled on an all-remote work policy. Until Elon Musk took over and required all employees to come back to the office. There’s a strong and consistent belief in many people that collaboration can only be successful if people are in the same room. At one time I worked for a company where one of the informal values was “Co-locate, co-create”. We’re most creative when we’re all sitting together.
What this actually does for a company is that it limits its access to diverse talent. Plus, depending on where the company is located, it drives up salary costs anywhere from 10 - 100%. Some examples:
A software developer in the SF Bay Area will earn 60% more than their counterparts in the Midwest, and 100% more than a similar developer in Europe.
Anyone who is unable to relocate or unwilling to commute every day is excluded, often including working parents.
Success has been proven, many times over
Remote work has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many companies adopting flexible working arrangements that allow employees to work from home or other locations outside of the traditional office setting. This shift towards remote work has been driven by a number of factors, including advances in technology that have made it easier to communicate and collaborate remotely, as well as the increasing desire among workers for greater flexibility and work-life balance.
Many companies have successfully implemented remote work programs, and their experiences can provide valuable insights for other employers looking to do the same. For example, Zapier, a cloud-based automation software company, is a 100% distributed company with hundreds of remote employees in 17 time zones and dozens of countries. The company has adopted a culture of asynchronous work. This work style allows teams to collaborate effectively across locations, time zones, skills, and each individual’s energy levels. It empowers employees to work in a setting that fits their needs. In practice, their employees all live on Slack, with most conversations happening in public channels. In 2022, they won a Most Loved Workplace award.
Automattic, the company behind the popular blogging platform WordPress, is another example of a successful remote work program. The company has more than 2,000 Automatticians in 99 countries speaking 124 different languages. It has implemented a number of best practices to support remote work, such as providing training and support for remote employees and offering flexible working hours. As a result, Automattic has been able to maintain a strong company culture and achieve high levels of employee satisfaction.
Finally, GitLab, a DevOps software package company that combines the ability to develop, secure, and operate software in a single application, is one of the largest all-remote companies. The company has more than 2,000 employees working from more than 60 countries. They’re publicly listed on the NASDAQ with a current market value of about US$ 7bn. They have been very explicit about their remote work culture, publishing their all-remote work guide years ago. Recently, they released their TeamOps training and certification for everyone interested in learning about successfully building remote teams.
Zapier, Automattic and Gitlab are just three examples of companies which have successfully built an all remote work culture.
Remote work requires deliberate focus
What do all these companies have in common? They’re very deliberate about remote work, their culture and their processes. Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg documented five levels of remote work, going from “no deliberate effort” to making things remote-friendly to actual distributed work Nirvana.
Achieving Nirvana, or at least level four, is by no means impossible. It does require establishing a remote work program and educating your organization’s leaders and teams.
Why Remote Work will continue to grow
There are several reasons why Remote Work will become more and more prevalent:
Today, the majority of new startups intentionally form as all-remote companies. As these companies grow, so will their importance and share of the job market.
Being able to hire from most countries in the world is a strong competitive advantage. It significantly increases diversity of teams, as well as reduces costs.
Faster internet, across the globe. Average internet access speed increases 10-fold every 10 years. The global underseas cable market is expected to double from 2020 to 2025.
The availability and development of all-remote tools has sky-rocketed in the last three years since Covid hit. If the tools aren’t there now, they certainly will be very soon.
Technology won’t stand still where it is today. All of these trends will continue to evolve and drive the prevalence of remote work.
Remote work offers many benefits for employers, including the ability to attract and retain top talent, increased productivity, and cost savings. There’s work involved to establish a conscious remote work culture. By setting clear expectations and guidelines, using the right tools and technology, and providing support and resources for remote employees, anyone can create a successful remote work program that benefits both your company and your employees.
Remote work is here to stay.