Remote First Companies: 8 Villains and 8 Heroes 🦸🦹
A survey by Slack found that only 12% of people want to be in the office full-time. Despite this, many companies are forcing their employees to go back into the office. According to Doug Dennerline, CEO of Betterworks. “Organizations are guaranteed to lose great people, not only for lack of flexibility, but because many of the best employees moved out of expensive cities during the pandemic and won’t be moving back,” he explains. “With the right performance management technology in place, where productivity can reach optimal levels and the best talent can work from anywhere, there’s no reason employees should be forced to work from an office.”
Hear! hear!
So you’ve seen a job you like the sound of. It says remote and you match most of the requirements. Yay!
You adjust your CV, write a cover letter and then you start the application process only to find it says “required to attend meetings as and when required.”
“AS AND WHEN REQUIRED”? What does that even mean? 1 day a week? 1 day a year? Are you supposed to guess? 😤
This should never be described as remote, it’s ‘Hybrid’- simple as that.
I really don’t want to believe that companies intentionally mislead you, but after almost 3 years since remote work became normalized, surely they know that clarity is required here!
I’m here to reveal those companies doing remote first right and those doing it all wrong!
The ones doing it properly have crystal clear remote work policies and you don’t need to go digging around to find out if you need to be based in a certain location or if you’re going to be called to the office at any point.
These are companies like:
Duck Duck Go - They’ve been fully remote since before it was a thing- they get it!
Whereby- a truly Work from anywhere (WFA) and ‘hours agnostic’ company
Doist- they’ve even got someone who is Head of Remote there!
Remote- one of the OGs in WFA
GitLab- They’ve been an all remote company since day one!
Chili Piper- 100% remote since 2006 and they have a really transparent interview process.
Canny- Love their ethos “Remote work means you can work from where you feel most productive that day. Save that commute time and spend it on more important things.
Komoot- An adventure company that encourages working “wherever you thrive” with clear requirements of the time zones specified.
Now those who have got it all wrong are either really vague and confusing or downright ignorant of the fact that people need more flexibility than ever before and force people to the office anyway.
These are companies such as:
Apple- In September 2022, Apple employees were required to return to the office at least three times a week.
Disney- Disney announced that beginning March 2023, hybrid workers will be required to return to the office four days per week!
Morgan Stanley- the CEO has made it clear that working remotely is “not an employee choice.”
Starbucks- they told employees that beginning January 31st, those within commuting distance must work from the office at least three days per week, an uptick from the company's existing one to two-days per-week approach.
Twitter- Notoriously confusing messages from Elon Musk, going from forcing employees into the office with just days' notice, then closing down offices and telling them they can work remotely!
Orbis- They don’t seem to understand the meaning of remote- check this post out.
Goldman Sachs- David Solomon, the CEO, described remote work during the pandemic "an aberration that we are going to correct as quickly as possible.” 65% of its workers have been forced back to the office 5 days a week
PayPay Corporation- this is the most mind-boggling one I’ve seen- check this out.
If you have any more heroes and villains to add to the list, please let us know!
And here are this week's remote jobs for you to check out 👇
Weekly Remote Jobs
Stay rebellious,
Michelle