We made a big announcement at work today that we are going to a Remote First company, forever. This wasn’t out of nowhere; we’ve been talking to employees to get their feedback (and I did move to Wisconsin permanently, after all), but we finally landed on some big decisions today about our office space and other remote logistics that we were ready to share. I was so anxious I had to meditate five minutes before I presented to try to calm down. It’s a big change, even though we’ve been working remotely since March, to say that we’re getting rid of our big office space, and while we will have a smaller office space for those who want it in a post-pandemic future, the standard of our operations will be remote.
I wrote a Remote First vision that I’m pretty happy with that I thought I’d share here today. I really do believe this the future of a lot of workplaces and a people first approach to work that companies need to accept sooner rather than later. Soon this will be up on our website and in our onboarding materials — after a few edits and feedback I’m sure our team we’ll share with me — but here’s your first peak:
Remote First Vision
Build CareerPlug into one of the best places to work — anywhere.
We believe that people are the heart of our business and that the heart of our business is wherever our employees work — from our space in Austin, to a home office on Lake Michigan, to an outfitted van exploring the American West (true story!).
Even before our workforce distributed and the majority of our team worked in our Austin office, we valued transparency over ping pong tables, work/life balance over daily catered lunches, and genuine connection over boatloads of swag. Don’t get me wrong — playing games with coworkers, sharing a meal, and proudly showing off our branding are important to us too — but what’s most important are the core values we share and live by every day.
Our Remote First culture looks different than it did when we were packed together in our All-Hands room, but we fundamentally live by those same values that prioritize kindness, collaboration, and growth in whatever we do.
Here’s what it means to us to be a Remote First company:
We trust you. At CareerPlug, we lead with trust. We hire great people who live our values, bring their best to their work, care about their team, and then we do our best to get out of the way. No office required to look over your shoulder.
We don’t pin you down. You may love the separation of work and home and enjoy a physical space and commute. You may want to work in your living room, at a coffee shop, at a friend’s place in Colorado for the week. You may want to split your time between an office with coworkers and focus time on your own. You do you! Let us know before you move permanently out of the state though (there may be tax implications we need to work through first).
We track your results, not your time. Remember: trust, not micromanagement. We set clear expectations and goals and trust you to bring your best at work every day, surfacing roadblocks and asking questions to help you meet your goal. In other words, the problem isn’t that you’re choosing to watch Netflix instead of working, the problem is that while you were watching Netflix your work didn’t get done and the results show it.
We level the playing field. If one person is remote at a meeting, we all are. Separate screens, videos on. Everything is shared on our team drive or documented on our internal wiki. Key conversations happen on Slack — our proverbial watercooler. Our leadership team won’t be based in an office and there won’t be any advantage to working in a shared office space versus anywhere else. When a team goes out to drinks in Austin, we send the remote team member something special too! We don’t adjust pay based on location and instead pay the same amount for the same job across the country based on the Austin market rate. Plus are able to tap into the best talent from anywhere. Bottom line: whether you’re sitting next to your coworker or sitting next to a lake, we’re all equals.
We support our employees. We offer a remote stipend to all employees to better equip their own offices. We arrange for travel to a central location at least twice a year for big events (like our Pluggie Awards and holiday party), and budget for both in-person and virtual team building and social events to keep people connected. By removing the need for a commute, we’re giving back time (and reducing traffic stress!) as well as contributing to the vision we share with our employees to have a positive impact on our environment.
We communicate openly and frequently. Over-communication is the name of the game. We don’t assume someone is in the loop, we loop them in. We stay flexible, ask clarifying questions, and ask for help when we need it. We set the boundaries with our work and personal time and respect the boundaries of others. We give feedback and receive feedback with good intention and in face-to-face interactions. We embrace the glamour and grunge alike and turn our videos on.
We live our core values. From the first apartment office to our renovated space to a distributed workforce, the heart of our values has remained the same and we live by them every day.
With Love,
Natalie