So, it’s 2022 and it looks like a lot of British businesses are going back to the regular office working status. But when you look back at the last year going in and out of the office, and with the Welsh Government predicting more home working in the future, it’s difficult to put trust in what the future situations will be for many of us. It can feel a bit hard to settle into routine living in the era of the hokey cokey office (in, out, in out – you get what I mean!)
Benefits of Working from Home
But who says it has to be this way? After all, there are plenty of benefits to working from home or within a hybrid home-office structure. For one, it frees up more time and money for you outside of work by scrapping the need to commute; it allows you to live more flexibly without the limiting special constraint of the centralised physical office; and there are even some studies that suggest working from home can, in many cases, actually boost productivity, with increased “innovation”, “engagement” and worker wellbeing.[1]
Remote Working and the Hybrid Model: The Future of Office Work?
But this isn’t shocking news to some of the biggest businesses in the world. They’re already well ahead of the curve when it comes to utilising the benefits of remote working. Just look to the long list of globally successful, massively influential businesses who, right back in 2020, started to fully embrace a new permanent state of home/hybrid working for remote employees.
So here they are, in this blog post we’re giving you the 10 most notable businesses reaping the rewards of remote worker satisfaction while thriving outside the office.
10 Biggest Companies Offering Remote Work Opportunities and Hybrid Options
Apple
Location: Cupertino, California, USA; CEO: Tim Cook; market cap: US$2.5 trillion; number of employees: 147,000.
It’s no wonder the tech giants are specialists in facilitating top quality work from home considering how they promote their products by emphasising how they can be used by remote workers. Their “Do anything Anywhere” (https://www.apple.com/business/work-anywhere/) tagline boldly shows just how confident they are in the potential for employee productivity to be boosted by remote work models. It’s logical then to see why these same remote options are available to some of their current employees. Of course, as with the remainder of these top 10 businesses, not all of their jobs are fully remote nor do they offer a hybrid work model to full-time employees (naturally, as this would be impossible for such a diverse company), but a company of this scale maintaining hybrid and remote work options beyond the pandemic is surely a sign for other tech companies to follow suit.
Spotify
Location: Stockholm, Sweden; CEO: Daniel Ek; market cap: US$48.4 billion; number of employees: 7085.
The music streaming company is another notable big boy in the post COVID-19 pandemic landscape to persist in making remote teams and remote options available. In fact, they are one of the most resolute businesses in this capacity, with a true remote-first company spirit. This is one business that is overtly proud of its remote opportunities, allowing job seekers to state their location and preferred work mode to curate a truly flexible schedule. But don’t just take my word for it, take Spotify’s:
“Work isn’t somewhere you go, it’s something you do. We give our people the freedom to work where they work best, wherever that may be.” (https://www.lifeatspotify.com/being-here/work-from-anywhere)
Microsoft
Location: Redmond, Washington, USA; CEO: Satya Nadella; market cap: US$2.3 trillion; number of employees: 181,000.
That’s right, big name brand and software company Microsoft are getting in on the remote work company act too. They themselves have said that they “support employee needs and offer flexibility to work remotely and at the Microsoft workplace” (https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2021/03/22/the-philosophy-and-practice-of-our-hybrid-workplace/) under their hybrid work philosophy. See, the established giants are just as accommodating as the younger tech companies when it comes to adapting as a remote company.
Quora
Location: Mountain View, California, USA; CEO: Adam D’Angelo; market valuation: US$2 billion; number of employees: 1012.
Query site Quora are another business embracing the idea that there’s more places to work other than just the office space, labelling themsleves a “remote first” business. (https://quorablog.quora.com/Remote-First-at-Quora). CEO Adam D’Angelo has even stated that he “always assumed that knowledge work would eventually be remote” but found his company embracing a little earlier than expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it seems that a necessity of the past is to be a favourable feature of the future.
Slack
Location: San Francisco, California, USA; CEO: Stewart Butterfield; market cap: US$26.5 billion; number of employees: 2597.
Slack aren’t slacking when it comes to working from home, even going so far as to offer a publicly viewable “guide to remote working” online (https://slack.com/intl/en-gb/resources/using-slack/slack-remote-work-tips). Their guide offers a template for optimising home working as a Slack employee. It makes perfect sense when you consider that the company’s main offer is a messaging program designed specifically for the workplace, or in this case, the home workplace.
Location: San Francisco, California, USA; CEO: Jack Dorsey; market cap: US$49.7 billion; number of employees: 6600.
Twitter can be seen as a source of procrastination for some remote workers but the bluebird social media business is confident that their own ability to obsessively distract won’t have the same effect on their employees, going as far as to say that their employees “Can Work From Home ‘Forever’ Or ‘Wherever You Feel Most Productive And Creative’” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2022/03/05/twitter-employees-can-work-from-home-forever-or-wherever-you-feel-most-productive-and-creative/).
Upwork
Location: San Francisco, California, USA; CEO: Hayden Brown; market cap: US$7.4 billion; number of employees: 570.
Upwork isn’t just a platform catering to home workers with its model based on connecting freelancers with businesses, they also offer hybrid and home working to some of their own employees. Practice what you preach and all.
Location: San Francisco, California, USA; CEO: Benjamin Silbermann; market cap: US$39.5 billion; number of employees: 2942.
Pinterest are so invested in remote working availability for its employees that the initiative even has its own name: Pinflex, which “gives employees the flexibility to live where they choose.” (https://www.pinterestcareers.com/pinflex/)
Shopify
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; CEO: Tobi Lutke; market cap: US$170.7 billion; number of employees: 7000.
In 2020 Shopify announced that it was to become a “digital by default company”, celebrating the end to “office centricity” (https://www.shopify.co.uk/blog/working-remotely-for-the-planet). Not only was this a COVID-informed decision, but an environmental one too. CEO Tobi Lutke has long been concerned with carbon emissions, and the shift to a remote model is seen as a way for Shopify to do their part in alleviating that.
Location: Sunnyvale, California, USA; CEO: Ryan Roslansky; market cap: US$29.5 billion; number of employees: 16,000.
LinkedIn are one company that are going full speed ahead into a remote future, allowing its employees to work from home for good. “While most Silicon Valley tech companies are adopting a post-Covid hybrid work approach, LinkedIn is one of the few to tell its employees they can work remotely permanently.” (https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2021/08/02/linked-in-permanent-remote-work.html). That’s commitment to the cause.
So, as you can see, an office doesn’t automatically equal success. An alternative model can and is working. Could you be a part of the wave of the future?
Could You Work from Home?
And before you say, “But I don’t work for Apple or Microsoft, and frankly I have no interest in working for a company of that size. I like my current job.” We get you. Luckily, it’s not just businesses of this magnitude adapting to the home working model, smaller businesses are seeing the light too. Even in remote Wales businesses are embracing the freedom and productive possibilities of remote working.
Of course, the caveat is that, although remote working comes with the promise of being able to live wherever you want, the further away from the big cities you are, the poorer the internet infrastructure is. And you simply can’t work from home without good internet. Trust me, I’ve seen first-hand how distracting and exasperating it is trying to get through a buffering Zoom call. And then really what’s the point? One of the biggest benefits of home working is that ability to go where you want, to work a great job without having to be shackled to the city. To get the best of both worlds: the stunning rural countryside and the well-paying, fulfilling job.
So, with so many people desperate to shack up somewhere rural without losing their jobs, why aren’t internet providers pouncing on the opportunity to improve infrastructure to allow this to happen?
Well, some are…
Our Positive team have been developing technology for the last 30 years to assure every home and business in Wales is connected to intensely good internet with minimum speeds of 50Mbps. Today it doesn’t matter one bit where you are in Wales, you can get the fastest, most reliable internet possible. That means you or your employer could be taking advantage of remote working right now, just like the business behemoths above!
For a no obligation quote and a potentially massive offer on a wireless internet installation, register here for free. Don’t hesitate though, this deal could end at any moment.
Statistical information taken from: https://www.hcamag.com/us/news/general/these-10-well-known-companies-offer-fully-remote-or-hybrid-work-arrangements/314596.
