Going back to the office? Here’s why we’re not.

By Kathleen Herrmann Might 12, 2022

AWeber is all-in on remote-first. Study why we’re not going again to the workplace.

We’re AWeber – a mighty staff of 89 remote-first staff members that span three time zones, two international locations, and 15 states; all working collectively to assist small companies and entrepreneurs develop by forming significant connections with their audiences.

At this level, I’m certain everyone knows somebody who’s returned to the workplace.

Returned to waking up earlier, preventing visitors throughout each day commutes, carrying pants…

And why? 

What productiveness was misplaced working remotely? 

After all, there are SOME advantages to assembly in individual (we plan on doing company-wide retreats in spite of everything!), however for us the advantages of staying remote-first far outweighed being in individual. Right here’s why we’re not returning to the workplace.

We’re simpler remote-first.

We’re now extra diligent about creating discoverable documentation that anybody, in any time zone, at any level in our firm’s historical past can entry. A deal with documentation and asynchronous communication permits us to simply uncover outcomes from earlier initiatives and make educated enterprise selections based mostly on these learnings.

We not default to in-person conferences, however as a substitute deal with creating clear documentation that permits for suggestions and collaboration from anybody throughout the corporate. This allows us to prune again a lot of these pointless conferences that used to refill our calendars. Or if we do have to fulfill, we’re now extra environment friendly and efficient with how we spend our time collectively.

Hybrid doesn’t work.

Quite a lot of corporations are shifting to a hybrid mannequin – it’s the very best of each worlds proper? Flawed!

Hybrid fashions add extra confusion to each day workflows. As a substitute of everybody working the identical manner, you now need to take care of ineffective conferences (suppose: 10 folks crammed right into a convention room with poor audio high quality and unhealthy digicam angles) and relationships constructed based mostly on proximity, all that places distant staff members at an obstacle. 

As a substitute, we’re in favor of all working the identical manner. All of us have our personal video/audio setups that enable for optimum (and clear!) conversations. All of us talk the identical manner – with a bias for being asynchronous and closely documented. All of us have the chance to type relationships the identical manner – nobody is lacking out on account of their work location. 

Higher work / life stability.

We now have extra flexibility in our each day lives. 

We achieve again an additional 1-2 hours per day that was spent commuting and have now changed that with spending time with our households, operating errands, or heading exterior to get some recent air whereas it’s nonetheless gentle out. Now we have extra alternative over how we spend our time. Oh, and I can’t overlook to say the fee financial savings of not having to commute – taking a look at you, $5/gal fuel costs.

We even have extra flexibility over our each day work schedules. We’ve at all times been versatile at AWeber, however being remote-first means fewer synchronous conferences and due to this fact extra freedom to find out how we spend our time.

There may be additionally extra flexibility in the place we work. I personally love to increase my keep at a brand new location – heading out a day or two early to settle in, work in the course of the day and benefit from the nightlife of a brand new metropolis after work. Don’t simply take my phrase for it – try my coworker’s weblog about doing simply that – TheBusyTraveler.com.

Rent the very best expertise.

We’re not restricted in who we rent. We used to rent the very best folks within the Philadelphia space, however now we rent the very best staff members from all over the world. We’re in a position to select from a good better choice of extremely specialised, various, passionate, and entrepreneurial expertise to permit us to provide you with artistic options to the powerful issues we resolve every day. 

Dedicated to bettering.

We’re nonetheless attempting to determine the right combination of distant occasions and in-person gatherings so we are able to type deeper connections with one another. Being remote-first signifies that our work schedules fluctuate, which might additionally imply that it’s more durable to prioritize your staff’s digital joyful hour or attend that sport evening when you will have cute kiddos and drooling canines staring you down, ready for his or her nightly stroll.

We’re nonetheless engaged on that “excellent” method, however we’re centered on attempting new issues from digital vacation events to strolling challenges and we’re devoted to evolving our remote-first id.

So are we heading again to the workplace?

No, we’re not. And we’re excited to see what the long run has in retailer for our remote-first firm!

P.S. Are you already again on the workplace or dreading the day that you simply’ll inevitably need to return? Apply right now to turn out to be our subsequent remote-first AWeber staff member!