How this company has stayed away from 2020

While most employers have brought their employees back to the office, remote work it’s not dead—and for some companies, it is here to stay.

According to technology company Owl Labs, 66% of employees work in an office full-time, 26% are hybrid and only 7% are remote. Fifty-seven percent of respondents admitted they prefer to work from home full-time, while interest in being in-person dropped by 24%. Software company Nerdio is one of the few companies that was completely remote since 2020. This has allowed the firm to hire employees from all over the world, and Nerdio no longer has a physical office.

And the company has become stronger because of these changes, says Andy Baker, Nerdio’s HR director.

Read more: 4 professionals share why workplace flexibility is so important

“We want people to be able to live their lives, so we don’t put too many restraints on our employees,” he says. “These beliefs drive that motivation to work hard, deliver, and achieve our goals.”

While Baker supports the company’s decision to stay aloof, he admits the transition has come with challenges. To ensure that workers can seamlessly communicate with each other across different time zones and teams, Nerdio had to invest in the right technology. This meant finding video calling, document sharing and messaging platforms that easily integrated with each other.

However, changing the way leaders manage their teams was a more complicated issue to tackle.

Read more: All or Nothing: Employers Rethink RTO

“(Managers) might have been used to walking down the hall to talk to someone,” Baker says. “Going long distance challenges them to build relationships differently.”

By setting clear goals and responsibilities for each employee, managers were able to get the most out of virtual check-ins and evaluate an employee’s performance, Baker explains. He points out that communication becomes even more vital in a virtual workplace, and best practices must be modeled from the top down. If leaders at all levels make the effort to check in with their teams through a mix of video calls and texting, then workers won’t feel so isolated.

But with the right technology and management approach, remote work can be incredibly rewarding, Baker says. Not only do workers have a better chance at work-life balance, but they can save money on gas and childcare. According to outsourcing company Airtasker, remote workers saved $4,523 a year on gas—plus, they saved 408 hours by not having a daily commute.

Read more: How employers can make the “Great Stay” permanent

But Baker points out that employees aren’t the only ones benefiting from a remote workforce. Nerdio saves money because it no longer needs to rent office space, while the ability to hire globally gives the company a competitive advantage.

“The perspectives that individuals from different countries bring are invaluable,” says Baker. “Having people who are citizens of the countries where we are building our business brings knowledge of how the industry and market there works.”

Baker acknowledges that remote work isn’t the best fit for every business, but many companies can give time and money back to their employees by ditching the office. Management must be willing to consider whether they really need to be in person or if this is just what they are used to.

“If you set up the right environment and have a leadership team that supports the staff, remote work becomes a real viable option,” says Baker. “We create a (culture) driven by our belief in our employees.”