There are a lot of different theories about the “ideal hybrid work model.” And at the end of the day, each one is right — for some people.
According to a 2023 Gallup study of 200,000 workers in the United States, eight out of ten were either on a hybrid schedule or a fully remote one, which makes for thousands of different flexible workplace models, each with their own merit and research to back it up.
It’s a mixed bag on what workplace model yields the most productivity: there are studies pointing to being fully remote as the most effective and others that say the more in-office time, the better.
What is universally agreed upon, though, is that employees who are content at work tend to perform the best. The same Gallup study reported that employees who get to choose where they work are more engaged, less burnt out and less likely to quit.
Built In spoke with three leaders in HR and business development to hear about their philosophies of remote work — and what makes a strong remote work culture.
ServiceNow
ServiceNow is an HR tech company that creates digital workflow solutions.
Describe ServiceNow’s remote culture. What do you think helps employees feel connected in that culture?
We are intentional about fostering connection, wellness and work-life balance through virtual social events and mental health and wellness offerings. This includes virtual global employee events, such as our cultural moment celebrations with notable guest speakers, fun competitions, wellness events, learning and development programs and more.
One of our company values is “win as a team.” Whether an employee works onsite or remotely, collaboration and teamwork are critical to our success. We accomplish this by hosting virtual all-hands meetings and in-person and virtual team retreats, providing tools to collaborate and work as teams, and placing a strong emphasis on asynchronous communication to accommodate different time zones and work schedules. It’s all about working together to find balance.
“Whether an employee works onsite or remotely, collaboration and teamwork are critical to our success.”
How is ServiceNow currently expanding its remote workforce?
At ServiceNow, we take an approach of flexibility and trust in our distributed world of work. This distributed, flexible work model ensures our people can bring their unique talents, achieve their full potential, belong to a first-rate award-winning culture and help fulfill our purpose of making the world work better for everyone.
We hire remote, flexible and required-in-office personas throughout the organization. Simply put, if you live within 30 miles of a ServiceNow office, you are expected to work in the office at least twice a week. People who live more than 30 miles from a ServiceNow office may be eligible for remote consideration.
Are there any teams or roles that you’re especially focused on?
We often offer remote opportunities for go-to-market sales and technical roles. Some exceptions include our entry-level sales development rep roles, where we require cohorts to work onsite for individual and team development as they learn and grow.
Being close to our customers is essential for in-person connections, so our field sales resources often reside within a specific territory. As we evolve our distributed work model, leaders continue to guide their teams on the varying needs of our diverse workforce.
How does hiring remotely enable ServiceNow to build out a more diverse, talented workforce?
ServiceNow makes the world of work better for everyone, starting with our people. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where all voices are heard, valued and respected. With that in mind, we embrace and support a distributed work model, which includes fully remote and flexible working arrangements. This enables ServiceNow to create a sustainable work culture that embraces business outcomes while encouraging collaboration, strong teams, career development, diversity, inclusion, belonging, a growth mindset and customer success.
We are leveraging our Market Intelligence team to help us better understand where people with the skills we seek reside. While we’ll continue to focus on hiring in our current geographic footprint and at our major sites, we are committed to keeping our workforce open to diverse talent pools in other locations. With enhanced accessibility — such as prompting accessibility questions when scheduling meetings and planning events — we ensure every person has the physical and digital accommodations they need in the remote work environment.
Wasabi Technologies
Wasabi Technologies provides cloud storage for businesses around the globe.
How is Wasabi expanding its remote workforce?
Wasabi is a global company with a Boston base, so we want to ensure we have time-zone specific coverage for both our employees and customers. With that, we’ve been expanding our typical ‘HQ’ roles such as finance and IT into other geographies such as Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific to ensure we’re able to support our remote-centric workforce. From a specialization focus, this means our business enablement, customer support and tech support roles are the current focus for expansion.
What are some of the daily practices that keep employees connected?
We use Slack on a daily basis to ensure we can keep up discussions with one another. We’ve also recently rolled out a values program and are actively engaging across platforms with that.
Our sales team just held regional gatherings in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific to share knowledge and team build across different states and countries that people don’t typically get to see one another. The focus was on second-half priorities, where we are to our goals and also spending time with one another.
The marketing organization just did the same and it was time well spent. Another example is our engineering team that gets together bimonthly outside of work to build relationships and connect with one another. The teams within Wasabi have a budget for in-person gatherings as needed to focus on keeping each other informed.
How does hiring remotely enable Wasabi to build out a more diverse, talented workforce?
We are able to hire for different skill sets and backgrounds across many different countries, states and communities. Hiring remotely helps us get exposure to former talent and expertise across many different industries. This helps us learn from one another from a cross-cultural perspective, and also learn new skills.
“Hiring remotely helps us get exposure to former talent and expertise across many different industries. This helps us learn from one another from a cross-cultural perspective, and also learn new skills.”
For instance, we’ve been building out our Europe, Middle East and Africa inside sales team in Tunisia. This has provided insight into Tunisian culture for many of our colleagues that may not have worked with or in Tunisia. The talent out of Tunisia has proven to be exceptional with many diverse backgrounds, languages and cultures living in that country. Being in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific, we are exposed daily to different backgrounds and ways of thinking.
Eastwall
Eastwall is a 'born in the cloud' Microsoft-dedicated Azure consulting firm that specializes in modernizing applications with data and AI.
How is Eastwall currently expanding its remote workforce?
Our company is actively recruiting talent from across the nation, without being limited by geographic location. We use tools such as LinkedIn Recruiter and Built In, connected to our applicant tracking system, Lever.
This approach allows us to tap into a wider pool of highly skilled professionals. We are especially focused on expanding our technical teams, including cloud architects, data engineers and AI specialists, as well as roles in customer engagement and support. By prioritizing remote work, we ensure that we can attract top-tier talent who prefer the flexibility and work-life balance that remote work offers.
What types of teams are you looking to support with new hires?
Historically, our business has been composed of senior-level skilled technical resources. Moving into the latter half of 2024 and through 2025, we are focusing on more early-career and mid-career hires. Training and growing remote resources can present different challenges for earlier-career hires, so we are particularly focused on ensuring the appropriate training and leadership mechanisms are in place to support professional development.
How does hiring remotely enable Eastwall to build out a more diverse, talented workforce?
Hiring remotely removes geographic barriers that often limit the talent pool. This approach not only enhances our ability to solve complex problems but also reflects our commitment to inclusivity and equity. By embracing remote work, we can provide opportunities to talented individuals who might not be able to relocate due to personal or family commitments, thus broadening our reach and fostering a more dynamic and capable team.
We have asked our staff multiple times if they are interested in having an in-person office, and the answer has consistently been a resounding no. Even when we have multiple staff in the same location, such as Chicago, most don’t want to spend the time commuting. They would rather be with their families or focus on their work tasks. It’s respectable, understandable and human. Work-life balance is key, and Eastwall will not jeopardize that. When teams want to come together, we make the financial investment to enable it — but will never force a culture upon others.
“Work-life balance is key, and Eastwall will not jeopardize that. When teams want to come together, we make the financial investment to enable it — but will never force a culture upon others.”
What would you consider the core of Eastwall’s culture around remote work?
Our company’s remote culture is built on trust, communication and inclusivity. We have implemented several initiatives to keep employees connected and engaged.
We have regular virtual meetings, like daily stand-ups, weekly team meetings and monthly all-hands meetings to ensure everyone is aligned and informed.
We offer online training programs, certifications and workshops to support continuous learning and career growth to support professional development.
We have an employee recognition system in place to reward employees for their contributions and achievements, ensuring they feel valued and appreciated. This recognition often happens around internal awards and events, for which we seem to be winning more regularly.
At least once a year, we all meet in person. These company-sanctioned get-togethers help everyone feel connected. Additionally, during the regular course of business, we’re flying to meet our clients nationwide for both sales and delivery opportunities. Anyone in the company can travel to meet others or clients — so we are very liberal with travel budgets, airfare and lodging.
