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Remote work has been one of the best ways to combat the uncertain times of COVID 19. Most companies have resolved to be fully remote as a way of staying in business. There is nothing wrong with that; as a fact, working remotely has proved beneficial to both the company and employees.
Over the past decade, the remote work market has expanded and has become more and more popular. In a decade or less, the number of remote workers will undoubtedly be higher.
"73% of all departments will have remote workers by 2028."
Even though things appear to be going back to usual in most parts of the world, the desire to get back to working in offices and the flexibility of working from home seem to be conflicting. This is evident as Bloomberg Wealth explains how employees would rather quit instead of going back to working in the office.
In a new survey conducted by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, only 20% of workers prefer returning to their offices. 82% of the respondents who’ve worked from home during the pandemic have found it rewarding in many ways. Only 17% have negative thoughts about working from home.
This statistic means that the remote work model is here to stay, and it would be best for entrepreneurs and small & medium enterprises to embrace working remotely.
Investing in remote employees can sound challenging for many entrepreneurs, but it is the best bet for making your small business a success. The best part is that BalkanHire does all the heavy work for you. Form background checks to training and even offering onboarding support to your new remote employees.
BalkanHire is a company that connects companies with talented remote employees from the Balkans.
Here are 8 companies you won’t believe are fully remote:
Flexjobs
Flexjobs is a private, independent, and fully remote company in the internet software sector.
This company was founded in 2007 with its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado – Denver Metropolitan Area. As a fully remote company, their recent revenue holds at an impressive $12.5 million in 2020.
The employees at Flexjobs are from across the United States, and they all enjoy working from their home offices.
Their primary focus is to help employers navigate the complexity of hiring while helping job seekers find jobs within their careers/expertise.
Flexjobs takes pride in celebrating diverse backgrounds. Employees at this company have many differences, but they all work together, remotely, to make up a happy team and remote work culture.
These employees share a passion for work flexibility and enjoy perks like office furniture, housekeeping, and snack subscriptions.
Scrapinghub
Scrapinghub, now Zyte, was founded in 2010 and has since been a fully remote company that provides consulting services to deliver solutions in web crawling and data processing.
Their headquarters are in Ballincollig, County Cork.
As of 2020, they had more than 180 employees across 30 countries working hard, yielding a revenue of $15 million.
Their fully remote team embraces the benefits of remote work and enjoy the flexibility of working from anywhere they want. They communicate openly, honestly, and with pure integrity.
Toptal LLC
In 2020, Toptal LLC became the world’s largest fully remote company bringing in approximately $250 – $500 million in revenues.
Toptal LLC was founded in 2010, and has employees in over 70 countries.
Even though these employees enjoy the flexibility, great pay, and freedom to work from anywhere, among other benefits of working remotely, their main goal is to connect the world’s top talent with the world’s best organisations.
We’d say, Toptal fully understands the ins and outs of running a remote team efficiently.
Toptal’s headquarter is in San Francisco, California.
Zapier
Zapier was founded in 2011 as a web application that allows users to navigate data and create automated tasks. Zapier’s centralised office is located in San Francisco, California.
This company is 100% remote and has employees extending over 36 states in the USA and 30 countries across the globe.
We can’t forget to mention that all these remote workers’ commitment and hard work reflect the revenue stats. They make an impressive $100 – $500 million per year on average.
New employees at Zapier are offered an intense onboarding experience while they learn about the business and remote culture. They also enjoy an unlimited vacation policy and a competitive salary, among other benefits.
Toggl
As a company that offers remote work software tools, it’s no surprise that they are fully remote.
Toggl was founded in 2006 with headquarters in Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia.
According to Owler, Toggl registers an average yearly revenue of $25 million. Isn’t that impressive?
Employees are allowed to work from anywhere at whatever time they like. They have everything it takes to track their workflow anyways.
This benefit comes with a $2,376.70 budget to set up a home office of their choice. Other benefits include gym, massage, and other wellness memberships.
Gitlab
Founded in 2010, Gitlab is a fully remote DevOps platform that is designed for enterprises.
Its employees believe in working and sharing ideas from anywhere at any time, though they have a centralised head office in San Francisco, California.
Its revenue? Nearly $500 million annually. This milestone is made possible by a hardworking remote team of 1,444 members located in 67 countries.
Gitlab values all its employees equally. Apart from the freedom to work from anywhere, employees can work on open-source software, which helps them interact with a more extensive community and showcase their talent.
Buffer
Buffer started in 2010 and is one of the most excellent social media scheduling platforms that takes pride in helping companies like Shopify, Github, Basecamp, and more.
Buffer has 85 team members working in 15 different countries, who in 2020, combined efforts to yield a revenue of approximately $25 million.
Any profits earned at Buffer are shared among the team members.
Buffer’s headquarters are in San Francisco, California.
Automattic
This fully remote company started in 2005. Its values revolve around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
This is evident as it has 1699 distributed employees across 88 countries speaking 109 different languages.
Their employees go by the tag “Automatticans”, and they have created WordPress and WooCommerce, among other big companies.
Automatticans have a passion for making the web a better place, and through this passion, they yield an annual revenue of approximately $100-$500 million.
Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California.
What is the difference between fully remote, hybrid, and distributed companies?
Fully remote work is a job or a position that allows employees to work from anywhere other than their company’s office.
In contrast, the hybrid model allows certain employees to work remotely while other employees report to the office. Fully remote companies have a centralized office.
Distributed companies, on the other hand, allow employees to work from different zones and only communicate through online platforms. Distributed companies don’t have a centralized office.
Should you consider going remote with your company?
When comparing all these big companies, there is one common thing with the founders.
They admit that it all started as an idea. Before they could even make the first step, many things seemed like obstacles.
Among them are fear, doubt, control, communication, and cultural differences.
But one thing made all the difference.
They believed in the raw talent of remote workers, and that was their first step in the right direction.
The same thing happens to new entrepreneurs and small & medium enterprise owners.
When they think about embracing the remote work model, they succumb to doubt and fear.
The cost, lower productivity, and cultural differences, among other fear factors, eat them alive.
Nevertheless, big companies such as those mentioned above have overcome such struggles by embracing the remote work model wholeheartedly.
They stopped, from the start, worrying about the cost and fear of low productivity. Instead, they developed a high level of trust, discipline, and integrity with those working for them. How did that turn out?
Other supportive ways that can be embraced to facilitate a successful remote team would include:
- Encouraging employees to achieve great results and meet realistic goals without limiting or adjusting their hours.
- Communicate openly with pure integrity. Especially with COVID around, it would be best if you don’t leave anything unguessed.
You can do it too – It’s your turn to be the game-changer.
Are you ready to start your remote company? We can help you.
And, we are everything we promise to be.
