To modern workers everywhere,
The emergency shift to remote work has been a shocking success, or at least a surprising non-failure, converting skeptical CEOs (though certainly not all of them) and ushering in more flexible workplace policies across a wide range of sectors.
But has it succeeded despite the conditions around it, or because companies created the right conditions for it to thrive?
Once everyone was dialing in from home, it was clear that remote employees had been experiencing work differently from the rest of us. Addressing their common pain points has become the important work of IT and HR departments around the world, aiming for better connectivity in both the technological and cultural senses of the word.
Some companies understood this better, and faster, than others. And today we salute them in our first ever global ranking of the best companies for remote workers.
The employers on our list answered a lengthy questionnaire about their policies, pay and benefits, and management practices. Then we gauged their remote employees’ satisfaction through surveys that focused on their experience in a remote environment. For example, could they independently access the information and documentation needed to do their job well? Are they able to participate effectively in meetings? Do they feel confident that working remotely creates no disadvantage for them when it comes to being assigned work or considered for promotions?
To make our list, employers had to demonstrate that they treat remote work not as a stopgap or as something to be tolerated but as a business priority that provides its own set of competitive advantages.
Rankings are a tricky business. But we’re confident the companies on our list have a lot to offer remote employees when it comes to leadership and planning, corporate culture and communication, role satisfaction, work environment, relationships with supervisors, training and development, pay and benefits, and overall engagement—because their remote workers told us so.—Heather Landy
Check out the full ranking here. And click here for more coverage of Quartz’s 2021 list of the Best Companies for Remote Workers.
Five things we learned from the best companies for remote workers
Employee resource groups matter even more in a remote world. Networking groups for employees have come a long way from after-work wine-and-cheese events.
Unlimited paid time off is becoming table stakes for top employers. Nearly half the companies on our list said they offered it, versus 6% of US employers overall.
It takes less than a minute to submit an expense report at Workato. That’s just one example of how the top company on our list of the best large employers for remote workers brings the wonders of automation to its employee base.
Flexibility rules. Of the 54 companies in our ranking, 43 said they regularly offer the option to work flexible hours or a compressed work week.
Skills are meant to be swapped. Here’s a fun one: WayBetter, number 11 on our list of the best small companies for remote workers, invited employees to teach a non-work talent (sewing, making pasta, playing guitar) to someone else on staff.
Looking for more ideas to help employees unwind and relieve stress? We’ve got another 55 suggestions here, all borrowed from the best companies for remote workers.
30-second case study
When Project Imagine’s employees began working from home in March 2020, leaders of the fintech app maker weren’t too worried about the operational shift—the company was already comfortable with its digital systems. More concerning were the problems that might arise for individual employees going remote in the midst of such chaotic global developments.
One way it decided to help was to reconfigure the workday. It barred meetings before 10am, between noon and 2pm, and after 6pm, blocking time for people to care for their families in the morning, go for a midday walk, and step away from the laptop at the end of the day.
The takeaway: The pandemic forced Project Imagine, like so many other companies, to change the way it operated. In the process, the startup—which was founded in 2018 with the office as a central piece of the culture—transformed its views of what employees need to flourish, and made changes that led to it becoming one of Quartz’s best companies for remote workers.
Read more about how Project Imagine aced its crash course in remote work, and its plans for a hybrid workplace, here.
Words of wisdom
“It boils down to two things: It makes individual employees happier and it makes organizations more resilient.”—Loom CEO Joe Thomas on the video-messaging startup’s remote-first orientation.
Read more about Loom (number one on our list of the best medium-size companies for remote workers) and what it has in common with the top-ranked small and large companies in our ranking.
Incoming
What do remote workers really need besides a comfortable home office and good wifi? A Quartz membership! If you’re not yet a member, sign up today with the code QZEMAIL40 and take 40% off your first year. You’ll get access to member-exclusive emails including:
🔮 The Forecast: a short, sharp look forward at an emerging industry, technology, or trend
🏢 The Company: context on the companies changing (or about to change) the way other businesses work (companies like Coinbase, Discord, Krispy Kreme, and Shein)
💻 How To: specific things you can do to work more effectively and solve problems you care about (from spending too much time with your phone, to managing your team’s return to the office, to creating a digital office culture)
💡 The Quartz Weekend Brief: our weekly perspective on the news is now a membership exclusive
ICYMI
Perhaps the reason we haven’t found the perfect communication tool yet is that the problem isn’t about technology.
After years spent studying how workers use email, smartphones, and other forms of communication to signal our value at work, Melissa Mazmanian, an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in computer science and organization and management, offers an alternate theory.
Mazmanian concludes the real root of our communication problems lies not in our digital workplace tools but in workplace culture itself. She explains more in this Q&A with Quartz’s Nicolás Rivero.
You got The Memo!
Our best wishes for a productive, well-managed week. Please send any workplace news, easy expense reports, and hours of meeting bans to work@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. This week’s edition of The Memo was produced by Heather Landy and Nicolás Rivero.