TOP COMPANIES TO WORK FOR REMOTELY
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Remember when we were so worried about AI replacing jobs only a year ago? Now with the onset of COVID, the future of work has turned in a new direction, becoming virtual and remote, rather than physical and local. The digital transformation of work has finally arrived. While the transition to working-from-home can be challenging at first, many have realised that remote work has a host of advantages for both employees and employers. For employees, remote work often means increased flexibility whereas for employers, having employees work-from-home has led to increased levels of employee engagement and performance as well as lower costs. Whether you’re on the hunt for a remote job or are already working virtually, check out this list of top companies to work for remotely.
1. Garten
Location: Burlingame, California
What They Do: Full-service well-being platform offering onsite and virtual wellness activities and healthy food options to companies
Why Employees Love ‘Em
Garten places the mental state of their employees first, especially during these unprecedented times. Not only is Garten pioneering a modern approach to health and wellness in the workplace, but they’ve also incorporated an employee-wide policy to block their calendars with two “purposeful pauses” each day. During this time, employees are highly encouraged to meditate, nap, practice yoga, and/or go for a walk. Additionally, Garten has been offering virtual wellness classes to their team so they can support everyone’s health, even when they’re not in the office.
2. Populum
Location: Phoenix, AZ / Omaha, NE
What They Do: Premium e-commerce CBD supplement, skincare & pet company
Their Remote Work Policy:
Before the pandemic, Populum had a large office space with a beautiful open floor plan. However, once the pandemic hit, they decided to transition to a fully remote working environment due to safety concerns.
Why Employees Love ‘Em:
Populum prides itself on the many great benefits it provides to create a positive work culture and work-life-balance for all employees. Some of these benefits include: unlimited vacation policy, team retreats, happy hours and parties, superior medical, dental and vision insurance, and paid cell-phones. With their new 100% WFH policy, they’ve added some additional benefits, including home fitness reimbursement, home wifi reimbursement, and home office reimbursement (snacks, supplies, etc.). To ensure that employees remain engaged, Populum does weekly “hangouts” where the team catches up with one another and plays buzzfeed personality quizzes. These quizzes are a great way for the team to learn more about one another and stay connected. According to Caitlin March, Director of Marketing at Populum, the team also does a lot of in-person quarterly ‘giving back’ events. “This month we are doing a local park project where we will spend the afternoon outdoors helping to ‘beautify’ a park,” she says. The team is also starting to have in-person outdoor events in September.
Precision Nutrition
Location: Remote
What They Do: Private nutrition coaching and education platform
Their Remote Work Policy:
100% remote since inception.
Why Employees Love ‘Em:
Working remotely has always been the norm for Precision Nutrition, even before the pandemic. Employees love the freedom and flexibility working-from-home affords them. According to Allie Hartman, Director of Public Relations and Communications, employees “create [their] own schedules, never track hours, and live everywhere and anywhere — from Toronto to Costa Rica, from SoCal to England.” Additionally, each remote employee is provided with a full home office set-up upon hiring, including but not limited to a standing desk, ergonomic chair, laptop, monitor and anything else that remote workers may need to do their job well.
Infinite Blue
Location: Collegeville, PA / Hyderabad, India
What They Do: Comprehensive, low-code platform and enterprise-class business applications provider
Their Remote Work Policy:
Infinite Blue operated under a hybrid model before the pandemic, with about 85% of their employees working from the 2 offices and the other 15% working remotely. When COVID hit, they went full virtual, which was an easy shift.
Why Employees Love ‘Em:
Infinite Blue is very focused on building community, even among remote workers. The company uses Microsoft Teams with various department channels and a company-level “Water Cooler” channel for the team to share stories, jokes, and everything in between. The company has also embraced video-first meetings and continues to do that regardless of the team member’s location. Infinite Blue also believes in supporting the team via increased flexibility. According to CEO and President Frank Shultz, managers understand that “schedules may not be regular office schedules” but they fully trust employees to get their work done. Going forward, some employees will continue to work from home primarily but Infinite Blue will try to bring them together with the rest of the team on a regular basis for team activities and get-togethers, as “balancing physical team activities with virtual meetings is key,” according to Frank.
First Ladies of Poverty Foundation
Location: Springfield, MA
What They Do: Award-winning mentorship community and membership program for entrepreneurial-minded people of color and minority communities
Their Remote Work Policy
Before COVID, the team was already a majority remote team. Founder and CEO Shatoyia Jones has worked remotely since 2012, and absolutely loves “the freedom, flexibility and efficient use of time and space.”
Why Employees Love ‘Em:
First Ladies of Poverty Foundation focuses on building entrepreneurs not employees. Not that there’s anything wrong with being an employee. According to Shatoyia, they simply believe in “supporting those with an entrepreneurial spirit to build their own business and get the supportive mentorship to do so while making money.” In doing so, employees get the chance to build strong, high-ticket soft and hard skill-sets like sales, communications, leadership and customer service (all in-demand skills at this time). Additionally, the employees of First Ladies of Poverty Foundation are mostly 1099-T workers, hence many are able to deduct necessary expenses and lower their tax bills. Most importantly, they have the option to service the firm’s clients and win their own clients. This gives employees an additional stream of income.
Aquinas Consulting
Location: Milford, CT
What They Do: Leading Information Technology, engineering, and defense consulting firm
Their Remote Work Policy:
Aquinas Consulting was founded on a business model that featured a 100% remote work force. After 6 years in operation, the company opened a small office but more than 50% of their employees were still working-from-home regularly. Since the outbreak of COVID, that number has been upwards of 95%.
Why Employees Love ‘Em:
Aquinas Consulting has been voted as one of the Top 5 remote small employers in Connecticut (under 100 employees) for 3 consecutive years. They employ about 150 people nationwide. A professional work environment, good compensation, benefits, and flexible hours are all things remote workers desire. Aquinas is able to offer all of these to its employees. All team members are issued a high-powered laptop fully equipped with the necessary software, which is is cloud based so that everyone can access it from any location with an internet connection. High speed internet connections and VOIP phone solutions allow employees to connect with coworkers by extension just as if they were working at the office. Flexibility is also a major focus for Aquinas. While Aquinas still requires employees to attend periodic conference calls or meetings to help facilitate communication, they try to keep these “meetings” to a minimum. They have started organizing virtual happy hours periodically to keep the team engaged. Finally, Aquinas also offers all the typical benefits an employee would want, including medical benefits and a 401K.
Transcription Outsourcing
Location: Denver, CO
What They Do: Leading full service transcription company offering legal, law enforcement, medical, academic, financial, and general transcription services
Their Remote Work Policy:
Transcription Outsourcing currently operates a fully remote workforce, with employees reporting in whenever they can. According to CEO Ben Walker, the company has a set KPI for everyone to meet, and as long as that’s honored, managers are satisfied. “I’m not very big on time trackers because I feel like that hampers productivity,” explains Ben.
Why Employees Love ‘Em:
Transcription Outsourcing is a company that focuses much more on output than on hours spent. Ben believes that employees should be in full control of their work hours and that flexibility is key to building a happy and productive team. “If they can’t come in to work on a specific day, they just need to notify us through our Time-off channel on Slack. It gives them more freedom, which has resulted in better productivity and performance,” says Ben. The flexibility and generous paid-time-off policies offered by Transcription Outsourcing are some of the benefits employees truly appreciate, especially during challenging times like these when there is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in the air.
Cardinal Education
Location: Burlingame, CA / Woodside, CA
What They Do: Globally-recognized education consulting firm specializing in admissions to elite institutions of higher education
Their Remote Work Policy:
With the exception of their Operations Coordinator who comes in a couple of days a week to help with logistics, all staff are working remotely.
Why Employees Love ‘Em:
According to Managing Consultant, Vanessa Phan, the company is unique in that they want their staff — experienced or new — to always feel that they can continue to dream big. As long as they are interested in education, the company can provide them with the experience to thrive in this sector — on their own timelines. To keep staff morale high, Cardinal Education has been arranging remote team bonding experiences. “Something as simple as breakfast and lunch at the same time allows for some face-to-face time that’s unrelated to work,” says Vanessa. Additionally, Cardinal Education ensures that their employees are taking proper care of themselves. The company provides employees with gym equipment and office supplies to create a space at home to work and stay healthy.
