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Top 10 global companies to ace remote work

“99% of the interviewees reported that they would like, at least once in their career, to be able to work off-site”[1]

Well, that was once a dream.

Ladies and gentlemen, the office cubicle has transformed into your home study.

What is remote work?

Remote work is not just working from home. It is an ingrained philosophy of inclusion in an organisation. It is a culture to leverage the best talent globally and sustain meaningful employment. It is embracing flexibility and diversity of purpose and methods.

Remote work is an ever-evolving term.

On ground it is:

  1. Work from anywhere
  2. Leverages the gig economy
  3. Part of a company’s business model

Remote is the new norm. Since Q2 of 2020, this term has come up like high tides on a full moon night. Loud, obvious and at times overpowering. Companies have jumped on the bandwagon like it’s the last flight available for the day (no pun intended).

Majors like Google, Twitter and Amazon have led the cry to work remotely.

WHO has added medical logic and societal wellness to the shift.

For some it is a prayer being answered.

“91% of business owners always intended to support remote work“[2]

Little did they know that an unknown virus would arrive to fulfil their wish. From being a charming title of ‘The future of work’ it has burst through the seams and arrived sooner than anyone could have imagined. The future is now.

Pre-Covid, 95% of U.S. knowledge workers wanted to work remotely, and 74% were willing to quit a job to do so.[3]

Well, now at least no one has to quit to live this reality.

Why this report?

This study is to bring to you 10 global companies who have aced remote work.

They are:

CompanyNo of employeesRevenue 2019
Appen800+US$430M
Automattic1176US$120.3M
Basecamp51US$41M
HubSpot2638US$0.675B
Lionbridge6000US$705M
Magellan Health10000+US$7.2B
Microsoft151163US$125.84B
TranscribeMe119US$6.5M
Twilio2500US$1.13B
VIPKid150US$760M
Twimbit’s Top 10 Companies to Ace Remote Work

The objective of this report is not to bring you a market share led ranking of these companies.The objective rather, is to use this as a learning list of companies who are successfully managing remote and hybrid work models.

There are lot many companies in 2020 leaning to a remote model for a significant time or forever.

We will look at:

  1. What they stand for
  2. How they became successful at the remote model
  3. What can others learn from them

These companies have succeeded at multiple levels to warrant a spot in this study.

Who is this report for?

Working remote is a learnt behaviour. Some companies exhibit it better than others. The world is moving remote. For some it is a complete shift of paradigm, while for some, it was a way of life pre-covid as well

This report is for all the companies who:

  1. Are thinking about adopting remote / hybrid models
  2. Are have made the decision to go remote and need to act
  3. Are in the middle of setting up remote working models and need to validate their decisions and actions
Our Selection criteria:

We have been different in our selection criteria of these 10 global companies. We present a mix of big and small. A mix of known and unknown. A mix of new and established remote models. A mix of completely remote and hybrid models. A mix of industries. A mix of truly global. A mix of applicable learning for acing a remote /hybrid work model.

Twimbit’s e-tact framework:

Shifting to a remote working model is an example of deep organisational transformation. It has to work on multiple levels to be successful.

The Davos Manifesto 2020 highlights these as the purpose of today’s company.

  1. Enable a business to adaptively deliver sustained customer value
  2. Serve the needs of employees
  3. Make the entire ecosystem more interdependent and resilient
  4. Serve the society by addressing public health needs

Manifestos are written and ignored. Well, mostly.

There are a few shining examples who put them in meaningful practice.

Those are the ones we want to focus on.

For the benefit of many!

Twimbit’s rigorous e-tact framework to distil the learnings from each company.

  1. Ethos
    • What is the essence of the company?
    • What difference do they want to make in the world?
  2. Talent strategy
    • What is their hiring and retention philosophy?
    • What do to groom talent?
  3. Acquisitions and Mergers
    • How do the acquisitions help propagate the philosophy of remote?
    • How do they help develop products and careers?
  4. Customer centricity
    • Being remote, how do they make sure the customer is always happy?
    • How do they instil and sustain customer focus while being remote?
  5. Tools
    • What tools do they use internally to stay connected?
    • How does their pool of tools help them be efficient?

Conclusion:

Not only have these organisations channelled the initial undercurrents of doubt and anxiety of remote working, but they have shown tremendous appetite for breakthroughs in a breakdown.

All aspersions about productivity, profitability and customer centricity are clearly put aside. But, the future of work is truly the future if it works for all!

In that effort, we present these 10 companies to you in alphabetical order.

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