I spoke to 100 companies about remote work since 2021 started — here’s what they told me.

Since the beginning of the year, I spoke to 100 companies ranging from Series A to IPOd companies across sectors about how they plan to run their companies.

These companies serve different markets, industries, and niches, but they all have one thing in common: thinking about their remote work strategy. What some people call “the future of work” or “the future of living” seems to be everyone’s top of mind.

Here are the key insights I gained from these conversations:

Keeping the company culture is hugely important.

Holding on to the company’s DNA is one of the priorities for both founders and HR leaders across the country. For most of them, this means finding ways to overcome the challenge of connection in a virtual world. Business leaders are always coming up with new ways to bring people closer together without organizing yet another Zoom meeting since employees often value company culture more than their salary.

Remote work relies on leaders with refined soft skills and proactive human connections. There are various ways to reinforce company culture and values: through tools for connecting and leading with empathy, regularly checking in with the team, or organizing weekly sessions where work is not a topic.

The burnout is real.

In all the conversations I had, almost every founder mentioned that their biggest challenge is employee burnout. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, productivity skyrocketed with the introduction of remote work; everyone was thrilled with the possibility of working from home, cutting down on the commute, and spending more time with loved ones in a stressful moment. However, after almost a year of the forced work from home model, the burnout is slowly kicking in, with the following signs:

1. Employees start showing up at meetings without turning their cameras on
2. They start delaying their deliverables and lagging on work schedule
3. The communication and attendance start dropping

Even the WHO has burnout listed as a syndrome, acknowledging that it’s very real and entirely connected to the workplace. Contrary to what we can read sometimes, burnout is not caused by stress outside of work — it’s an organizational, work-related issue. Buffer’s 2021 State of Remote Work noted employees seem to be working more since the transition to remote work, leading to burnout.

Luckily, companies are starting to reassess whether their workloads and expectations are unrealistic and optimize the remote work processes. Ensuring employees have the time to log off and replenish before coming back to do excellent work is crucial for their well-being and the company’s bottom line.

Buffer: 2021 State of Remote Work

Keeping productivity high is the ultimate goal.

Maintaining the increased productivity from the start of the pandemic is what every company desires. Those who transitioned to remote work because of the circumstances and have a company culture built on in-person collaboration seem to struggle the most.

Replicating those connections online appears to be the biggest hurdle, so most of these newly-remote companies are exploring ways to adapt their culture and become remote-first or hybrid.

Equating office-based employees with remote ones requires new processes.

Companies that plan on continuing with a hybrid work model rather than going fully remote are already hard at work ensuring that remote employees have the same opportunities as their office peers. In a company where some people show up to the office and others never do, it’s vital to set up processes that ensure everyone is compensated equally and provided with tools and platforms to show their work.

Employers are starting to prioritize mental health and wellbeing.

The ongoing pandemic causes stress for everyone, including remote workers, who find themselves juggling working from home with childcare, school work, housekeeping, and trying to maintain at least a semblance of social life. If we add inadequate home offices and remote isolation to the mix, it’s understandable that companies are increasingly turning to mental health and wellbeing programs.

Overall, both companies and employees recognize the stress and anxiety brought on by the pandemic and do everything they can to mitigate it. Most HR teams are expanding resources available to their employees, including offering mental health check-ups and consultations.

Physical health is under the microscope as well, and initiatives like the Unsick Day are a great way to prevent employee health issues. On top of all this, resources for parents are in high demand; supporting working moms and dads in drawing a line between work and off time and offering help with managing their childcare with work is highly appreciated by employees.

Real-estate flexibility is the key.

With all the business landscape changes, more and more companies are unwilling to commit to traditional long-term office leases. Most of the companies I spoke to agree that the purpose of physical office spaces has shifted from a place where the workforce is located to a space focused on collaboration and innovation.

The reluctance to take on long-term leases opens the opportunity for on-demand workspaces that offer cost-flexibility and scalability. Gable addresses this gap in the market with workspaces that are cost-flexible, help offset burnout, keep productivity high — and all that close to where employees live.

Meeting in person is still magical.

The fact that remote work is growing strong and giving new promises of productivity and global talent doesn’t mean people don’t want to communicate face-to-face.

Employees still feel the need to meet with colleagues, brainstorm ideas, and collaborate — they just want to do it less often and more deliberately. More and more companies are getting employee requests about opportunities to sit and work together with their teams.

Most companies are already transitioning to remote-first.

A staggering 95% of companies I spoke to are transitioning to remote-first or plan to this year. There are two different models, and all of the founders plan to incorporate one of them:

1. A full-blown transition: These are the companies that plan to shut down their offices for good and go fully remote. Many in this category are companies in hyper-growth that increased their revenues during the past year. Most of them hired more people remotely during 2020 than in-person any year before that. They are aware of all the benefits of hiring and working remotely and intend to double-down on their achievements.
2. A hybrid model: Some companies are not yet ready for their workforce to become fully distributed, and they plan to run on a hybrid model. These companies will continue to own or lease spaces that will serve as satellite offices where employees can come and work, but they won’t expand their real-estate presence any further. Additionally, the hybrid companies are opening up for hiring global talent and seeing the benefits of an international workforce. Remotive.io reported last year that over 2,500 companies were hiring remotely, compared to only 900 in 2019, so hybrid models are definitely on the rise. The expectation these companies have is for employees to come to a workspace once or twice a week.

Only five companies of the 100 I spoke to decided to return to the office full-time and continue their long-term leases. Their reasoning is that they want their employees to have a dedicated office space and feel this is critical for them staying competitive. They also plan to continue hiring in geographically clustered locations.

Remote work is a product offering many benefits — understanding the basics will help us achieve them.

Every company has different business needs to fulfill in their remote transformation. Talking to them directly and listening to their needs is the best way to identify market gaps appearing in this transition. Treating remote work as a product will help us understand what we aim to get from it, set goals and act on achieving them.

You might be wondering why these companies and founders were on Zoom calls with me and provided me with this valuable insight into their remote work strategy.

The answer to this question is Gable: a network of on-demand workspaces designed to tackle burnout and isolation, promote productivity, and foster collaboration — all while remaining cost-flexible and scalable.