Remote work ‘say what?’
By: Emerson Smith
Tags: Company Culture, Technology News, Remote Work, Leadership, Austin

I wasn’t ever too keen on the idea of employees working remotely. In fact, I was stubbornly convinced that a successful company required a total in-office presence.

I believed I was so right for so long that remote work doesn’t work that I used to turn down reputable job candidates who wanted to work at Pushnami but who were not willing to relocate to Austin to work inside the Pushnami office.

I was adamant about it to the point that we once did not hire a really senior developer that we very much needed. He wanted to work for us but another company offered to let him work remotely so we didn’t get him. That was a big miss for our company.

Even before the pandemic hit, some employees did express interest in working from home from time to time. But that just wasn’t the kind of culture I wanted for Pushnami. I used to tell people you’re either in the office or you’re not part of our team. I did not believe you could collaborate or innovate unless you’re doing it in person.

So how did the fastest-growing company in Austin evolve from staunchly opposed to firmly supportive of remote work?

A record first quarter in 2021, as well as being named the fastest growing company in Austin, reinforced that I was wrong.

But it wasn’t so easy getting comfortable with the concept.

Our first company meeting on Zoom was super weird. You can’t look at 50 people at once (although I definitely try to click through to see everyone) and it was a big adjustment. Before the city of Austin shutdown due to COVID-19, we prepared for the potential of forced remote work conditions by implementing Wednesday work-from-home “drills.” In full transparency, I really didn’t believe that this was going to be needed. But some employees were very convinced that this was coming, though, so we decided to practice to work out the kinks.

We were only able to get one trial Wednesday in before the city shut down and forced us to carry on business from the safety of our homes.

So what happened once Pushnami went fully remote?

We continues to smash monetary milestones, add new benefits to adapt to the remote culture and to hire. Most of all, employees innovated, collaborated and got their work done — even though they were doing it from their home offices.

In times like these, you can either shake your fists in the air and scream “this is not right, I’m not going to do this, it’s my way or the highway,” or you can adapt and understand that this is the way the world is going to be now. Yes, it’s hard, but everything is hard. Even in the office, things are hard sometimes. You just have to adapt.

That’s not to say there weren’t some drawbacks once the pandemic struck, though. Some employees were feeling lonely or unhappy, not because we weren’t going out of our way to cater to employees but because the impact of the pandemic was taking a toll on the team’s emotional and mental health.

Some people decided they wanted a change in their life over the course of this, so we lost good people here. After everything that was going on in the world, some of our team discovered they just wanted something different in their lives. I don’t blame them at all, I think we all hit a wall at some point where we just had enough of all of this.

Today, we hire employees outside of Austin and even outside of the state. Some recent hires live in Oklahoma, Florida and Ohio.

I find it freeing that we can hire the best of the best from all over now.

As for going back to a mandatory in-office environment? That’s just not in the cards for us. If I said it was mandatory to be in the office right now, even for the people who live right here in Austin, one-third of my team would quit. There is no going back. They love it.

Things aren’t perfect though. The team is still learning how to “turn off” when they’re at home, especially since our hires are known for having superb work ethic. We offer compensation and the challenges and the rewards that come along with that. Because of that, it is hard for certain people to turn off as we are a 24/7 business here. The notifications don’t stop. Our clients don’t stop: we’re global. This is a very hard job, but a fun one.

At the end of the day, technology companies have shown the most promise in the face of remote scenarios as our teams excel at using technology. Businesses who adjust more quickly end up with the competitive advantage when it comes to the candidate talent pool.

During everything that took place in the world, we were able to continue to offer our people opportunities to advance and we kept doing the good work inside our community. Isn’t that what really matters?

Want to join our outstanding team? We’re hiring!