How a tech startup reinvented its workplace strategy overnight and defined its own unique style of work–and was named one of BuiltIn's Best Places to Work in the United States in the process

In March 2020, Button closed its New York City headquarters, a beautiful, thoughtfully designed open plan office space in the Financial District overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge with every amenity a modern workforce could ever want‚Äìopen floor plan, company values and mission incorporated throughout the space, tons of natural light and on and on. Our new office had been open for just three months. 

Overnight, Button transitioned from a company which doubled down on in-person collaboration to one with a fully-remote workforce. Work-from-home quickly became part of Button's identity, and as the world started to contemplate a return to "normalcy", our normal had shifted. Adaptability is one of our core values, and Button has maintained the ability to execute at a high level while engaging and retaining employees by adapting to the new normal of post-pandemic work. 

Companies which permit flexible working arrangements  are reaping benefits in employee engagement and retention, according to the most recent "snapshot survey" conducted by Slack's Future Forum. Among the survey's findings:

• 81% of employees want flexibility in working location
• Remote and hybrid workers are 57% more likely to say that their company culture has improved over the past two years and cite flexible work as the leading factor in such improvement.  
• Employees with flexible working arrangements reported a 64% increase in the ability to concentrate and 39% increase in productivity. 

Button's workplace strategy, which we've defined as RemotePlus, takes what we've learned over the last three years of the pandemic and formulates a comprehensive strategy targeted at delivering employee happiness and maximizing productivity.  Here's how it works:

• Employees may live anywhere in the USA, but as we've found, they tend to be concentrated in certain metropolitan areas. 
• We pay a salary tied to the most highly compensated markets (New York, San Francisco) agnostic of where employees live, because talent does not depend on geography. 
• We recognize that our employees want to work-from-home--and that we can support their work-from home--but also encourage those employees who want to collaborate and socialize in-person, whether once a quarter or three times per week, to do so. 
• To enable this, Button has partnered with a leading coworking space provider to allow us to secure space for weekly "coworking days" in select "Button Focus Cities" while also offering any interested Buttonians the opportunity to work "on-site" as frequently as they like.
• We've also started to travel more often, to see our partners, and to see one another, holding team onsites and planning many more events in the near future, including a regional travel program to bring Buttonians living outside of Button Focus Cities together to collaborate and socialize. 
• Lastly, we continue to double down on virtual engagement, hosting monthly social events to allow our team the opportunity to socialize regardless of location. Buttonians are afforded the ability to work from anywhere in the country--meaning that if someone wants to spend winters skiing in Colorado or sunbathing in Florida, they can do so, as long as they have a reliable internet connection and are available during normal business hours. 

Our Board loves the fact that our rent expenses have been brought down from multiple millions of dollars to five figures per year. Our team consistently responds that they love this approach when surveyed in our quarterly Button Pulse Checks. And the results speak for themselves–Button was recently named one of BuiltIn's Best Places to Work in the USA, and the #3 Best Fully Remote Startup. We've assembled an incredible leadership team, grown faster than ever before in company history, and have achieved profitability. Proof is in the pudding - and this pudding is good!

If it seems like we're big fans of the RemotePlus approach--we are--and we're hoping many other companies join us in the RemotePlus revolution. If you're curious about how you can adopt RemotePlus for your company--shoot me an email, I'd love to chat!