The past two years we wrote about discovering the perks and benefits of hybrid work. Or how we onboarded our new colleagues behind the screen. After switching between mandatory homework, hybrid systems or a one-day office policy, we can think long term once again. Back to business as usual? Not at all. We’ve tasted the best of both worlds. That’s why our future will be remote-friendly.

Searching for that silver bullet

In The Pocket is a people business. Before corona, our kitchen was always filled with colleagues, clients, office sweets and Fridays beers. Can you imagine that working from home was limited to 15 days a year? It only took a worldwide crisis to shake things up. But it also forced us to rethink our way of working.

Do our studios play an important role in our way of working? Yes. Does remote work give more flexibility? Yes. So, is there a one-size-fits-all solution somewhere in the middle? Not that simple. If we know one thing for sure, it’s that there is no silver bullet solution that works for everyone.

If we know one thing for sure, it's that there is no silver bullet solution that works for everyone.

Finding the sweet spot

The future way of working turned out to be a sensitive and difficult topic. Some colleagues were dying to return to our studios while others felt more productive than ever at home. It made us dive into challenging questions. How do we view work-life balance? What’s the value of physical co-location? What are the effects on recruitment, engagement and retention? 

Thanks to brainstorms, chats and surveys, we gathered lots of valuable feedback. Both inside and outside of our leadership team. And that led us to where we’re at today. A remote-friendly company. 

Remote-friendly?

Work from home, walk into our office or pick your favourite working spot. Anything goes. Everyone is free to choose where and when they work. The main goal is to give every employee a healthy work/life balance and a maximum amount of flexibility. Yet we still believe that being together in the same place facilitates meaningful and profound relationships. 

Some of us can work fully remote. Others, like the IT and office teams, need the office to do their jobs. For client-facing roles, like our sales team and amigo’s, spending time at the office is expected but we don't set hard rules on timings. We want to dedicate our presence in our studios to establish meaningful relationships with our clients and remain that premium partner you’re looking for. 

Every colleague chooses what works best for them. And that comes with a sunny bonus: this means that working abroad is now possible. Although, since time zones still exist, it's probably wiser to dial into your standup from Barcelona than from Tokyo.

This is only the next step in our journey to create the supreme workplace for digital talent. And we’re eager to figure out the next steps.