Back in 2019, it wasn’t uncommon for tech workers to complain that their new company’s game room merely consisted of a single foosball table, or that the highly touted kitchen was stocked with overripe fruit and a not-so-wide variety of chips.
Then, well, you know what happened.
Remote and hybrid work are now table stakes, and like with “game rooms” and “fully stocked kitchens” before, there can still be a disconnect between what companies advertise and reality when it comes to remote and hybrid work setups.
Of course, planning your entire life around being able to work fully or partially from home is a much bigger deal than packing snacks for the day. While some companies play a game of chicken with candidates, others are much less guarded about their hybrid and remote setups and the purposes behind them.
Three Boston companies who spoke recently with Built In fall into the latter category. Fintech company Vestmark places a high priority on collaboration, productivity and effectiveness, and has found that the best way to maintain this environment is a hybrid setup. E-commerce software company Akeneo encourages employees to work from the office but leaves the ultimate decision of how often and when to come in to leaders. Session replay software maker LogRocket is proudly hybrid-first, with teams given the autonomy to decide when to get together in person.
These three Boston companies are all hiring for remote or hybrid roles. Below, team members from each company detailed their current work setup and what it’s designed to accomplish along with how they’ve celebrated being back in the office.
LogRocket develops session replay software designed to give companies an in-depth idea of the issues tripping up users. In addition to recreating a user’s journey, its tech can also quantify insights to let teams know just how much JavaScript errors or broken sign-up page buttons are costing the company.
Can you describe LogRocket’s hybrid remote workplace arrangement and what makes it unique?
LogRocket is a hybrid-first company. Most of our roles are remote-friendly and our employees are given the flexibility to decide if and when they are in the office. The ability to come together in person for collaboration and social connections remains important, so teams decide the cadence of in-person get-togethers and our Boston office serves as LogRocket headquarters where we gather. We have found that giving people the autonomy to decide the best work situation for them has been very beneficial for productivity and happiness!
For the employees who enjoy coming into an office, we offer catered lunches three times a week, lots of snacks and cold brew and kombucha on tap. On average, our hybrid employees frequent the office about one to two times a week. For remote employees, we offer a monthly coworking reimbursement and also pay for quarterly trips to the office to meet up with teammates.
We have found that giving people the autonomy to decide the best work situation for them has been very beneficial for productivity and happiness!”
What neighborhood is your office located in?
Our office is located at 87 Summer Street in downtown Boston. There are tons of lunch and happy hour spots in the neighborhood. We’re also a convenient five-minute walk from South Station.
How have you celebrated being back in the office?
Our favorite way to celebrate being back in the office is by enjoying lunch together and taking the time to step away from our computers to learn more about each other. We also host monthly events like paint nights, show and tell, an afternoon at the zoo or a boat cruise around the Boston Harbor. We prioritize building relationships with our teammates and celebrating our successes together, including our recent Series C round of funding!
E-commerce companies use Akeneo’s product experience management and product information management software to manage product descriptions and information across multiple sales channels. The company’s customers include Forever 21, Staples and Fossil.
Can you describe Akeneo’s hybrid remote workplace arrangement and what makes it unique?
Our hybrid model is rooted in our values of benevolence, humility and openness. Everyone starting at the company receives a work-from-home stipend to buy a desk or monitor to ensure they’re successful no matter where they’re working. Coming into the office is something we encourage but don’t require as we want to maintain flexibility for everyone at the company.
We are clear communicators at Akeneo. We’ll let a team or the whole office know when there are plans for an onsite or a need for some human interaction for collaboration. You’ll find a handful of folks in the office any day of the week, with most folks coming two to four days per week.
Our international culture helps us with hybrid as well since we are all very used to video and Slack huddles across time zones. What makes the hybrid model work best is that we aren’t “expecting” anything from employees except that they are successful at their work. We truly practice work-life balance, which allows all employees to be present when that works best and elsewhere when needed, too.
We have celebrated returning to the office by simply sharing our time together in meaningful ways, not just work-related activities.”
What neighborhood is your office located in?
Union Square, Somerville, but we’re moving to a brand new office on Long Wharf in Boston in 2023!
How have you celebrated being back in the office?
We highlight every new teammate with standups and introductions. We are always chattering about new product developments and the energy is palpable when there’s real collective passion in the room. Camaraderie is the name of the game at Akeneo!
Our offices have corporate apartments and our teammates from across the globe visit regularly. We even have an office swap program that allows employees to visit and stay at another global office for two weeks each year. Even if your role doesn’t require trips, we want to share the whole company with every employee by way of physical meetings and travel. We have celebrated returning to the office by simply sharing our time together in meaningful ways, not just work-related activities.
Vestmark is a fintech company that enables financial institutions to build and manage custom investment portfolios. In addition to its technology, the company offers outsourced services for firms, including account administration, billing and trading implementation.
Can you describe Vestmark’s hybrid remote workplace arrangement and what makes it unique?
We created a strategic model in 2020 for what we termed the “future workplace.” The themes we established when the pandemic first occurred have shaped our hybrid work model today: transparency, flexibility, empathy and support. Our primary goal is to promote productivity and effectiveness to encourage and allow employees to return to the office on a flexible schedule that makes sense to both them and the business.
Although the structure and design of the plan have been handled by the HR team, we engaged team members from other groups — like finance, IT and marketing — to provide their expertise and support. Beyond this, we have engaged our managers to discuss how they support and manage employees in this new environment. Many of the segments of our future workplace strategy were built through this research.
The pillar of our hybrid work strategy has been to create the concept of “collaboration days.” We started by asking employees to come into the office on Tuesday and Thursday and recently expanded this to include a third day on Wednesday.
Our primary goal is to promote productivity and effectiveness to encourage and allow employees to return to the office on a flexible schedule.”
What neighborhood is your office located in?
Wakefield in suburban Boston. We’re adjacent to Route 128/95 on a campus on beautiful Lake Quannapowitt.
How have you celebrated being back in the office?
We celebrated being back together in the office with several events put on by our fun committee, which included: ice cream sandwiches from the Cookie Monstah Truck, breakfast served by the leadership team, the grand reopening of the Jersey City office, and a backpack donation drive.
