Remote work is here to stay. Though first an unplanned, untested element of many companies’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the flexible work models introduced across these past two-and-a-half years have long since proven transformative to the modern workplace.
Today, more than half of Americans have the opportunity to work from home at least one day a week. That’s according to McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey, which recently asked a cross-section of U.S. workers how they felt about remote work models. Their answer? Highly positive. When people have the option to work flexibly, the survey found, 87 percent of them take it.
Fully remote work models are equally appealing to company leaders, given that employees’ productivity levels have remained generally steady as they worked remotely throughout the pandemic. In many cases, productivity has even increased at work, as has overall employee satisfaction.
With all signs pointing to the long-term value of remote and hybrid work models, many tech companies in Los Angeles are already ahead of the curve in tailoring those models to their workplaces.
For Stephen Loh, chief financial officer at Slickdeals, adopting a “fully flexible” approach to the workspace has always been about putting employees first. Though team members retain access to the company’s L.A. and Las Vegas offices, remote workers stay engaged in the company’s culture. “Everyone has different needs,” Loh said. “We want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to provide the best work culture possible.”
Two other thriving e-commerce businesses — Weedmaps and DRINKS — are just as focused on cultivating strong, flexible approaches that benefit all. Below, Built In sat down with leaders at all three companies to discuss adapting to the new normal of remote and hybrid work.
At social e-commerce platform Slickdeals, which powers one of the web’s largest deal-sharing communities, working remotely suits the company’s culture of teamwork, autonomy and open communication. “We’ve encouraged employees to adopt an ownership mentality in approaching their work, and work is distributed with realistic deadlines,” said Chief Financial Officer Stephen Loh. “No one is set up to fail.”
Tell us about Slickdeals’ hybrid/remote work model.
We were remote from the onset of the pandemic. Earlier this year, Slickdeals officially made the transition to a fully flexible workspace. While we plan to maintain our beautiful Los Angeles and Las Vegas offices, team members decide from where they want to work; some choose to work from the offices, and many work from their homes.
The offices remain open for folks to brainstorm ideas, catch up with one another, or simply stave off cabin fever. Team leaders are encouraged to bring people into the office with intention, which means that gathering people in the office is done for a specific purpose: for example, a session with clear objectives and outputs. Team members are also more than welcome to meet up for lunches and happy hours; in those cases, it’s not a requirement for the activity to involve the office.
The fully flexible model allows me to take time for my family that I wasn’t able to take when physically commuting to an office.”
What’s the greatest benefit Slickdeals has seen from transitioning to this model?
Our finance team supports the rest of the company, which means that our responsibilities often require us to be “on” at off hours. By shifting to a fully flexible model and eliminating travel time, our team has been enabled to create schedules more conducive to greater work-life balance.
Personally, and for parents throughout the company, one massive benefit is the ability to be more involved with our children. I have three kids; they go to three different schools, their schedules are different and both my wife and I work. In the past, we would drop off the kids in the morning, and we had to figure out how to deal with pickup times and extracurricular activities. Pre-pandemic, I had to hire a service to shuttle the kids around. As parents, we would have loved to attend their events, but we were working too far from the activities to leave our offices, go to said activities and then get back to the office.
Now, they’re a few minutes away, and going to pick them up requires only a little break from work. The fully flexible model allows me to take time for my family that I wasn’t able to take when physically commuting to an office.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome along the way?
Building trust. Our team understands what success and failure looks like, so having clear goals that everyone can trust is critical for working effectively. Our core values were truly embraced during the transition to remote work; now, they’ve become second nature.
People understand what they need to do, whether in terms of deadlines or assignments, and there shouldn’t be any impediments to an individual getting their job done or having the support they need to do it.
When managing a remote team, not being under one roof means it’s even more critical to be thoughtful about setting meetings on the calendar and making sure there’s enough face-to-face time. Equally important is being respectful not to bombard people with informal meetings on their calendar. Virtually, you have to adapt to being more thoughtful about getting in touch with the team.
Though physically based in Irvine, technology platform Weedmaps serves the global cannabis economy and, as a result, leverages a “Weedmaps from Anywhere” work model that allows it to hire talented job-seekers wherever they’re based. “Our hybrid model has especially strengthened the sales team,” said Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition Lizzie Clark. “Having sales representatives out in the field across the United States and Canada helps us receive real-time feedback from our clients, so we can continuously improve our products and services.”
Tell us about Weedmaps’ hybrid/remote work model.
Prior to March 2020, the majority of our employees were based close to our headquarters in southern California, and everyone would come into the office five days a week. When the pandemic hit, we — like many other Americans — quickly pivoted to working from our living rooms, turning our homes into classrooms and adjusting to this new way of working remotely. At first, we thought we would only have the remote work model for a few weeks; then, as months passed by, we noticed that employees were getting into a routine. They seemed to be enjoying working remotely. And so, we conducted a survey to see how our employees were feeling about work and what they would want in the future.
What we discovered is that more than half of our workforce had a desire to work from home indefinitely, or at least have the flexibility to work remotely, even after such time as our offices could reopen. We knew that it was time to transition to a new work paradigm, giving employees flexibility in deciding how and where they work best. As a result, we enacted a work philosophy called “Weedmaps from Anywhere.”
Having employees with diverse backgrounds across different time zones throughout the country allows us to better serve our clients.”
What’s the greatest benefit Weedmaps has seen from transitioning to this model?
We know there are lots of people who want to work in cannabis but don’t live in California. From 2019 to July 2022, we saw an increase of 45 percent in overall job applications — this after announcing our “Weedmaps from Anywhere” model. This influx allowed us to draw from a larger talent pool, considering candidates with diverse backgrounds across different time zones. With the medical use of cannabis legalized in 39 states and the District of Columbia, and recreational or adult use of cannabis legal in D.C. and 18 states, having employees scattered throughout the country allows us to better serve our clients.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome along the way?
Not seeing our entire team physically. There’s a lot to be said for in-person interactions and small meetups that happen organically throughout the workday, from running into people while grabbing coffee to sitting together at the lunch table.
Being remote, it takes more time to build trust. That happens quickly when you have shared experiences, so we have encouraged our teams to get together for team on-sites and summits. Teams use this time to create team goals, determine new processes, work through projects and participate in team-building activities. Getting together, even just a few times a year, helps strengthen team bonds and leaves everyone feeling more energized and connected to their team, work and mission.
Through its innovative alcohol e-commerce platform, DRINKS enables large retailers, brands and marketplaces to offer its customers nationwide home delivery of alcohol. After acquiring Electriq Marketing, a Shopify-focused digital retention and growth agency, this year, DRINKS is accelerating customer growth in the e-commerce alcohol space, all the while thriving itself as a remote-first workplace. According to Electriq President Brandon Amoroso, two words define the company’s employee experience: “empowerment and independence.”
Tell us about Electriq’s hybrid/remote work model at DRINKS.
We have an office — DRINKS’ beautiful headquarters on Wilshire — but no one is required to go in. We are a remote-first company with many team members nowhere near L.A. Teams work well remotely, coordinating on Slack and other platforms with regular video check-ins. It’s still important for us to bring everyone together for an annual retreat, so team members can spend quality time together.
What’s the greatest benefit Electriq has seen from transitioning to this model within DRINKS?
Electriq has benefited from creating a strong independent culture in which team members have the authority to own their aspects of the business, manage client work and make critical decisions. Fueled by our hybrid model, this culture has allowed us to focus on empowerment and independence. Additionally, the hybrid model forced us to standardize many of our business processes and provide work templates to eliminate the need for leadership to manage processes and make teams more efficient and task-oriented.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome along the way?
Cultivating professional relationships beyond only transactional ones. Since our teams are so independent, we have to consciously create bridges and forums in which they can interact on a personal level, building meaningful work relationships as a result.
