8 tech companies with amazing remote work cultures

The pandemic has changed many things—especially the realities of working from home. Many factors contribute to a stand-out remote culture beyond Zoom happy hours, high-speed internet, and project management apps. An effective remote “workplace” is all about maintaining a culture that inspires and helps employees connect and collaborate to stay engaged, productive, and meet company-wide goals.

Using data from Glassdoor and Comparably, we have shortlisted eight global companies who have completely embraced this shift to remote work, and in the process, improved their team dynamics and company culture.

1. INVISION

• Fully remote pre-COVID
• Industry: Design & Internet
• Company’s mission statement: “Bring design-driven innovation to every company in the world.”

A leader in the remote working game, InVision has 700 fully distributed employees working from across the globe. When onboarding new employees, they lean into their core company value—trust. Employees are trusted to show up on time, be present and deliver. 

Each team also has a daily 30-minute standup to discuss progress on ongoing projects and priorities for the week. InVision truly believes in the power of data, which is why they equip each employee with access to Degreed, an upskilling and learning platform.

The highlights: There are 54 reviews on Glassdoor that state InVision’s “remote work really enables employees to live their best life at work and home.” Plus, based on users who have contributed to ratings on Comparably the Engineering department consists of 34% men and 66% women.

2. BUFFER

• Fully remote pre-COVID
• Industry: Internet & Software
• Company’s mission statement: “We want to build a different type of company that’s focused not only on the bottom line, but also the happiness of our customers and team, and our personal growth along the journey.”

With 85 members working in a fully distributed team from 15 countries, Buffer has been experimenting with location-independent work since 2016. The global team adds an advantage to their product, as being distributed across time zones means there’s someone to speak with customers around the clock. More availability translates to more customers.

Buffer also cultivates a culture of collaboration on a managerial level, where executives can schedule 1:1s with their team leaders for an open feedback session every week if needed.

The highlights: On Comparably, 83% of employees at Buffer believe their meetings are effective. As per Glassdoor reviews, the company has received 4.5 stars out of 5 on work-life balance, and its senior management has 3.9 stars out of 5.

3. TREEHOUSE

• Fully remote pre-COVID
• Industry: E-learning and Coding
• Company’s mission statement: “Diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams.”

Treehouse’s biggest win is their 4-day working week, and the biggest company perk mentioned on both Glassdoor and Comparably. An e-learning platform for coders and testers, Treehouse has been running a fully remote operation since 2015. However, its remote success comes down to loyalty and trust among team leaders and employees.

Being proud of their foundations, founder Ryan Carson has shared the benefits offered at Treehouse on many podcasts and interviews, including lunch stipends, paid sabbaticals, retirement contribution, 4-day work week, health insurance, a quarterly increase in salary, and more.

The highlights:

• 80% of employees at Treehouse feel they are paid fairly.
• 80% are satisfied with their benefits.
• 50% of Treehouse employees feel their work environment is positive, meaning Treehouse is a happy place to work.

4. HUBSPOT

• Fully-remote post-COVID
• Industry: Software & Technology
• Company’s mission statement: “We believe businesses can grow with a conscience, and succeed with a soul — and that they can do it with inbound.”

Before Hubspot went 100% remote, they had a very public “no door policy” in place, which provided employees with full transparency into everything going on in the company. Employees have access to the company’s cash balances and information on the big picture of what departments are working on. Since the shift to remote work, this culture continues, albeit remotely.

HubSpot says that many of their people managers “focus on employee growth rather than just their team’s ability to hit quotas or goals.” Managers at HubSpot encourage employees to grow and learn from their mistakes. 

The highlights: The management team at HubSpot incorporates a people-centric approach, which is why the company has received an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 regarding culture, values, and senior management. 

5. WISTIA

• Fully-remote post-COVID
• Industry: Software & Internet
• Company’s mission statement: “We work hard to bring together people from a wide variety of backgrounds and identities, all with the goal of building more inclusive, more useful, and more impactful products and experiences. We foster an environment where everyone is encouraged to bring their unique personalities and skills to the office every single day.”

When a company is built on creativity, you know they aren’t taking any shortcuts in their creative approach to managing a team and fostering an inclusive culture. A former employee summarised the team culture as “compassionate, smart, sincere, weird, and inclusive. They make us want to come to work every day!” Wistia primarily makes educational video content for brands worldwide and invests in remote management and remote leadership.

There’s a real need for creativity and resourcefulness to keep your company culture thriving and keep new employees engaged. When the pandemic started, Wistia announced that every new joiner had to produce a 2-minute introductory video as part of their onboarding process.

The highlights: 50% of Wistia employees are excited about going to work each day, and 100% look forward to working with coworkers and are happy in their team, as per stats on Comparable.

6. WONOLO

• Fully-remote post COVID
• Industry: SaaS
• Company’s mission statement: “We’re passionate about solving these problems with a technology platform that empowers people to choose work that works for them instead of the other way around.”

Short for “Work Now Locally,” Wonolo is an on-demand staffing platform that helps people find flexible work while helping companies fill their immediate needs. They save companies recruiting money by connecting them with talented people within minutes on their platform. However, internally, Wonolo does things very differently.

Their product is their ‘people,’ so the company asks employees to join the platform every quarter and do at least one job with a registered Wonolo company. This enables them to test the platform for a 360-degree user experience and network with other companies and clients.

The highlights: On Comparably, the current management has a rating of 87 out of 100, being in the top 5% of companies of similar size in San Francisco. Wonolo also fosters an inclusive culture from within, with over 50% of their senior leadership team consisting of women with a strong background in tech, engineering, and product management.

7. UPWORK

• Fully-remote post COVID
• Industry: Internet
• Company’s mission statement: “To create economic opportunities so people have better lives.”

Upwork has built a 20 year-business around remote work. Remote working has been embedded in their company’s DNA from the word go.

The entire company has gone remote until the foreseeable future. Still, when their officers were open, their mission was to ensure employees in the office had everything they needed to focus on their work. This included a daily lunch program, holding insightful in-office events and experiences, and performing quarterly evaluations. With its distributed team, the company emphasizes supporting employees’ mental health and physical health. Resources include “family activities, mental & physical health, community outreach, personal growth, and guidance for employees to host virtual team-building events.”

The highlights: 52% of employees at Upwork believe their remote meetings are effective. Upwork’s work culture scored 71/100, placing it among the top 40% of similar-sized US companies. The Engineering and Design department also ranked the highest for work culture, as reported on Comparably.

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