A friend of mine is a programmer who refuses to work in an office. If he interviews with a company who wants to bring him on board but won’t let him work remotely, he tells me they don’t “get it” (and declines).
For many people, remote work is more than just a convenient way to avoid a commute. It’s a philosophy that involves trusting your employees, giving them flexibility to choose their hours, and judging them based on their output. Many people see it as the inevitable future, and companies who don’t “get it” just seem stuck in the past.
If you’re someone who feels this way, FlexJobs has a list for you: 76 companies with mostly or completely remote teams. Rest assured that these companies understand the value of remote work – some are even evangelists for it, like Basecamp and GitHub.
You can check out the full list on FlexJobs, but here are some companies you may have heard of without realizing they have remote teams:
Automattic
FlexJobs says: “At posting time, web services company Automattic Inc. [creator of WordPress] has 312 Automatticians working in 26 countries, 174 cities, and 36 US states – all working from home. It also offers flexible schedules and staffers can set their own hours so they can work when they’re most productive.”
Balsamiq
FlexJobs says: “Balsamiq is a small software company that knows what it’s about and looks for people who are all about that, too. It even admits that working from home gets lonely to prepare any potential job candidates. And its name will make you drool because, it says, balsamic vinegar ‘has a lot in common with what we want our software to be: rich, smooth, pleasurable, expensive. OK, our software is actually pretty affordable, but we still want it to feel like a treat!’”
Buffer
FlexJobs says: “One of the perks listed on Buffer’s jobs page is that staffers can ‘move or live anywhere’ and its values explicitly say, ‘You choose to be at the single place on Earth where you are the happiest, and most productive, and you are not afraid to find out where that is.’ A beautiful approach to work and life.”
Mozilla
FlexJobs says: “The maker of Firefox, Mozilla is a nonprofit organization with a distributed team and a lot of remote workers around the world. As the company says, ‘We have 13 global offices and people working in more than 30 countries. If you work best from home, that’s not a problem. We can support you anywhere.’ Most of the open jobs on the company’s career page right now are remote positions.”
Upworthy
FlexJobs says: “This ubiquitous media company doesn’t have a virtual workforce. Instead, it says it has a ‘distributed team’ and allows people to work from anywhere. ‘Work from home, from a coffee shop, from a coworking space – anywhere with good enough Internet to do a Google Hangout. Go move to Montana for a month and work from there if you want. (And if you already live in Montana, keep on living there!)’ Virtual companies such as Upworthy make it possible for people to work wherever Internet is available.”
WooThemes
FlexJobs says: “This designer of premium WordPress themes, plugins, and ecommerce solutions knows that building a team culture doesn’t require any particular location. Though headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, ‘Our distributed team spans 16 countries…and we believe most brilliant people are a little bit crazy. Whoever you are and wherever you’re roaming, we’ll simply ask that you add your uniqueness to our company culture and become an engaged member of the team.’”
