When we first headed to our home offices in March, our transition to remote work was quick, unplanned, and more than a little bit stressful.
Once the novelty had passed and the initial challenges were addressed, we were surprised to see just how well our team was able to continue to work together with each other and clients to create the well-crafted custom software that we are known for. Our culture, values, and work quality have remained strong — and in some ways, have been made even stronger. For many of our employees, working from home has been an unexpectedly welcome change.
Given that, it made sense to keep doing what is working so well: we’ve decided to permanently operate as a remote-first company.
What does ‘remote-first’ mean for our clients?
So much of the way we work relies on collaboration, communication, and close relationships with our clients. Our shift to a remote-first model doesn’t change that!
Throughout this year we’ve had great success in using virtual tools to enable collaboration: we use Google Meet for the majority of our virtual meetings, but are also using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other platforms depending on our clients’ preferences. While the pandemic remains uncontrolled, we will continue to use virtual tools to enable collaboration between our team and our clients.
Our team members remain US-based. In the future, once travel and in-person gatherings are safe, we will maintain our close relationships with clients through a combination of travel to client worksites, events in our Chicago office, and virtual tools.
What does ‘remote-first’ mean for our employees?
We will continue to have our physical office at our home base in Chicago, and once it is safe to gather together, Tandem employees will be able to choose to work there in person. However, nobody will be required to work at our office, and we anticipate many will choose to spend most or all of their time working remotely.
Our processes, benefits, and meetings will shift to best meet the needs of remote employees and a geographically distributed team. Our leadership team is working to redefine these things, and we will update our company handbook and website as changes are introduced.
Here are the things we know for sure right now:
- Our job posts, including our apprenticeships, are open to candidates based anywhere in the United States within two hours of the Central time zone.
- Balance remains the foundation of our work culture. Our core hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. will be based on the time zone the employee is working in.
- Working at Tandem will continue to be a positive experience where employees are supported by thoughtful, skilled, and kind teammates! We remain committed to providing opportunities to teach, learn, and grow — though we are physically farther apart, we will always be a close-knit team.
In a year full of changes, we’re approaching the future with optimism. Do you have questions about our shift to remote-first? Reach out any time!
