Beyond Remote Work

While hybrid and remote work have become symbols progressive employment practices for many companies these days, some leaders don’t think hybrid work is modern enough.

Matt Mullenweg, founder and CEO of the tech company Automattic, which runs WordPress.com, believes in — and practices — asynchronous work. That means the company’s 1800+ employees, who are scattered across 97 countries, are not expected to adhere to a common 9-5 schedule — or any common schedule.

Instead, employees set their own schedules and the amount of time they work, as long as they hit their goals. And they’ve been working this way since long before the pandemic.

“But Tim, how to they communicate and collaborate?” I wondered that, too.

In the case of Automatic, written communication is the gold standard, which means that good written communication skills are one of the top skills employees of the company need. To get there, the company offers writing classes, workshops and books to help employees improve.

For a company with smart, talented people spread across time zones, this method of #asynchronouswork functions well.