Is remote work really effective? 3 Success stories that show you it is.

Both big and small businesses are saying goodbye to the traditional office and the mindset it represents to fully embrace remote work.

We have already talked about the advantages, challenges and the effect it has on your teams, working under a flexible modality such as remote work. But even with this overview you haven’t taken the steps towards remote work, let the successful experience of three companies working remotely convince you.

Bancolombia, Hubspot, and Spotify are companies that work under remote modality or at least a variant of it. After reading their success stories you will see firsthand the fruits you will reap for your team if you start implementing it.

Bancolombia: A financial Titan 

Bancolombia is the most important financial group in Colombia and one of the biggest in Latin America. This financial Titan was amongst the first to explore new ways to take advantage of technology to implement remote work modalities that benefit its workers.

Since 2012 Bancolombia has relied on the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies to train their team and implement remote work. That is, 8 years before the pandemic broke out and made us work from home. Ahead of time, Bancolombia was ready to implement remote work in the company.

Adriana Mejía, Bancolombia’s director of work modalities, stated that this preparation gave the possibility to 19,000 workers to work remotely successfully from home by 2020.

What results did the financial titan reap in implementing this modality? Well-being, flexibility, increasing productivity rates and the benefits of working under an environmentally sustainable  work modality. 

Director Adriana Mejía says that under this modality her workers saved time and money. Plus, the testimony of a company worker reveals that at the professional level the greatest benefit was to be able to develop these skills: autonomy, teamwork, time management and strengthen adaptability to change.

How did they achieve success? Bancolombia prepared right on time, invested in technology and collaborative tools. In terms of skills, the company allocated resources to train its teams with the best information.

Hubspot: Work is not something you go to, it’s something you do.

Does the brand’s name ring any bell? One of the most relevant platforms in the market in sales and inbound marketing. Surely you already remembered, because this company that generates an approximate 883 million dollars works remotely and according to their latest studies they are looking forward to working under a hybrid model in the near future. 

Hubspot has a philosophy that resonates with new generations of workers. His motto is “Work is not something you go to, it’s something you do”. Following this philosophy, the company affirms that it is determined to change the work culture by implementing new modalities and job prospects. They seek to innovate and be much more inclusive.

After conducting an internal survey of around 1000 Hubspot workers from different countries, it was concluded that remote working adds a lot of extra value to the teams.

On a personal level, 73% of employees said that working remotely gave them the opportunity to be more present in their personal life and allowed them to take care of their families. This translates, in more time to take care of their children and complete household chores with ease. 

Otherwise, 60% of respondents believe that the remote work modality allowed them to give the best of themselves. In the same line, 48% of workers expressed that they now have a stronger sense of belonging with their work teams and the company.

Spotify: Work from anywhere.

We all know or have heard of Spotify. It is the Swedish music player that is always with you through your headphones. 

Under its motto “Work from anywhere” Spotify already has working remotely around 6,500 people in different parts of the world. The company claims that the change in working modality had a positive impact on workers and the company itself.

The transition from the traditional working model to a remote one wasn’t rigid nor a mandatory policy. Spotify conducted a survey and eventually gave their teams the option to work in hybrid working modality. Once they realized most employees took the remote work days, and above all enjoyed working remotely, they began to dive more and more into this work modality. 

What did Spotify observe about this change? Unexpected results such as the change of cities or countries of their workers; increase of 12.7% to 18% in diversity and inclusion; and the rise of 25% to 42% of the presence of women leaders. Also, talent retention was a plus for the company.

This was possible thanks to there are no geographical limits to choosing the team or borders that chain workers in one place.

While all the success stories we tell you show that remote work brings benefits, it depends on the company, the type of business and the investment facilities for it to succeed. 

Which story impressed you the most?