Freelancing platform Upwork is now three years into its remote transition. At the organization, managers have access to operating plans and strategic documents, which they use to work with individual employees to coordinate quarterly goals and directives. Rather than laddering up to company-wide goals, the architecture prioritizes individual talent and capacity.
"We think a lot about making sure people can do great work without forcing it into one model," Crossman said. "Any model that you have needs to incorporate distributed work, even if you yourself are not remote." Despite identifying as a remote-first organization, Upwork has kept its offices in San Francisco and Chicago, but has repurposed them as gathering places for team building and other events. Atlassian also kept its offices . Meanwhile, Brex is keeping its real estate footprint small and flexible.