While some companies continue to debate remote and hybrid work for their teams, others are adopting a more flexible approach to working from anywhere.
Atlassian, an Australia-based software company with employees around the world, launched its own “Group Anywhere” policy in August 2020, allowing its 7,388 employees to move to a single location. city or country other than where the company is located and in accordance with the time zone.
The company says nearly two years later, nearly 300 employees have moved to a new country, and hundreds more have moved to live in their home country.
CNBC Make It heard from four employees how Atlassian’s new work-from-anywhere model has changed the way they live and work.
Closer to family
Atlassian says more than 10% of its 3,000 US workers have moved states during the pandemic, with most of them leaving expensive cities in California and Texas.
That includes Amanda Gitahi, 28, a product marketing manager. She moved from Phoenix to San Francisco to join the company shortly after graduating from high school in 2019, which also meant becoming estranged from her husband, Lemmy, who took a job in Seattle.
In March 2020, with everyone working remotely due to Covid, she decided to move to Seattle to reunite with her husband without having to worry about long distance travel anymore.
Gitahi has also been able to reunite with other family members – an aunt and uncle, who have “become mentors and really important people in our lives”, she said.
Gitahi said the hardest part of working from anywhere is losing some face-to-face interactions at the office, but hopes the company will intentionally restore those interactions as the Covid risk subsides. For example, the company has retained its physical offices and is investing in building an office in Austin to open this summer and a new headquarters in Sydney in 2026.
Leveling the playing field
Christina Bell, 26, works as a software engineer and is from New Zealand but moved to Sydney to work as an Atlassian software engineer in 2018. When Covid hit, she became homesick and wanted to be close too. than with her grandmother, who was diagnosed with Cancer.
She has returned home and now plans to stay. “I live in a rather rural area and my quality of life has improved dramatically,” says Bell. “I can actually see the sheep across the street with me right now. It’s very New Zealand.”
Bell feels she has adapted well to remote work and doesn’t think that missing out on underwater conversations has limited her ability to connect with colleagues. “Honestly, I think that on the farthest levels is a playground,” she said. “We’re now able to record these conversations in text format, giving everyone a chance to see what’s going on. You wouldn’t miss out if you didn’t happen to be at the ‘cooler bin’ water’ as the conversation goes on.”
Traveling while working
For others, the biggest challenge to working from anywhere has little to do with the work itself. Helen Xue, 30, a communications executive, was living in San Francisco when the pandemic hit and moved to Portland to be near her partner’s family. With a permanent policy in place, they recently moved to Seattle again.
Helen Xue said she and her partner hope to travel internationally and return home to Australia while using Atlassian’s work from anywhere policy.
History of the topic
On the plus side, being able to work around the world “opens the door for me to finally go home” in Sydney, says Xue. “My partner and I also want to work in Europe or Asia before returning home to Australia.”
However, moving around can be difficult on an individual level: “The heartbreaking feeling of having to leave family and friends every time you move is really hard, then having to integrate into a new community. new coin and find your new habit,” Xue said. “It doesn’t get easier no matter how many times you do it. On the other hand, you get to experience new cultures and meet amazing new friends that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. “
International travel
Alex Riegelman, 35, moved internationally to work as an experienced architect six years ago, when he moved from the US to Australia and met his current wife, who is also American. Over time, they realize they have to make a decision whether to acquire Australian citizenship or move back home.
“As Team Anywhere was growing, we realized it was the perfect time to move back to the states while staying in Atlassian,” said Riegelman. He and his wife moved to Boulder, Colorado, in February 2022 and will likely move again to the Southeastern United States in the future.
He said the company’s flexible selection gives him the ability to explore different places without worrying about his income. “It’s nice to know that I don’t have to worry about work if I’m looking to move,” he says, “and can just mind myself the location that best suits my lifestyle.”
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