This tech startup founder drew few job applicants for work at his Paris office, but he reaped a deluge of quality candidates after switching to a remote work plan in 2016. See his best tips for going remote now.
Platform.sh CEO Fred Plais decided to run his startup remotely back in 2016, to help recruit enough employees to turbocharge the company's growth.
"Remote's not a religion; you have to adapt to the specificities of the employees that you're going to hire," Plais told Business Insider.Months of shelter-in-place orders have prompted both startups and big tech companies to consider downsizing their office spaces and making their remote-work policies permanent. These moves are welcome news for the tech workers who have long complained about the San Francisco Bay Area's high cost of living and its housing crisis.
Pivoting the company to a remote-first model helped boost the profile of the DevOps company – which helps teams of developers manage their software projects — beyond Plais's expectations. More than 14,000 prospective employees flooded the startup with applications from all over the world, allowing Platform.sh to pick the top 0.6% to fill its 80 available jobs. Plais claims that the company would not have attracted that interest back when it expected employees to show up at the office.
"You don't get distracted the same way. You can manage your time very very well," Plais told Business Insider in a Zoom interview.Platform.sh now has 180 employees on its payroll, and its workforce is spread over 150 countries. The startup has just a single office in Paris, where fewer than 15 employees work every day.
The average startup employee, often fresh out of college, may still look for a buzzy office culture. But Plais thinks that his own target employees tend to be settled with families. They value the ability to move to a suburb with space in the backyard, and they need to make sure that half their day isn't wasted in a commute.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Accenture talks real estate plans and remote work on earnings - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »
How to prepare your company to support a remote workforce - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »
TikTok's new ad portal shows it has evolved past being just an experimental platform - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »
Amazon has reportedly bought self-driving-car startup Zoox for more than $1 billion - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »
Meet the AI startup using your health data to help drug companies target ads - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »
Insurance startup Lemonade takes valuation hit in IPO price range - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »