Episode description

The predecessor to the office was Florence’s Uffizi Gallery – an admin building to the Medici mercantile empire. That was in… 1560. In the centuries to come, work was revolutionized, with perhaps the most well-known inflection of Ford Motors adopting the 40-hour work week in 1926. The cubicle? We have Robert Propst to thank for that, entering the picture in 1968. 

It wasn’t until the 80s when the Internet appeared on the scene and wifi released in 1997, forever changing the way people live and work. Since then, companies have continued to adopt many of the practices from the 20th century, despite the possibilities being fundamentally different.

COVID sent a shock into that system, forcing many people to adopt a distributed model and despite much debate about what the future holds, this episode will highlight the many ways that companies are continuing to adapt.

Will companies shift toward more asynchronous work? How will a distributed model shift the way we hire? How will companies attract top talent, and is remote the only benefit that matters? What workers and companies will come out on top of this sea change?

And of course… is the office dead? We’ll address these questions, and much more!

Topics covered:

• 00:00 - History of remote work
• 3:27 - Is the office dead?
• 7:05 - Async vs sync
• 16:18 - Building culture remotely
• 27:15 - Attracting top talent
• 31:16 - The evolution of benefits
• 36:04 - Remote work vs work
• 39:29 - Location-based pay
• 46:36 - Open salaries
• 51:23 - Vetting top talent
• 55:32 - The need to adapt
• 58:39 - Rewriting the rules
• 1:03:09 - Infrastructure gaps

Resources: 

GitLab’s Remote Handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/

Deel’s Salary Insights Tool: https://www.deel.com/salary-insights

Deel’s State of Global Hiring report: https://www.deel.com/state-of-global-hiring-2022

Deel:

• Deel’s website: https://www.deel.com/
• Deel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/deel
• Alex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bouazizalex

SafetyWing

• SafetyWing’s website: https://safetywing.com/
• SafetyWing on Twitter: https://twitter.com/safetywing
• Sondre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRasch

GitLab: 

• GitLab’s website: https://about.gitlab.com/
• GitLab on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gitlab
• Darren on Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrenmurph

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.