With many covid-related health and safety restrictions lifted, companies everywhere are figuring out how to navigate this new world of work. Trainual included. 

So, we had to make philosophical, long-term decisions about how we'd work and collaborate together into the future. And there was a lot to think about.

As an organization, do we want to be fully remote, hybrid, or fully in the office? Do we want to keep our office? Should the office be small or large? Will we require folks to come in a certain number of days per week? Do we care what hours folks work? How do we reconcile all of these things with our fully remote employees? 

The options were limitless, but the feedback we received from our team on their return to office preferences was pretty dang clear. Remote work and flexibility are key to their productivity. But the ideal work environment also provides the ability to collaborate and build community.

Obviously, we want everyone to have a community, trusted relationships, easy collaboration, and a clear path for growth. But we also want to maintain the autonomy, ownership, and flexibility our team has come to expect with the transition to fully remote during the pandemic. 

So, starting immediately, Trainual is officially "flex-first". 

👉 Want to work at Trainual? We’re hiring! See all the open positions on our career page and apply today!

What we mean by “flex-first”

As we transition to our hybrid work model, we want each team member to own their experience to ensure they are happy and fulfilled. And flex-first encourages our team to work when, where, and how they work best. 

Meaning, we’re keeping our office. No one is required to come back to the office full-time, but anyone can work from the office at any time. 

And in exchange for this flexibility, we ask that everyone work with their direct manager to find a schedule that works best for their personal needs - and the needs of their team. This is especially important when collaborating with someone based in another timezone. 

For example, Arizona is 3 hours behind Massachusetts in the summer. So, a 4 pm meeting in Phoenix is a 7 pm meeting for Boston-based employees. 

Because of this, everyone’s schedule needs to overlap some portion of 9 am to 2 pm PST. And all internal meetings need to be scheduled in this timeframe. That way, we’re protecting our team’s work-life balance as much as possible. 

Everyone has a key

Now that we're flex-first, our team is the owner of their experience, productivity, and growth. This arrangement empowers our people to work however they work best. Regardless of the time of day, setting, or type of work. 

And they can balance the trade-offs, like in-person collaboration and live community building, versus extreme flexibility and no commute, and more time with your family. 

But with that being said, we recognize the advantages that local employees have being hybrid-first that our fully remote employees don't. Such as access to the office. 

And while right now, 80% of our team is currently Phoenix-based, we know great talent lives all over! And as our team grows (especially our remote team), we might not be able to perfectly replicate our in-person office experience over Slack and Zoom. 

So, our leadership team's attention is on making sure fully remote employees have access to their ideal work environment as our local team. This includes increasing our focus on community building, collaboration, and engagement to ensure everyone is set up for success.   

But if an out-of-state employee thrives in an office environment, we'll also help them relocate to Phoenix. That way, whatever remote, hybrid, or in-person solution our team members choose, it's 100% up to them!