Future of Work at Avast

December 2020 marks Month 10 of the global pandemic, and since its very beginning, companies around the world have been vigorously trying to adapt to it – mostly by transitioning to a work-from-home or hybrid model. When we shut our offices down back in March, few of us imagined that we wouldn’t be returning before the year’s end. And although we managed to switch to a full-remote mode very quickly, it hasn’t always been easy. After all, there are only so many Zoom meetings you can do before you start missing live interactions with your colleagues and friends.

But every cloud has a silver lining and the new circumstances provided us with a unique opportunity to pause and rethink our overall approach to how we do things. We went back to the drawing board and asked ourselves the fundamental question of “What can we do differently to offer Avastians more agility, greater flexibility, and more options to choose from when it comes to when, where, and how they work in the future, however unpredictable it may be?” Our ambition was to provide the best possible experience for our people, striving to make Avast THE best place to work.

The result is a complete overhaul of how we will work at Avast, starting next year.

In the following paragraphs, it is my pleasure to share with you the basics of what we are doing and to explain why.

Putting People First: Introducing the New Avast “Whole-Life Flexibility”

2020 has challenged our preconceptions, our behaviors, and even our values. It has shown us the increasing convergence of our online and offline lives and unveiled the need for simpler, more agile working arrangements that accommodate this complexity. This year has also shown us that our colleagues are dedicated and deserve our trust, they have proven to us that they do the right thing by our company. And so this has guided our decision to allow our colleagues to integrate work into their lifestyle in a way that meets their whole-life needs and aspirations. 

It is our belief that by providing flexibility across all areas of our team’s lives, they will lead more fulfilling lives, provide better service to our customers, and improve business results. Whole-life flexibility means empowering our people to choose where, when and how they work.

We went back to the drawing board and asked ourselves the fundamental question of “What can we do differently to offer our people more agility, greater flexibility, and more options to choose from when it comes to when, where, and how they work in the future, however unpredictable it may be?”

Everyday Flexibility

The first component of our whole-life flexibility framework is what we call “everyday flexibility”. The idea is to give our team as much freedom as possible in choosing when they do their work, taking into account the needs of our customers and co-workers. As a result of adopting this approach, we will measure the contribution of all our people based on the achievements and outcomes they deliver against a set of agreed goals and OKRs, rather than the hours they work or the location in which they are accomplished.

Practically speaking, Everyday Flexibility means Avastians can choose to manage their day-to-day working pattern to suit their personal needs, on an informal, ad-hoc basis. Let me just give you a few examples of what I mean by that:

• Changing the daily start and finish time by starting their working day later or finishing earlier
• Taking time out to attend personal appointments during the day
• Working in the evening or at weekends and taking time off during the week
• Taking a regular afternoon off to attend a training program or other activity
• Finishing early or starting late for caring reasons and completing work another time
• Working compressed hours over a fewer number of working days to allow shorter working hours on the remaining days.

Of course, when utilizing Everyday Flexibility, we all need to consider colleagues and customers as well as their personal needs, but in Avast that is all part of the accountable adult culture that we want to encourage. Setting the right context will be crucial to make it work – we’re committed to working with our people to ensure there are no unwanted side effects, as we’re confident it will lead to a more productive environment and ultimately, happier customers.

Practically speaking, Everyday Flexibility means people can choose to manage their day-to-day working pattern to suit their personal needs, on an informal, ad-hoc basis.

Unlimited PTO

Another key component of our framework is unlimited Personal Time Off (PTO). PTO represents free days off that employees can take to relax, make personal arrangements or rest if they simply do not feel well, while still being paid. Our philosophy is that we ask everyone at Avast to give their best, and in return, we continuously look for ways to provide the utmost support. When it comes to time off, we want to empower employees to support each other and live well-balanced lives. 

Obviously, this concept goes beyond the established leave policies defined by local laws and regulations (such as vacation, sick leave, maternity, paternity and adoption leave, disability leave, maternity, family and medical leave). As always, setting the right context is going to be key – there are always going to be times when taking time off would be unsuitable or unfair to other members of the team, and all of that has to be taken into account.

We can’t wait to see our colleagues benefit from this new arrangement; and I am personally hopeful I will be able to make use of it as well and finally take my family to Africa next summer – something I have been planning to do for years!

Choosing Between WFO and WFA

All Avastians can now choose between two modes of working: Work from Office (WFO) or Work from Anywhere (WFA). The WFO arrangement is for colleagues who anticipate spending the majority of their working time in the office, and guarantees them a dedicated desk in the office. On the flip side, the WFA arrangement is for colleagues who anticipate working mainly away from the office. This mode ensures they will be equipped with a laptop, monitor, docking station, and other standard equipment, including an ergonomic chair and desk at a location of their choice.

Note that the WFO/WFA distinction doesn’t make any hard lines: People with the WFO contract can still occasionally work from home, and WFA colleagues can still work in Avast offices when needed and enjoy all the benefits there. Dedicated team hives will be available where teams are seated together.

Working from Another Country

Having a hard time focusing on work in your living room? Prefer to work in a beach cabin or a mountain hut? No problem. 2020 made us realize that in many cases, it doesn’t really matter where we do our work, and a bit of “distraction” like this may actually help creativity and productivity. And since the digital space has no physical borders, the concept is not limited just to one city or one country but can be taken global.

To that end, in addition to the WFA option, we are also making it easier for Avastians to perform their work from another country (or state in the US), i.e. a country other than the country of their legal work contract. That said, due to complex tax, immigration and labor code implications there are still some limitations to this. When designing this arrangement, we found out that most jurisdictions aren’t really up-to-speed when it comes to making this concept really work at its full potential. Our vision though is that in the long run, such an arrangement will become much more common and that local laws and regulations will create a more welcoming environment - enabling an even more global workforce and unlocking all the benefits associated with it.

All Avastians now get to choose between two modes of working: Work from Office (WFO) or Work from Anywhere (WFA).

Redesigning Our Office Space

The extended period of time in which our offices have been closed has given us a unique opportunity to rethink our own office space. We were looking to make changes that would reflect our new ways of working and enable both groups of employees (WFO and WFA) to work together collaboratively once things get back to normal. When we reopen, Avastians can look forward to more quiet zones as a place to focus on deep work - these “Avast studios” will be larger spaces designed for collaboration across different teams, various focus rooms spread across the building and available for use by one or two persons at a time. There will be an increased number of small meeting rooms and phone booths to enable smooth virtual cooperation with our anywhere-based colleagues. All these new features and capabilities are designed to enable more interaction and provide plenty of room for productive teamwork.

The 5A Principle

Our new working arrangements provide a lot of freedom, but these, understandably, need to be accompanied by personal responsibility to make it work for every colleague and every team across Avast and to ensure we continue to excel and provide the best possible service for our customers. To that end, we’ve introduced a new “5A” principle that talks about how we all work together:

• We work in ways that are mature and adult (based on mutual trust and transparent, open communication)
• We hold each of us accountable
• We promote an environment that’s achievement-focused , not input focused
• We encourage everyone to behave autonomously
• We work effectively asynchronously

Many of these things are not new to us. Autonomy, accountability, and focus on achievement were the hallmarks of our company culture long before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in that regard, they will feel familiar. Still, some things will change to strike the right balance between freedom and responsibility – responsibility to our teammates, colleagues, and customers. This is where common sense, mutual trust, and respect will come into play. With many of our colleagues working remotely and at flexible working hours, we will have to make some adjustments, and embracing effective asynchronous ways of working will be important. And, it’s our customers who will benefit the most.

Everyone Is a Shareholder

Lastly, in our new model, we are granting all our people RSUs (restricted stock units). For a European company, and especially a company of our size, this is a pretty unusual step, and I strongly believe it is the right thing to do for us and something I had wanted to do for a long time actually. At its core, this is all about aligning the interests of all our stakeholders and ensuring that everyone has “skin in the game”. By the way, this new program is incremental to our already-established long-term incentive program (LTIP) RSU grants and cash bonuses.

At its core, [the new RSU program] is all about aligning the interests of all our stakeholders and ensuring that everyone has “skin in the game”.

Trailblazing “The New Possible” 

When it comes to employee experience, Avast has never shied away from pioneering new ways of working. When we moved house back in 2014 and opened our new Prague headquarters, we brought a piece of Silicon Valley into the heart of Europe. But to me, the actual office space is probably the least important piece of the puzzle. This year’s health pandemic has uprooted our long-held beliefs and forced us to rethink the entire proposition. And we realized that what matters more is whether people believe in what they do, are surrounded by great colleagues and have the freedom to unleash their passions and potential. The last point is especially important, as beautifully expressed by Steve Jobs: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” 

The result is our new Whole-Life Flexibility framework that we’re rolling out starting early next year. It is an approach designed to allow people bring their best selves to work and grow their careers in harmony with their personal lives, ambitions, and dreams - and I already can’t wait to see it in action!