Who's Gonna Win The WFH Perks War? TECH AND WORK Newsletter #6

Quick shoutout to Mohamed Refaat, Jason Murphy, Ross Hitchenor, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Corey Engel and the 2,696 people who answered last month’s TECH AND WORK poll asking what WFH apps and software are needed most. In case you’re wondering, 43% of people said onboarding and culture tools, 36% said apps to manage productivity and 17% said better video meeting tools. 

Thought Of The Week

I had a conversation recently with a twenty-something just hired at Shopify, the rocket-ship ecomm platform. Turns out he’s feeling just gutted to be working remotely. Shopify had a reputation for incredible in-office culture, after all. What he’s craving is a taste of that — meeting smart new colleagues, the energy of the office, the fun of team building, etc. — not being stuck in his bedroom all day.

This got me thinking. Culture has always been such a powerful differentiator among startups in the war for talent. In the past, the Googles and Facebooks of the world raced to one-up one another in terms of office perks and benefits — from catered meals and in-office gyms to climbing walls and salons. 

My question is: what’s it going to take to win the new, WFH perks war? And who’s going to be the company that’s known for having amazing remote work culture and benefits — the company all the best new grads and talent will flock to? 

That question is more complex than it seems. For starters, we still need to define what remote work culture even means or can really be. Zoom “happy hours” and water cooler channels on Slack clearly don't cut it. However, we’re already starting to see some great initiatives grow more commonplace and point to the future of “remote culture.”

At Hootsuite, for example, we’ve replaced in-office gym access with memberships to online fitness studios. We’ve extended budgets for team members to outfit their home offices. We’re providing wellness resources through Headspace to help in difficult times. 

Flash poll: What WFH perks or benefits do you think are needed most? Click here to answer on LinkedIn. 

But that’s just a start. My feeling is that no one company out there has really nailed WFH culture yet, especially in the context of the crisis. Critical questions — around supporting employees with childcare, around creating real community and camaraderie, around access to in-person support services — still remain to be answered. But whoever gets those answers right will be poised to win the new war on remote talent.  

Articles Worth Skimming

The childcare gap One Covid casualty that doesn’t get talked about a lot is day care centers, which have had to close or reduce capacity during the pandemic. It’s estimated that without a financial lifeline, half of day cares will go out of business soon, erasing slots for 4.5 million kids. That leaves working parents in an even trickier situation than before, which has a real economic impact. Closure of schools and day cares could cost parents nearly $1 trillion in lost revenue and productivity. My 2c: government, employers and parents need to put heads together to find a lasting fix here, fast.

The “young bachelor bias” in office perks Pre-pandemic, the standard buffet of startup perks — happy hours, gyms, ping-pong tables, catered meals — skewed heavily to the needs of one demographic: young, unattached men. But Covid has prompted a reset. Creative benefits aimed at a more diverse and inclusive cohort include childcare services, mental wellness plans, extra time off and even TaskRabbit stipends for errands. Here’s hoping these new perks become a lasting fixture on the startup scene.   

The next trillion-dollar business idea Apple recently became the first U.S. company to be valued at $2 trillion. This got me thinking: what makes for a trillion-dollar business idea? What will the next one be? What’s the secret sauce shared by today’s most promising companies? To find out, I put out an open call to friends and colleagues on social media — a cross section of millions of amazing entrepreneurs, innovators and just plain brilliant people from tech, media, retail and more — and asked what inspires their business ideas. Check out their top tips in my latest article for Forbes. 

Feedback From Readers 

I got some great comments back on my recent poll about what WFH apps and tools are most desperately needed. This comment from Greg Cook, an IT Data Engineer, really hit home:  

Definitely the onboarding and culture/team-building tools for me. If you don't onboard an employee well and don't foster good team dynamics, the employee won't have second thoughts about pursuing a new opportunity. Working from home makes this exponentially more important; you don't get the face-to-face team building like being in the office. The companies that, one, realize this and, two, address it soon will have the competitive advantage in building their teams. 

Totally agree, Greg. More broadly, I think there’s a huge need for an entire suite of new people and productivity tools to help recruit, onboard, educate, manage and build culture, remotely. Considering how massive the market for business and productivity tools is (north of $300 billion, according to this estimate), this is going to be an enormous opportunity going forward as WFH becomes the new norm.  

Dad Joke Of The Week

Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? … wait for it … 

Great food, no atmosphere.  

Thanks, everyone. Please reach out with any comments, suggestions or feedback and tell your colleagues to subscribe here. Until next time!