Reason why all employees shifted to remote work by abandoning the physical office due to an increase in the number of employees

Working in another place not at the office, such as home or cafe "Remote work"The way of working gradually spreading, but SNS cooperation serviceBufferHas abolished the office, all staff have been completely moved to remote work, and we are disclosing the past circumstances.

We're Ditching the Office Completely: Here's Why
https://open.buffer.com/no-office/


From the founding date of 2010 to the beginning of 2013, Buffer was a team of only 4 people, had no physical office, no specific city as the starting point of activities. However, due to the convenience of handling social media with the service, it is important for the staff to work near San Francisco and Silicon Valley with many other start-ups and social network services and other offices and make stable relationships with other services It seems that it began to think. Therefore, curation serviceStorifyIn collaboration with San Francisco I borrowed an office and shared offices for six months.

For a while, it is a Buffer staff who used a shared office, but in July 2014 we will move our office to the South of Market area in San Francisco. As a reason for borrowing an office independent from the shared space,Internal culture of BufferTo all staff and to collect all employees in one place and to go once a yearDo a meeting, There seemed to be two reasons.

The following picture shows that when you move to a separate office from a shared office, you break the desk and clean the scattered debris.


After relocating the office, Buffer started recruiting members who gradually worked remotely. To increase the number of employees, Buffer, inbound marketing software "HubSpotIs the former chief product officer (CPO) ofDavid CancelMr. said at the time of establishment that at the time of establishment "There are two ways that all members work in the same office and all work in a disjointed environment, both methods work well, but the way to mix both is not so good" Message,Basecamp'S designer - Jason Zimdars said that he cherishes the word "there are no advantages for members going to the office and no disadvantages for members working at home."

The number of employees gradually increased while balancing the number of members working remotely and the local team of San Francisco, reaching about 50 people. In a San Francisco office there were bunk beds for breaks and it seems they were used frequently.


However, CEO Joel Gascoigne says, "With a specific office, you will be caught up in the immediate task and tend to postpone the meeting with office workers.Tasks that can be executed in a short time should always be executed with the highest priorityIt is. Whether you are in the same office or not, important contacts should be made immediately using Google Hangout, HipChat, and e-mail. "

Sometimes members working remotely face each other for the first time in San Francisco's office, and the physical office was playing an important role inside Buffer's company. Also, it is said that talking with each other face-to-face helps build a better relationshipresearch resultThere is also. However, Courtney Seiter of Buffer's remote work staff never visited the office nor did it suffer any particular disadvantage due to that.


San Francisco was also a meeting place for people working at other IT companies, and about half of the Buffer staff lived in San Francisco. However, as we hired staff around the world, the number of staff increased in other cities like London and New York, and only 2 to 3 staff members were commuting to the office in San Francisco That's right.

Calculating how membership fees collected from paid members of Buffer are managed in-house, the rent of the office occupies 2.1% of the total, which is 7175.53 dollars (about 810,000 yen) per month, It turned out that the percentage is higher than the health insurance premium, advertisement cost, marketing expenses of the employee. Based on this calculation result, Buffer took questionnaire inside the company and decided to abolish the office.


As a result of all of our employees moving to remote work, it seems that companies are paid the cost to borrow the San Francisco coworking space in the number of staff who worked in the San Francisco office until the end. For staff who wish to work in cafes etc., a separate work allowance has been paid, and the Buffer staff seems to be well equipped for working anywhere in the world.

At the time of writing, Buffer's staff are scattered around the world including San Francisco, USA, Chicago, New York, England / London, South Africa / Cape Town, Shanghai, and it covers almost all time zones.


In addition, the time lapse video in the office that it shot on the last day to leave the office is also released.

Cleaning Out the Buffer Office: Timelapse - YouTube