Last quarter, we spoke to members of the Zapier team to learn more about their remote working culture and values. This is the second of two blogs featuring conversations with Zapier employees.
In this blog, we focus on the flexibility granted to Zapier employees to get their job done well.
According to its website, the culture of Zapier emphasises Freedom and Flexibility. Since teams are spread across 17 time zones in dozens of countries, they sign into Slack and open up our work tools on the schedule that fits their lives best.
Zapier employees communicate asynchronously, work autonomously, and take ownership of their work. These are just a few of the reasons why Zapier has been recognised as one of the best remote-first companies to work for.
Every employee’s life is unique and Zapier seem to recognise that by enabling professional development, family life and recreational time.
We want to say a big thanks to Laura, Darcell, Alan and Bethany for speaking to us (and to Rita Dowling for bringing it all together!)
Efficient & Productive
Laura Prado is a Technical Writer at Zapier. She spends most of her time researching their product to produce documentation that customers and developers need to use Zapier effectively.
“My favourite thing about working remotely is that it recognises I don’t need to be working from exactly 9am-5pm to be productive. I can produce high quality work and also have a fulfilling home life. I can bring my kid to school, can live in a smaller, quiet town and can get stuff done for myself throughout the day, don’t have to wait till the work day is over.”
Further Education
For Darcell Edwards, Talent Sourcer at Zapier, the flexibility afforded to him has completely altered his career trajectory by enabling him to continue his further education:
“The flexibility of working remotely is amazing! This has allowed me to pursue my Master’s of Science in Integrated Design, Business, & Technology at the University of Southern California. At Zapier, you are encouraged to live your life and pursue your passions regardless of location!”
Family Life
Alan Hylands is a Data Scientist at Zapier.
He helps colleagues did through the mountains of data generated every day by Zapier in order to understand their business better and make better business decisions using the important information hidden in the data.
“I spent many years commuting back and forward to office-based jobs earlier in my career. That meant spending around 3 hours every weekday, either waiting for buses or trains or sitting on them.
If I wanted to see my kids in a school play or take them to the park, I’d have to book a day off work to do it.
Working remotely has given me those hours back and I’ve spent the past few years helping get my kids ready for school, doing school runs, watching them at Sports Days and helping home-school them during the worst parts of the Covid lockdowns.
Those are experiences that I would never have been able to share if I’d been commuting on the bus every day and you just don’t get those opportunities back.
Flexible remote working at Zapier has made that all possible and I can’t begin to put a value on that.”
Independence
Bethany Bledsoe is the Manager of the Culture and Leadership Onboarding Team at Zapier. Her role is to lead the team on new strategies and projects, support and develop team members on their chosen path of growth, and work cross-functionally with other teams to create the best customer experience.
“I love the flexibility of remote work! I work from home mostly, but I also have some of my favourite out of home places I like to work:
- Barnes & Noble— love the smell of coffee and books
- The public library— same about the books, but with a community vibe
- A co-working space— Great when I want to hear the sounds of entrepreneurs hard at work—it’s really motivating!
It also allows me to travel for longer periods of time when I visit my family. No need to rush home to be back before Monday!”
For our May episode of the Grow Remote Jobs Club, we sat down with Zapier for a conversation with Auriel Oates and Rita Dowling to discuss in more detail their culture, values and current job openings.