How Infinite Red fosters equality and accessibility for a more inclusive work environment

We aren’t shy about our love of remote work here at Infinite Red. We’ve written about how it saves money on office space, prevents stressful commutes, and gives us all more flexibility to enjoy our lives.

But there’s another huge benefit we haven’t talked about as much — hence today’s post! By embracing remote work, we’re also building a more inclusive, welcoming company. Here are five reasons why.

1. We don’t discriminate based on geography

Can’t afford anything more than a shoebox in Silicon Valley? Have care-giving responsibilities that keep you from moving? Just don’t want to uproot your life for a job? No problem!

We believe great jobs shouldn’t just be available to people who live in expensive cities and are able-bodied enough to commute to an office every day. Our team hails from all over the world, and we like it that way. This diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences helps us overcome blind spots and biases we might not otherwise see. Our company, culture, and products we create are all better for it.

Remote work is also a competitive advantage when it comes to hiring. Our talent pool is thousands of times larger than companies that only operate in one zip code. We can focus on vetting candidates’ skills, personality, and work ethic rather than fight with other companies to hire the same few people in the same area.

For example, my fellow designer Jenna Fucci and I used to be colleagues at an onsite agency. She’s a great UX designer and taught me a great deal about design systems. Then I moved to another city and started working remotely for Infinite Red. Fast forward a few years to 2017, and we were ready to hire another designer. I immediately suggested Jenna, and now we’re working together again.

Oh, and as a side note, I have to give a big shout-out to the fabulous IR Community for helping us find many of our awesome employees! Our Slack group has over 2,000 talented devs and designers who love to write open source software together. Join us for real-time discussions, questions, or feedback.

2. 100% remote work levels the communication playing field

In a typical office setting, the people who are physically present and have big personalities are the ones who are heard. This tends to exclude the voices and opinions of those who are more introverted.

Working remotely forces us to place a high value on communication and ensure that every team member has a chance to be heard.

We’re able to use video to recreate normal meetings, but if someone’s a little more shy and doesn’t want to interject, we have chat that allows them to do it in a more discreet way. Whether spoken or written, we make sure to give all ideas and opinions equal weight.

There’s an unexpected benefit for our clients, too. Because we communicate with clients via the same tools and methods as we do our internal team (and because we make a point to over-communicate with everyone), clients feel more involved and looped into their projects.

Of course, the right technology is essential to making it all flow smoothly. We use Slack, recorded screencasts, and InVision for ongoing communication and information sharing. When we need to get together in real time, we use Zoom for video conference and RealtimeBoard for virtual whiteboarding.

3. Our working environments suit our individual styles and strengths

As a designer, my workspace is critical to my productivity. I love being free to design my own desk to fit what I find inspirational and productive, and I know my team feels the same way.

At Infinite Red, everyone gets an annual stipend to invest in the technology and tools that fit our personal workflow. It’s way cheaper than renting an office and way more efficient, too! No one wants to work on a hand-me-down Macbook from 2012.

I’ve also found that working remotely helps me zero in on my own strengths and weaknesses. The ability to self-evaluate is an important trait when you don’t have a constant stream of external feedback. Throughout the course of a project, I excel at ideation and execution. But when it comes to final decisions, my Imposter Syndrome tends to kick in. Working remotely has helped me adjust my habits in order to stay productive and level-up.

It’s taken a few projects to hone my critical eye. But now I feel confident voicing my opinion because it’s based off experience and skill. I’m also grateful my team is only a Slack message away when I need the extra support.

4. Everyone is entitled to a psychologically safe work environment

Noisy offices. Superiors looking over our shoulders. A neighboring colleague’s love affair with pungent food. As a remote company, we don’t have to deal with any of the usual annoyances of office-based work.

But the advantages aren’t just surface-level.

At its core, remote work helps us create and foster a work environment that’s based around results, efficiency, and respect for employees.

No one cares if our CEO, Todd, needs a post-lunch siesta to be at his best or if our COO, Jamon, decides to sign off early to pick up his kids from school. In fact, we encourage it!

Working remotely enables the kind of psychological safety that’s only possible when your success at work is truly decoupled from how much time you spend at the office, as well as how you look while doing it. And that enables the team to do the best work of our careers.

I experience this personally every day. As a woman in a remote company, my work performance is not associated with my physical appearance. I don’t have to worry about “looking presentable” and can focus on getting things done instead.

For the record, no one should have to worry about feeling safe at work, remote or not. But as long as workplace bias and abuse remain big problems, I’ll advocate for remote work as one way to mitigate their impact.

5. Employees have true ownership over their work and lives

The conversation around work-life balance still revolves around work as the main priority. And life stuff gets squeezed in around it. I think that’s a pretty backwards way of thinking.

Working remotely means that our team can truly balance their work with the needs of the rest of their lives. Not commuting means we save hours of time, energy and stress every week. We aren’t required to live in an expensive city in order to do our work.

As long as there’s a strong Internet connection, we can work from just about anywhere. I moved to Portland, OR from New Orleans, LA two years ago, and I still get occasional bouts of homesickness. Working for Infinite Red has allowed me to visit my family and work remotely for as long as I want — no more hoarding vacation days.

Parents and other caregivers can stay near their families and arrange their work around their other responsibilities. That’s a really big deal and allows us to consider talented candidates who might be unfairly excluded from office-based work.

And I, for one, love working near my four-legged best friend all day!

As a tech company building products for people from all walks of life, we seek to remove barriers for those who feel excluded due to their location, disability, socioeconomic background, or gender. As advocates for remote work, we believe it’s our responsibility to share how we do it.