How Atlassian adapts to challenges in global hybrid work

When it comes to return-to-work mandates, some organisations have worked out how to offer employees permanent flexibility in how they work across a global scale. Yet, as an organisation’s leader would share, hybrid work deployed en-masse still comes with its challenges.

Scott Farquhar, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of software firm Atlassian, shared with CNBC Make It! about their “Team Anywhere” policy that was implemented in 2020. It allows employees of Atlassian to be able to choose between remote, hybrid work, or on-site work. The results have made it empowering for employees: Farquhar shared that more than 40% of their employees live more than two hours away from an office and work remotely, up from just 25% two years ago. This, he added, has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

Of course, there are challenges to the policy, Farquhar added. With younger employees in his organisation eager to commute, “the vast majority of entry-level and younger employees were moving to cities to be closer to our offices, and have chosen to go in every week,” Farquhar explained. It challenged his preconceived notion that recent graduates would prefer remote work. It also raised the problem of how to resolve employee integration as the need to manage employee support for younger employees who want to work on-site, as well as managing employees across different time zones.

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Yet, Farquhar insisted, the remote work policy implementation has garnered more advantages for the firm, with more than 4,000 remote employees employed since 2020. This means the firm has access to a broader, and diverse talent pool and more employees are happier as they can have more control over their workday.

 “It just feels like a much more human way to work,” concluded Farquhar.