Our Optimists are all talented, but their preferences for where and how they work best are each unique. Our policy reflects the knowledge that they can choose their preferred workplace environment, and our job as a company is to be as supportive as possible.
Optimists are allowed to choose where they work from, starting on Day 1 of being an Optimist. That means they could work:
- In-Office at their own permanent desk, at our 4,200 square foot headquarters in New Orleans, LA, or our smaller (but equally exciting) office in Washington, DC. Each of these locations comes with endless snacks, couches, dual monitors and cold brew on tap. They have casual dress codes, and a large (but sadly finite) amount of office pups.
- From home, or anywhere else they have Internet access.
- An open desk at a co-working space in a different city than Online Optimism’s offices, which we’ll pay for them to have access to.
In addition, they have the flexibility to change up the location whenever they want, without asking permission. They only need to inform us of changes in permanent residency so we may take care of the taxes and other legalities of working from a new state.
At the moment, the two restrictions are that staff must work during either Central or Eastern Time Zone business hours, and their residence must stay within the United States. Beyond that, the choice of where to work each day is theirs.
We’ll continue to bring our team together annually for a retreat in one of our three locations. We’ll continue to stock our office fridges for those who come in for Friday happy hours. We’ll continue to organize volunteering and facilitate networking in our main cities, while providing opportunities for those outside these hubs to support their community.
Some Optimists can feel Optimistic working from home, and do incredible work for clients. Some love the camaraderie they get in an office. Others change their mind every day about where they work best.
It’s time to build a company that provides for that kind of flexibility, to attract that top talent that our clients deserve.