Maskot/Getty Images
Why remote work is the new most important perk

Hi there! Welcome to the inaugural issue of Protocol | Workplace, where we cover every aspect of the future of work. That includes everything, from diversity issues to Slack hacks, management theories to unionization plans and ERGs to KPIs. As we come out of a pandemic that blurred the lines between work and life further than ever before, questions about how work should, well, work feel more urgent than ever.
Every Wednesday in this newsletter and every day on protocol.com, we'll cover these and other work-related issues, always with a focus on helping you and your company adapt to the future. How is hybrid work going to pan out? What does it take to actually make companies more diverse? How can companies empower their employees and be even more successful? We'll tell you what others are trying, what's working, what isn't and what you might want to adopt.
We're also hosting a series of virtual events over the course of this summer, starting with one Tuesday that we're calling "Redesigning the 9-5." We'll be chatting with execs from Gusto, Google and Appify all about what a hybrid workday actually looks like. RSVP and come join us!
We also want to hear from you. Heard about some wild new perk at a friend's company? A DEI initiative that's really taking off? Got the secret to a great Zoom meeting? Email us at workplace@protocol.com, or just reply to this newsletter.
The future of work has never been more up in the air, or more important to get right. And we're here to navigate it right alongside you. Thanks so much for joining us, and welcome to Workplace!
(Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get Workplace every Wednesday.)
Facebook's head of recruiting, Miranda Kalinowski, has big hopes for the company's talent pool — and a secret weapon for filling it. The company has committed fully to remote work for anyone who wants it, and Kalinowski thinks that "companies that are not able to offer it will see themselves at a distinct disadvantage."
The new policy could help increase diversity, as it opens the door to recruiting people across the country (and world) who might otherwise be skeptical of relocating to Silicon Valley. That could be another potential victory over rivals.
And remote work is a boon for recruitment, too. It has made it far easier for recruiters to get candidates to answer the phone. And without required face-to-face interviews, the process gets a whole lot faster. "Not having to get people on a plane, on a shuttle, to a building, in a room, taking time off, stripped it all back," Kalinowski told us.
Huge news for Silicon Valley workers: A ban on non-disclosure agreements' viability in cases of discrimination and abuse got one step closer to reality yesterday. After a late-night Tuesday hearing, the Silenced No More Act was voted out of committee in the California Assembly, meaning it needs just one more vote on the Assembly floor and Gov. Gavin Newsom's signature to become law (it has already passed the California Senate).
The Silenced No More Act targets NDAs, and would make it illegal to force workers to sign non-disclosure agreements that limit their ability to share information about abuse and harassment.
"When you're forced to sign an NDA, most people consider that a blanket silencing mechanism," Aerica Shimizu Banks (another ex-Pinterest employee who left alongside Ozoma) told Protocol's Issie Lapowsky earlier this year. "Expanding that protection means you don't have to go through the lengths we did to take that calculated risk," she said.
— AK
Meetings are the hardest part of hybrid work. "When I talk with customers who are already headed back," Microsoft's Jared Spataro said, "I ask them how it's going, and without fail, they say 'The worst meetings I've ever had in my life have happened.'"
Microsoft has built new products and has big new ideas about how hybrid meetings should work. But Spataro said it doesn't have to be so dramatic. Here's his three-step process for rethinking your meetings.
Don't try to change everything at once, Spataro said. And if you need more budget for it? Spataro suggested taking some from your inevitably lower travel budget, and using it to create better meetings. Better for everyone, and less waiting in the TSA line.
A survey of 12,000 employees by Boston Consulting Group found 60% of respondents want flexibility as far as where and when they work. As the world plans to safely reopen businesses, educational institutions, health care facilities and government entities, we are focused on innovating across our platform to support their needs.
Tech companies discovered Juneteenth last year, and President Biden made it a national holiday last week. It felt a bit last minute, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Here's how some of the biggest tech companies commemorated the anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States:
Tech companies' commemoration of Juneteenth is a welcome addition to their DEI strategies. But it's also the type of initiative that could fall flat if they fail to increase the number of Black employees at their respective companies, and don't create environments where Black people can thrive.
Amir Salihefendic, CEO of Doist, prides himself on having a nearly empty calendar. "Being in meetings all day long, resolving things via meetings, that's not really an effective way to scale and grow," he said. Instead, he's become a loud evangelist over the last year of the idea that remote and asynchronous work — or async — are the future.
So what does a truly async day look like? For Salihefendic:
The way this works at Doist is with the expectation of a response within 24 hours, even if that response is a thumbs-up emoji or an "I'll get to this Thursday."
Doist does have some meetings, but Salihefendic said they're often for team-building. Team is synchronous, work is asynchronous. "We just calculate how much we'd spend on office space, and just use that on retreats instead," he said.
— DP
Most of California's stringent mask requirements are now gone. You'll need one on public transit and in hospitals, but if you're fully vaccinated you can safely be mask-less almost everywhere else.
What about masks at work? The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health decided last week that fully-vaccinated workers can take off their masks at work, too. (Unvaccinated employees still have to wear them indoors.) But businesses can make their own policies.
So what are companies doing? Some — but not all — are starting to let employees who say they're vaccinated go mask-free in their newly reopened California offices.
Most employees want to return to a mask-less office, based on what we're hearing. But some are nervous about what that means, and there's real potential for complicated office politics around who is and isn't vaccinated. So far, most companies are staying conservative, and letting people stay home who aren't ready to come back. But now's the time to figure out what it'll take to get fully mask-less.
A survey of 12,000 employees by Boston Consulting Group found 60% of respondents want flexibility as far as where and when they work. As the world plans to safely reopen businesses, educational institutions, health care facilities and government entities, we are focused on innovating across our platform to support their needs.
Thanks for reading! Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to workplace@protocol.com. Enjoy your day; see you next week.
Update 6/23: This newsletter has been updated to reflect Facebook's policy change regarding masks in the office.
To give you the best possible experience, this site uses cookies. If you continue browsing. you accept our use of cookies. You can review our privacy policy to find out more about the cookies we use.