If you had the opportunity to design your ideal work arrangement, what would it look like?
This question has been on the minds of employees and leaders alike as a resounding majority of Americans indicate a strong preference for hybrid and remote jobs.
The future of work — which, for some, has already been realized — is defined by a greater degree of freedom and flexibility. Colorado has positioned itself at the forefront of this movement through its Remote Work Initiative, a collaborative statewide effort to help employers find long-term success with distributed work arrangements and give workers the knowledge needed to secure such jobs.
The existence of the initiative reflects both significant enthusiasm for either fully or partially remote work and the challenges leaders face as their companies adapt to unfamiliar terrain. A remote or hybrid workplace’s success hinges on the details. While a carefully considered approach can lead to a positive experience across all levels of an organization, a half-baked one can leave employees feeling disconnected and frustrated.
“We are constantly brainstorming ideas to facilitate connection across the organization, whether remote or in person,” said Erica Schwer, people operations generalist of Denver-based fintech company Homebot. The company’s focus on providing engaging in-person and virtual experiences to employees plays a key role in creating a unified hybrid environment.
Vertafore and Wunder both give employees a high level of autonomy to determine where they work from and when, while also creating ample opportunities to collaborate in person and forge strong relationships through team activities.
Built In Colorado spoke with leaders at Vertafore, Homebot and Wunder to learn more about what makes their hybrid arrangements special and why applicants should consider joining their teams.
With over 50 years of industry experience and accumulated knowledge, Denver-based company Vertafore focuses on using software to help clients simplify and automate the insurance life cycle. Employees can work from home or take advantage of Vertafore’s office at their convenience.
Describe Vertafore’s hybrid workplace arrangement. What makes it unique?
Vertafore is a flexible-first working environment that allows team members to work from home as often as they’d like, while using our offices as a place for collaboration, community and team building. Employees may be asked to come into an office or travel for specific meetings for a particular business purpose, which varies by job responsibilities.
What neighborhood is your office located in?
We have employees across the United States, Canada and India, and our headquarters is located in downtown Denver, with easy access to public transit. Our offices have open layout designs with tons of coworking spaces and conference rooms of all sizes. All of our North America offices are open.
This summer, during Vertafore Spirit Week, our offices hosted themed days, lunches, happy hours, photo booths, professional headshots and much more.”
How have you celebrated being back in the office?
Our workplace services team works across our U.S. and Canada office locations to organize fun events, happy hours, ping pong tournaments and more! This summer, during Vertafore Spirit Week, our offices hosted themed days, lunches, happy hours, photo booths, professional headshots and much more.
Denver-based fintech company Homebot gives homebuyers a platform to discover the financial insights and expert opinions that guide their real estate decisions. All Homebotters come into the office on Thursdays, while team leaders designate other required in-person days.
Describe Homebot’s hybrid workplace arrangement. What makes it unique?
We ask all local Homebotters to come into the office on Thursdays. Any other days expected are set by each individual’s leader, so each person’s schedule can vary. We hold our all-hands weekly syncs and in-office catered lunches on Thursdays — Pita Fresh, Chipotle, Snarf’s and Cosmo’s Pizza are some of our favorites! Our product and design teams also host a biweekly happy hour on Thursdays called ‘Demos and Drinks’ to breed ad hoc brainstorming and knowledge sharing. We host our all-hands syncs and Demos and Drinks in person and on Zoom so that our remote folks can join in on the fun.
Outside of that, we are constantly brainstorming ideas to facilitate connection across the organization, whether remote or in person. We hold wellness and photo challenges every few months, virtual game nights including trivia and Jeopardy and fly out our remote employees for quarterly events. Our opportunity for improvement last quarter was focused on connection and resulted in our ‘Fun Committee’, which plans monthly in-person and virtual events. Our most recent event was a virtual interactive cooking class with professional chefs where we learned how to prepare lemon ricotta gnocchi!
What neighborhood is your office located in?
Our office is located in LoDo, smack dab in the middle of endless options for bars and restaurants, within walking distance to Union Station and only a few steps from Larimer Square and 16th Street Mall! Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, is also nearby, which is where we held our most recent offsite event. Commuting to the office is a breeze with the RTD nearby, and many of us walk or bike to work since we’re close to multiple walking and biking paths. Our downtown location also makes it incredibly convenient for Homebotters to go out to lunch together or gather for dinner or drinks after work.
Our downtown location makes it incredibly convenient for Homebotters to go out to lunch together or gather after work for dinner or drinks.”
How have you celebrated being back in the office?
Our official return-to-office date was in late October 2021, a few days before Halloween! We celebrated by hosting a costume contest and an afternoon happy hour on our fourth-floor terrace, which has a stunning view of the mountains and downtown. This return was extra special as we had moved into a new office over the summer, so it was the first time seeing the new space for many! We also hosted our holiday party in early December at the new office with a live DJ, mouthwatering food and beverage catering. It was one of my favorite events to date.
By developing solar projects on commercial and industrial buildings, greentech company Wunder enables businesses, municipalities, hospitals and schools to utilize their bare roof space for good and help contribute to the fight against climate change. The Boulder-based company’s employees are granted highly flexible work arrangements in exchange for their proactive contributions and quality performances.
Describe Wunder’s hybrid workplace arrangement. What makes it unique?
As a company that values and measures performance according to our team’s outputs (as opposed to inputs), Wunder trusts team members to know where, when and how they work best. In exchange for high levels of autonomy and flexibility, we ask for thoughtful and proactive communication and outputs of exceptional quality.
These trust and value systems are important not just to myself but to others who hold independence in high regard, which in turn motivates us to do our best work. It was Wunder’s trust and value system that was most attractive to me when making my most recent job transition.
Wunder has struck a fine balance of flexible work by offering up a physical office space to those who wish to utilize it but not dictating if or when people are required to show face in person. Recognizing that some activities, such as quarterly goal planning and team bonding, can greatly benefit from in-person presence, we offer team members the option to travel and spend a week in our Boulder headquarters on a quarterly basis. We take extra care to pour a ton of energy into amazing experiential team outings, fill the week with fun meals and align on goals.
What neighborhood is your office located in?
Wunder’s headquarters is located in the heart of Boulder, right off of Pearl Street. Our office resides in a recently renovated bathhouse from the ’70s. The architectural character left behind from the bathhouse offers fun surprises — steam rooms and saunas that have been repurposed into bathrooms and closets as well as bright, charming spaces to collaborate.
The majority of the team recently came together for spectacular outings, such as fly fishing lessons, pontoon boating and an afternoon of relaxing in rooftop pool cabanas.”
How have you celebrated being back in the office?
As Covid-19 has subsided, we’ve felt more confident in hosting companywide events in Colorado. The majority of the team recently came together, both locally and from all corners of the country, for some really spectacular outings, such as fly fishing lessons, pontoon boating, an afternoon of relaxing in rooftop pool cabanas and a cozy dinner out at Lafayette’s Three Leaf Farm. As long as we feel confident in the safety of our team, we show no signs of stopping our quarterly events, with some exciting outings on the horizon like high-speed go-karting at Podium Karting and a Moonlight Masquerade at Denver’s Banshee House.
