Affirm embraces remote-first culture, tackles challenges
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Affirm, a buy-now-pay-later provider, has fully embraced a remote-first model since the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the advantages of remote work, such as accessing a broader talent pool and enhancing productivity, the company faces the ongoing challenge of cultivating a thriving company culture.
Chief Operating Officer Michael Linford shared insights on how Affirm is addressing this issue. “We debate it all the time,” Linford stated in a recent interview with Business Insider. He emphasized that the company has “not looked back” since committing to remote work and believes it would be “very difficult for us to go back on that.”
Creating in-person connection opportunities
To foster a strong company culture, Linford is focusing on creating opportunities for employees to connect in person. He highlighted the importance of building what Affirm’s founder and CEO Max Levchin calls a “high-performance culture.” This concept, which is measured quarterly, involves individuals working efficiently while supporting one another and enjoying their work.
Linford explained his strategy: “We just take a couple of days a quarter and get a WeWork, and folks can come together.” He clarified that the goal of these gatherings is not for employees to work collaboratively but to reinforce their identity as Affirmers. “The point wasn’t that. It was to be Affirmers together in a room,” he added.
Bringing together diverse teams—such as engineers, recruiters, and HR personnel—underscores Levchin’s vision of collaboration at Affirm. This approach helps to prevent an “us versus them” dynamic within the organization, which Levchin has actively sought to avoid.
Influencing company culture
Linford believes that sustaining a high-performance culture requires ongoing effort. “That is a function of sustained focus,” he remarked. He expressed the importance of actively influencing how team members feel and think about their work environment.
While other major companies like Amazon and Meta have mandated returns to the office, Affirm remains committed to its remote-first strategy. This commitment mirrors that of Spotify, which has implemented flexible policies that have led to decreased attrition rates and faster hiring times.
