Millennial CEO rejects hybrid work, advocates fully remote work
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Keith Pitt, the 36-year-old CEO of Australian tech firm Buildkite, is a staunch advocate of remote work. Pitt rejects the hybrid work approach and argues that it creates a “scheduling and policy nightmare.”
In a Business Insider interview, Pitt described hybrid setups as “the worst of both worlds” where remote attendees often miss crucial information during meetings.
“In a hybrid environment, remote is always second class,” Pitt asserted.
When he founded Buildkite in 2013, the company that provides a DevOps platform for giants like OpenAI, Airbnb, and Slack, setting up a physical office never crossed his mind. Instead, Buildkite allocates a significant portion of its facilities budget into “connection budgets” to foster employee bonding.
“The point of it was to be silly and to put people in different environments and situations where they could create new networks and pathways to people in the company,” Pitt said, referring to the company’s recent three-day all-hands event that included snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef and cornhole tournaments.
Buildkite’s ‘connection budget’ and ‘timezone bubbles’
The company’s “connection budget” supports annual gatherings and smaller trips throughout the year, allowing coworkers to meet in person when necessary. The last in-person all-hands meeting cost about AU$300,000 (US$200,000).
Buildkite’s employees also receive a budget of AU$3,000 (US$2,000) to set up ergonomic home offices.
“We don’t foster a work-from-the-couch, work-from-the-kitchen-table type environment,” Pitt said.
“We encourage people to throw some paint on the walls, buy some plants, buy some new artwork, just to change it up.”
To maintain a sense of community and collaboration, Buildkite uses “timezone bubbles,” clustering employees within similar time zones to facilitate synchronous communication. For example, product and engineering teams operate within four hours of Sydney’s time zone, while sales and marketing align with the western United States.
Building trust in remote work
Pitt sees Buildkite’s remote experiment as ongoing and is eager to witness its evolution as the company plans to hire 50 more employees this year. He believes some bosses demand office returns due to a lack of trust in their teams, but he has found that playing games with colleagues is a “shortcut” to building that faith.
Pitt believes that fostering a fun and engaging work environment is key to employee satisfaction and productivity. “People will want to do the work because it’s fun and it’s what they want to do with their lives,” he concluded.
After the last all-hands event, the number of employees reporting feeling more connected quadrupled. Buildkite now runs sentiment surveys every couple of months, announcing gatherings when morale dips.
Buildkite’s strategy is beneficial as the traditional concept of “work spouses” and office best friends is fading away in the remote and hybrid work era.
