Pear Commerce’s Post

What a difference 365 days can make…

The future of work looks bright for LAUFT as the work-life freedom company and rebuilding the space between work and life. I wanted to share a great post by the COO of LAUFT Jesse Sharratt shared on LinkedIn that resonates with me. Even though my career journey is much different than Jesse's, I came to the same conclusion about LAUFT when I was first introduced to LAUFT over a year and a half ago when I first met Graham Wong at a Starbucks in downtown Toronto and he pitched the concept of LAUFT to me. When I was first introduced to LAUFT, the concept of LAUFT reminded me that LAUFT can be a workspace version of Uber and the 'Starbucks of Workspaces'. That's what attracted me to LAUFT when I was first introduced to LAUFT and also I was thinking about how LAUFT's vision could also fit in with my other B2B technology company Cya Live, a company I have been involved with longer than LAUFT. The dots all line up looking back. In 2015, I spent the summer working remotely in Kampala for TFO. I would trek to a cafe across the city where I would have to ask for a new WiFi code every 45 minutes to stay online. When I moved back to Toronto, I was invited by Graham to meet him at a coffee shop downtown to hear about his vision for “coffee shop 2.0”. He pulled out an iPad and pitched me the vision for LAUFT. Given my recent experience, I was hooked on the concept. Fast forward to today and we operate 6 on-demand workspaces across the Greater Toronto Area and are (finally) getting ready to begin building our workspaces for the Government of Canada in Ottawa. This is the gap and the gain. When you’re focused on how far you have left to go, it can feel defeating. But when you look back, you can see how far you’ve come. If you want to experience how we approach workspace, reach out to me to set up a free LAUFT Team account and save 10% until the end of 2024. https://www.lauft.work/smb #makesmartwork #thinkoutsidetheoffice #toronto #gta #proptech #distributedwork #workfromanywhere #wfa #wfh #experiencedbasedwork #uber #starbucks #career #journey #b2b #futureofwork #remotework #hybridwork #growth #evolution #worklifebalance #freedom #company

This pic is from exactly a year ago today. When we celebrated our first day in the Orlando office. I vividly remember the emotional roller coaster I felt on this day and prior to even making the decision to open the office. You see for me I had worked remotely for over 15 years. Traveling to offices all over the world for work but working from home when in Orlando. I wondered “what was it going to be like to have a office to go to?,” “Would I want to show up?,” “Would I be less productive?” And for our staff that was fully remote at the time, I grappled with thoughts like, “How will we recruit for in house positions?,” “Will anyone get their work done or will it be loud and distracting?,” “Will our existing employees hate the transition?” These questions mixed with the financial burden of opening a brand new space, plagued my mind. But despite all that Thomas Aronica, convinced me that this was the right move. And although I hate to admit it, boy was he right. This move alone catapulted our growth. We were able to train faster and better. Our teams could collaborate to find solutions to issues quicker than having to schedule a call. We built a culture that is based on incredible people doing incredible things. Our values are clear and our entire team wears the “BG way” proudly on their chest like a badge of honor. We have upskilled our entire team, quickly identifying those who don’t fit and building up those who do. It has been one year since this picture, and we have gone from 12 employees in this office to over 30 and growing. We have fully outgrown our space and are actively looking for our next home. In the past year we have surpassed every milestone we set for ourselves and signed the biggest agreements of our lives. I attribute the majority of this success to being together in one place. One team one dream. We will be a unicorn. We will disrupt our entire industry. We will continue building a company full of the best and brightest. For those out there wondering if being in office is the way to go, I can tell you from experience that it was the best decision we ever made. I could not be more proud of our team and where we have come in just twelve months. Onwards and upwards from here. 🚀🚀 #believeinthegenie #billergenie

We’re coming off of our most recent company offsite in Costa Rica. Our last one was in Tulum. Both were great times. We got the team together in one physical location (something we rarely do). I left both experiences with the same two thoughts: 1) Offsites, especially for remote companies, are crucial. Being in the same place as people you interact with often times more than your family is important. The connection is just different. 2) Working together in-person for a week builds the muscles for working together remotely. Most importantly, it builds trust. It’s easy in a remote setting to overthink messages and asks because so many interactions are async. When team members have time to work together IRL, it builds the trust needed to work well remotely.

🤯 "𝘍**𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘢 - 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?" 🤯 "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 - 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳" 🤯 "𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘸 - 𝘥𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 & 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦" 3️⃣ quotes I've overheard in WeWork offices in the last fortnight... It's absolutely mad how some people talk to their teams/ colleagues & Even crazier when I have multiple conversations daily around: 📈 How can we improve staff retention? 🚪 Our new hires are only lasting 8 weeks 🏢 We can't get people back into the office Lead with kindness Offer actionable advice & Treat others how you expect to be treated yourself If you do you'll find results & productivity will follow + You won't find it so hard to attract & retain good talent 🎉 P.s. Julia... whoever you are, wherever you are - let's chat - you deserve better❗️ #HelpSaveJulia #RecruitmentRefreshed 🍋

🌎 Why did Promo Punks™ choose to never have an office? Here’s why it’s the best decision for our business: 🔹 Global Talent Pool: Why stick to local hires? We’re scooping up top talent from all over the place. Our dream team could be a few time zones away, and we’d totally miss out if we only looked in Brisbane or Australia! 🌐 🔹 Cost Savings: Bye-bye, pricey office spaces! We’re saving loads and putting it where it counts – our people. Plus, offering remote work means we can snag better talent at a better price. 🔹 Diverse Ideas: A global team means loads of perspectives. We’re always buzzing with fresh, creative ideas driving us forward. 💡 🔹 Flexibility: Work from wherever you're comfy. This boosts productivity and happiness. A happy team means better results - doesn't matter how or where you get your work done... we're not a Kindergarten, so we reckon our team can decide what's best for themselves. 😊 Going remote has made us stronger, more agile, and way more innovative. The future’s here: it’s global, flexible, and bursting with potential! 🚀

I am getting excited for these colder crisp mornings. Today, I strolled 12km through the city to work hitting 16,000 steps before 9am. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? Although the hustle and bustle hits pretty quickly (everyone's back in the office 👀) I like taking advantage, and take photos, without the masses of tourists and city dwellers in my way. 🌙 I get to see the city in a different light. Metaphorically and literally speaking! RED Global has moved to from 2 days to 𝟯 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗵𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 for the foreseeable and this excites me. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? 💡Increases collaboration between and across teams 💡Contributes to creating a strong and welcoming culture 💡Everyone has a clear understanding of what is expected, when, and why 💡We are lucky enough to have a robust infrastructure to support remotely 💡We all have the same end goal, clear expectations, and there is mutual respect and trust between us and our employees Some businesses are still in 5 days per week which is fantastic for some people, they thrive in that environment. As I always say, 𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 and that is okay. If you are wanting a move to get more 𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 and 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿, get in touch. 📍 Tower Bridge #hiring #workforred #techrecruitment #getintouch #hybridworking #flexibility

Exploring the Future of Work: Witness the success story of one PR firm that turned adversity into opportunity. Learn how going remote not only slashed $90,000 in annual rent but also paved the way for strategic investments in talent acquisition, new business ventures, and fostering a thriving company culture through team meet-ups. Join us as we delve into the innovative strategies reshaping the modern workplace landscape. 💼💡 #FutureOfWork #RemoteRevolution #InnovationJourney

How do you keep company culture strong while working remote? 🤔 Would love some advice from anyone who has thoughts on this. Here’s our situation at SEEQ for context: We just moved out of our first ever warehouse and are trying to figure out our next move. For now we just got WeWork memberships for the whole team. We have roughly half the team working fully remote in other states and half the team in MN. At first I was like oh we’ll just get a fancy new office in MN, but the more I thought about it I was like wait what if instead of getting an office we use that budget for team retreats more often. Something like optional team retreats every month or so and then mandatory ones every quarter because I get people probably can’t make every month work That way the whole team gets to see each other more often, it’s more impactful when we do, and who wouldn’t want an all expenses paid trip to work at a dope airbnb with the team? Anyways I’m still deciding what to do but if anyone has any advice or tips they use to keep company culture strong while working remote lemme know 🤠 #business #businessowner #founder #companyculture #culture #wfh #remotework #workfromhome

"The world meaningfully changed in the last 4 years. We started working in a very different way..mostly for good..." - Job van der Voort, co-founder/CEO of Remote. [Job continues...] "But even happily remote working, nothing beats spending time together. Whether that's to work on strategy, or just hang out. Many teams - my own including, quickly figured out that bringing together people from many different countries in one place was a massive undertaking. I know of companies that have small teams just dedicated to organizing offsites. Offsites are a critical piece of making remote work successful, which is why I'm such a big fan (and investor) of Offsite. Having organized dozens of offsites, Offsite makes it much easier to get together with a group of people. Super excited to see their new launch!" [This was Job's opening comment to our Product Hunt campaign, which he was kind enough to post today to the platform.] - - - Thank you Job and hundreds of others who've helped offsite. com over the last couple years to develop the "go-to" platform for team retreat planning. Today, we announced the latest set of product upgrades (our biggest release in over 6 months), and we are LIVE on #ProductHunt right now! Check out and support our campaign by clicking the link in the comments. Then head to offsite. com to search for free for your next offsite venue.