How the distributed company model works at Jobgether

Jun 9, 2022
How the distributed company model works at Jobgether

Unlike Jobgether, the online recruitment platform that we created, very few European companies nowadays are organized as a fully remote company. This phenomenon is especially present in the United States in certain structures adapted for this way of working.

That means that the whole company team works 100% of the time in teleworking. From home, or from a coworking space, employees work from the place that suits them best. This is a far cry from imposed teleworking, especially in times of confinement, with children playing all around.

To work at its best, the fully remote company model requires reflection and preparation. This model is obviously not suitable for all businesses. On the other hand, it adapts very well to companies in the tech, consulting, marketing, digital sector...

And when properly implemented, the advantages of the distributed company model are enormous:

  • No rental fees and lower administrative costs.
  • No time wasted in transport.
  • More time to enjoy family, life, to be happy and fulfilled!

To build a winning fully remote company model, it is necessary to:

  1. Build a strong culture. It is the pillar of the remote teams. Creating a remote company culture must be one of the most important priorities for a company of this type.
  2. Forget about employee status and the 35-hour model. You work when you want and where you want. Set individual and collective goals with each person in the team. It doesn't matter if you get there in 5 hours rather than at the end of the 8 hours of daily work. If the employee gets there, good for him or her! In short, if you treat your employees as employees, they will act like employees. If you consider them as entrepreneurs and leaders, you can fully count on their commitment!
  3. Favor the freelance contract. This way you avoid any problems with social legislation. No subordination, you are your own boss. The key to a full remote company - that's full accountability!
  4. Use video calls. Every meeting takes place with the video on. The first five minutes of the meeting are always informal. It's a chance to have a good laugh. What's next? Even at the heart of the most important topics, the feeling of empathy prevails: we look each other in the eye and share emotions.
  5. Facilitate communication. Think about creating meeting rooms (via Microsoft Teams for example) with specific topics to be discussed, so that the team can discuss outside the framework of videoconferences.
  6. Organize a follow up. This means sharing with all team members who is doing what at the moment, who is working on what topic, what are the priorities per person for each team member. The use of tools such as Trello is highly recommended.
  7. Favor social interactions, by organizing e-cafés, gaming... The goal is to make people interact together who have never seen each other (or almost) as they would do in a classical company.
  8. Plan physical meetings with all teams through 3 or 4-day seminars, 2 to 3 times a year. These particularly intense meetings are the cement of your culture. They are indispensable.

What about Jobgether?

We created Jobgether with three partners of completely different nationalities, skills, generations and professional backgrounds (entrepreneurs and senior executives). The international team of the start-up is now made up of about fifteen people, most of them freelancers.

All our recruitments have obviously been made remotely (even before Covid-19). We even hired our VP Sales, who is now one of Jobgether's shareholders, without even meeting him, due to the coronavirus crisis.  

Our interactions take place solely by videoconference, which has not prevented us from creating a real corporate culture where seriousness and fun go hand in hand.

What are our operating rules?

  • Our leadership style is both democratic and laissez-faire. There is one leader per subject, but listening is favored. In general, the majority prevails in case of disagreement.
  • We start each meeting with a note of humor and fun.
  • The principle of full accountability is omnipresent: everyone is responsible for their own topics (no endless discussion...).
  • Trust and transparency are the order of the day. All company documents are available to everyone. There is nothing to hide.

We all know each other very well, although most of us have never been seen physically!

We work in two different time zones with 50% of the team in Latin America and the other half in Europe and the Middle East. We are all based in Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Zaragoza, Tel Aviv, Bogota, Caracas and Buenos Aires.

At Jobgether, we share the same passion for this project and the conviction that the recruitment market needs to be fundamentally transformed. Jobgether's project and vision give meaning to our work. It also makes sense for the society in which we live.

In the end, this is the most important thing: isn't the key to the success of any organization to engage each and every person to share their vision?

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