Off Mute Remote

Off Mute Season 2 showcased some of the brightest minds in global remote work. Enjoy this recap as we reminisce on the conversations we’ve had together.

Filipa tells us about her personal journey, from the early days starting up in Portugal to leading special projects at Remote today. Barbara and Filipa even share the secrets of how we use our own global HR product to grow and manage our international teams.

In this episode of Off Mute, Remote's Chief People Officer Barbara Matthews is joined by Joel Gascoigne, the CEO of Buffer. Buffer is one of the world’s most popular social media management platforms and an all-remote company that sets a high standard for transparency.
Joel shares the story behind Buffer's pioneering decision in 2013 to become a fully distributed company, driven by values like freedom, flexibility, and exceptional customer service. He reflects on how Covid-19 accelerated remote work while also revealing the challenges many companies faced in transitioning, pointing out the differences between deliberate remote work and remote work born of necessity. He provides tangible advice on building connection, community and effective collaboration across time zones with Buffer's 80+ employees in 23 countries. Joel and Barbara also discuss how Buffer's culture of transparency enhances remote work and share examples of ways to be inclusive yet fair.
We also explore how Buffer is leveraging AI, both internally to aid workflows and externally within their product to solve key customer problems like repurposing content. Joel leaves us with some amusing anecdotes about the unexpected perils of distributed work and how he solves tech failures when off the grid.

In this episode of Off Mute, Remote’s Chief People Officer Barbara Matthews speaks with Chris Priebe, CEO of Zelt, an HR software company. Chris discusses his previous career investing in tech startups and what he looks for in companies: strong teams tackling interesting markets.
Chris and Barbara discuss adoption of HR tools in Europe versus the US and how regulations around things like leave and payroll make HR systems more complex in Europe. Chris shares his perspective on AI/ML in HR, and while concerned about bias in recruiting, he sees automation as freeing up HR to focus on more strategic priorities.
Chris emphasizes the importance of security given the sensitive nature of employee data and preventing breaches. He talks about partnerships with companies like Remote and why point solutions will still be needed given the diversity of needs. Looking ahead, Chris predicts increased adoption of basic AI by HR leaders and discusses how distributed hiring enabled Zelt to bring in rare specialized expertise.

Joris Luijke, who led HR at companies including Squarespace, Typeform, and Atlassian, believes employee journey mapping is the future of HR. In this episode, Remote’s chief of people, Barbara Matthews, explores with Joris the employee experience within remote and distributed teams.

In this episode, our Chief People Officer, Barbara Matthews, is joined by the CEO of Syndio, Maria Colacurcio. Maria talks in depth about what equity means to her and the challenges she’s seen in her career, including the dangers of burnout when working from home and the double standards of expectations regarding workplace flexibility for men and women.