7 companies that are embracing remote work amid the RTO push

• Some companies are keeping remote work policies even as other firms call people back to the office.
• Companies like Atlassian, Dropbox, and Deel report increased job applicants and retention rates.
• Some firms also credit work flexibility with boosting employee satisfaction.

You might not be destined for a cubicle after all.

As a number of big-name companies increase their requirements for how often workers spend time in the office, some firms are sticking with remote work arrangements.

Those leading the RTO charge have argued that face-to-face collaboration breeds a stronger culture of teamwork and creative problem-solving. However, remote companies say they are reaping their own set of distinct benefits.

The doubling down on flexibility has been a boon to recruiting at some companies, allowing firms like Dropbox and Atlassian to tap into a wider pool of talent.

“A lot of the companies going back to the office are leaking talent to us, whether or not they want to admit it,” Alex Bouaziz, cofounder and CEO of the HR and payroll platform Deel, previously told Business Insider.

Here are seven companies that still offer remote work — and why:

Atlassian

The software maker Atlassian has 13,000 employees in more than a dozen countries. Nine in 10 of its workers report that flexibility is both an important reason they stay and that it allows them to do their best work, Avani Prabhakar, the company’s chief people officer, previously told Business Insider.

Since the company introduced its work-from-anywhere policy in 2020, it has seen the number of applicants per job opening double, Prabhakar said.

Deel

Deel’s Bouaziz said the most in-demand workers are often most willing to push back — or leave — when employers introduce rigid RTO policies. He said that the strict approach by some companies has benefited Deel.

Deel has a global workforce and hired more than 2,000 employees in 2024 — out of a pool of 1.5 million applicants, the company said.

Dropbox

Dropbox implemented a “virtual-first” policy in 2021. The cloud storage company has redesigned its workforce to focus on flexibility, and this approach has paid off in both hiring and retention, Melanie Rosenwasser, the company’s chief people officer, previously told Business Insider in an email.

The average number of applicants per job is nearly sevenfold higher than it was prior to the company adopting its virtual-first model, Rosenwasser said. She added that more than eight in 10 applicants accepted Dropbox’s employment offers, and attrition is the lowest in the company’s history.

Mozilla

Mozilla embraces a remote-first approach while offering in-person options.

“Employees have the flexibility to choose the type of workspace that best supports their productivity and wellbeing — whether that’s a home office, a Mozilla office, or a co-working space,” a spokesperson told Business Insider in an email.

The open-source software company has offices or coworking spaces in several locations, including San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Toronto, Paris, and London. For those who prefer an office setting but are based elsewhere, the company may cover the cost of a coworking space, Mozilla said.

“By accepting the imperfect reality of a hybrid environment, we enable ourselves to take full advantage of the opportunity of this moment,” the company wrote in a 2022 blog post.

Olipop

Olipop has been remote since its founding, but the prebiotic soda brand, which has roughly 220 staff members, hosts cohorts of new hires for off-sites throughout the year and also holds regular leadership and individual team off-sites.

In a previous interview with Business Insider, CEO Ben Goodwin said that instead of investing in office facilities, Olipop pays significant costs in employee benefits and perks. The company pays for employees to have a gold PPO plan and covers 95% of insurance costs, Goodwin said.

Olipop also offers department off-sites, a party at the end of the year with a DJ and a hotel stay, new hire orientations, and a program for leadership called Olipop Leadership University.

Toptal

Toptal, a company with about 700 employees, has operated remotely since its inception. Taso Du Val, CEO of the talent sourcing company, previously told Business Insider that he thinks of the structure as hybrid, because teams meet typically for three-day off-sites once a quarter.

He said the ideal work structure is an “80/20 mix,” which he describes as working remotely 80% of the time and meeting in person the other 20%.

Zapier

For a week each year, the software company Zapier brings together its workers and customers to focus on various projects, Brandon Sammut, the company’s chief people officer, previously told Business Insider.

By working with customers and problem-solving with teammates, he said, “you naturally build connection and belonging.”

Some of Zapier’s 800 workers, who are spread across 42 countries, also gather periodically to focus on a particular topic or challenge.

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