Cribl Is Remote-First, But Not Remote-Only

While other companies are fumbling around trying to convince their employees they need to come back to an office, we’ve decided to exist in the real world instead and support people’s desire to continue working remotely.

In fact, since Cribl’s founding five years ago, we’ve been a remote-first company. Our founders don’t even all reside in the same city, so we set things up to accommodate the distance. We assumed that if our co-founders wanted to stay put or move at some point without having to worry about their job, then everyone else might want to do the same. At the very least, they should have the right to.

We believe in hiring the best possible people regardless of location and turning them loose to work on solving problems for our customers without having to worry about whether they’re sitting at a desk we purchased in a building we’re renting. You would think this would be universal by now, but some of the largest companies in the world are all requiring employees to return to the office in some form or another.

On the surface, hybrid work doesn’t seem so bad as requiring a full week in the office, but it can still leave a funny taste in your mouth if you’re doing just fine with your home setup. We think this absurd insistence on hybrid could even be enough to push you toward other opportunities (hint, hint).

Does remote-first mean remote-only? Absolutely not. In the last few months, our teams have had in-person meetings, attended numerous industry events, and even came together for our first company-wide event since the pandemic. For anyone who prefers or needs to keep things virtual, that’s always an option, too. It seems simple, but the idea is to give our employees options.

Expanding Our Organization During The Great Resignation And “Labor Shortage”

The recent increase in job departures being dubbed the “Great Resignation” could be for a number of reasons — maybe the pandemic caused more burnout than we expected it would. Maybe some people who were planning on resigning towards the beginning of the pandemic put that decision on hold for a bit, and are just now starting to follow through on it.

But let’s be real — it’s probably more likely due to some combination of unnecessary return to work demands from employers, the way employees were treated during the pandemic, or the fact that remote work made them realize that they have more opportunities than they had previously imagined.

“Labor shortage” is another new buzzword being thrown around — and yet, during the past two years, Cribl has grown from under 50 employees to over 300 employees. We’ve somehow managed to be more than 6x the size of our company during what is supposed to be one of the most difficult periods in modern history to do so.

Empower Your People

We believe that our commitment to remote-first is a key reason we’ve been able to scale so quickly. If you scroll through LinkedIn, you’ll see countless people starting new jobs because of their previous employer’s remote work policies. After two years of no commutes, more time with family, and a focused work environment, it’s clear to us that many employees are happier at home for the majority of their time at work.

We do believe strongly in the power of relationships and the fact that those relationships can be strengthened in person, but this doesn’t mean we require people in the office every day. Whether or not you come in should be your choice, so we’ll leave the decision to you.

Are You REQUIRED to Come Back into the Office?

If you’re working for a company making you come back into the office on a full-time or part-time basis, we likely have an open position for you. Chances are you’ve gotten along just as well or even better working from home over the last couple of years, so why go back if you don’t have to?

If you’ve gotten used to taking your kids to school instead of commuting an hour each morning, we want you to continue doing that. If you like the flexibility of living wherever works best for you and your family, we want to empower you to do that as well.

To that end, we’ve invested in systems and infrastructure to create a great remote work experience from the get-go. We give employees a stipend every month to cover cell phone usage, home internet, and other costs of remote work. We deploy technology that each employee is comfortable with (Mac, PC, etc.) and ensure they have a great home office setup.

Cribl is remote-first but not remote-only because it’s in the best interest of each and every individual who is a part of our organization. As long as our people are happy and getting their work done, it would be silly to care about their location. That’s old school. We’re more concerned about what you do instead of where you set up your laptop. If your company isn’t committed to a remote-first culture, join a team that is.