When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit and large parts of the world went into lockdown in March 2020, we responded by creating our Working Outside the Office policy (WOO). This was established to enable Tideans to work outside of the office during the pandemic in locations that were right for them while adhering to local government restrictions. Being a global workforce, this could mean in the Tidean’s home country or from a different location altogether. Therefore this policy was named Working Outside the Office, or WOO for short, as it covered so much more than just working from home.

This flexible approach enabled Tide to not only function as normal in our mission to support small businesses during the pandemic, but to also grow and scale too. This can be illustrated by the fact that our headcount over the past two years has grown by 60% as we have expanded to become a truly global business.

The four key features of the WOO approach: 

As we know that happy and motivated Tideans mean they are at their most productive, our new Working Outside the Office approach has been created with 4 key features in mind:

1. Unlimited in-country remote work

Our updated WOO policy now gives Tideans the ability to work from anywhere within their assigned country or state. Alongside this, there will be no adjustment to salary if a Tidean should move to another region within their assigned country. Tideans will no longer be required to attend the office in their assigned country location for a designated number of days per month. This provides greater flexibility for Tideans to manage their own schedules and have time for family and other interests alongside work.

2. Flexible out-of-country remote work

We know that Tideans love to travel and see the world (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t after the past two years), so we’ve introduced the flexibility to travel and work around the world for 90 days per country each year. This means Tideans can combine holiday or visiting family overseas with remote working to enable them to spend longer in their chosen destination if they wish. All part of our mission to ensure Tideans strike the right work-life balance.

3. Great offices

Of course, we recognise that it’s great for Tideans to come together too, as our best work is done when people collaborate across teams. Spending time in the office is also an important part of Tide’s culture.

We’ve therefore invested in our offices to make them great environments for both connecting with colleagues and encouraging team-working. Our offices include comfortable meeting rooms, break-out areas for informal collaboration and regular Tidean lunches. Maintaining the health and wellbeing of Tideans is just as important, so we’ve introduced both a gaming area and gym into our London offices to provide space for downtime too.

4. Keeping connected

In addition to the investment into our office space, we are also committed to keeping Tideans connected in person by organising regular team gatherings and social events, both in-person and online.

Examples of the range of events we have organised include the Tidean Spring party for the whole company, the April Steps Challenge where the global Tide team was encouraged to collectively walk to reach a set target distance throughout the 30 days of the month, and even crazy golf events. As part of the new WOO policy, there will be an even greater emphasis on Tide events to help our teams to stay connected and build on the unique Tide team culture.