Santa Cruz Companies Pivot to Remote Employees

If there is one thing businesses learned from the pandemic, it is that many companies can function well working remotely. According to Carta, in the first half of 2022, 62% of new hires in the US are located in a state different from their headquarters. This is a significant change from 35% in 2019.

According to Kia Kokalitcheva of Axios, the exceptions are small startups ($1M to $10M post-money valuation). The percentage of co-located new employees at small startups has soared to 60% this year. The belief is that 1) small startups hire fewer employees, and 2) there are greater benefits of working together when a startup is getting off the ground.

Santa Cruz Tech

In a quick poll of several Santa Cruz companies, Santa Cruz Works learned that the percentage of employees working remotely is bucking the US trend:

• Ambient Photonics: 15% remote moving to full-time in office.

  • “For our culture and our mission, the close coordination and social dynamic of in-person work culture is vital.” Bates Marshall / CEO of Ambient Photonics

• Cruz Foam: 33% remote, 50% hybrid (office + home), 12% in office.

• Fullpower: employee discretion.

  • “Our policy is that everyone can work wherever they are and come into our offices whenever they want. Practically we find that most people like to go into the office. Great atmosphere. Everyone has their cubicle. We are downtown; it’s easygoing to bike, walk, or park.” Philippe Kahn / CEO of Fullpower-AI

• Jane Technologies: 75% remote.

  • “We don't require anyone to come to the office anymore, though we do keep our office open to any employee who wants to work there. I'd say about 75% of our company works purely remote, while 25% comes into the office at their own discretion. We do make a point to bring teams together in-person in Santa Cruz every so often, so we don't lose the human connection.” Socrates Rosenfeld / CEO of Jane Technologies, Inc.

• Launch Brigade: 100% remote.

  • “100% of our employees have been working remote since covid, with a couple coming into the office sporadically. This year we hired our first remote employee who lives outside the central coast, but still in California. While we miss the in person collaboration, we have chosen to embrace remote work for the many benefits.” Chris Miller / President of Launch Brigade

• MERGE4: MERGE 4 has a four day remote week for most team members. We have one day in the office for face to face meetings that benefit innovation and keeps us all on the same page.” Cindi Busenhart / CEO of MERGE 4

• Pitchhub: 100% remote.

• Petrinovich Pugh & Company: “PP&Co allows for most team members to choose between office and remote.” David Doolin / owner of PP&Co.

• Spanner: 45%

• SupplyShift: 95% remote

New Norm?

It is hard to imagine that the industry will reverse direction. If this remote employees is the new norm, here are a few things employers will be contemplating:

• Compensation: adjusting compensation based upon location is standard practice. For example, if the comp for an employee living in San Francisco is likely to be more than for an employee living in Turlock due to cost of living differences.

  • The Bay Area, Seattle and New York City remain the top hubs for compensation, with 10 metro areas offering at least 90% of San Francisco's rates. Kia Kokalitcheva of Axios

• Office space: is it cheaper to maintain large offices, or allow employees to work from home, or from co-working spaces? Co-working spaces such as Cruzio, Nextspace, and Startup Sandbox are all at near full capacity. Yet large tech companies such as Apple continue to expand their offices.

• Work Life Balance: Many tech workers who have the opportunity to work remotely, decided to relocate to an area ideal for their desired out door activities. But then again, most Santa Cruzians who are in tech have known this for their lifetimes.