A closer look at companies executing leadership excellence

While many companies have struggled with their return-to-office plans since the pandemic, Textio, an augmented writing platform led by CEO Kieran Snyder, leveraged the opportunity to go fully remote. That decision has paid off in higher productivity, greater diversity, and Best Company to Work for recognition by Seattle Business Magazine.

Snyder, a self-described recovering academic with a PhD in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from Penn, admitted that she was nervous about making the shift to fully remote. But, in the first year productivity was actually better than it had ever been before.

Since the announcement was made to close their centralized headquarters, about half of the company’s 120 employees have chosen to relocate. Snyder and her team recognized the opportunity to expand and diversify the company’s talent pool.

In Chicago, for example, nearly all of Textio’s employees are people of color. And, increasingly, the company’s leaders are not based in Seattle in order to build equity across the leadership team.

Although the company made a 180-degree shift in its co-location philosophy, it has stayed committed to its values. One of those values is to provide top of the line benefits. Before the pandemic, those benefits included things like competitive salaries and supporting volunteerism. To support its workforce in a post-pandemic world, Textio has augmented it benefits to include:

• Shared Mondays days off so the whole company can truly unplug without fear of falling behind
• Third-party professional coaching available to the entire team
• Published pay bands across the company internally for pay transparency
• Hosting all-company in-person events

Kudos to Textio for embracing the possibilities that change brings and celebrating people of all backgrounds, orientations, and identities. To learn more about the company’s guiding principles, click here.