Time to read: 2 minutes
Article at a glance:
- Redmond's expectations aren't simply strict or loose. They're based on what makes sense for each role and team.
- Every associate is expected to care about their work and fulfill commitments to customers and teammates.
- Work requirements, including schedules and remote work, are determined through collaboration and may evolve as teams learn what works best.
- The ultimate expectation is engagement: contributing your effort, growth, and passion so the entire team can do meaningful work together.
At Redmond, it can be tricky to tell whether we’re a strict culture or a loose one.
After all, beyond basic safety and professionalism, we don’t really have a dress code. A lot of our processes might seem very unstructured. And in some roles, the requirements for punctuality and even output might appear to be very loose.
So is Redmond strict or loose? The answer is…yes. To both. Around here, it’s all in the context.
What do we expect from associates?
We Do What Makes Sense
Rather than make arbitrary rules, we ask ourselves what makes sense in order for great work to happen, and base our expectations on that.
The specifics look different in various roles, but it boils down to two things:
1- You need to care about the work you’re doing.
2- You need to fulfill your commitments to our customers and your team. That means being available when you’re supposed to and completing the work that was agreed upon.
So what does that look like in your role?
For some roles, this means showing up at a certain place, at a certain time, and staying for a set duration. For other roles, it means being available, sometimes 24/7. Some roles are highly structured while others are more erratic. The expectations for both are strict, while the actual details of what that entails will vary depending on what makes sense.
Much of this is decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on what works best for the team.
For example, on some teams, it might work just fine for some associates to work partially or completely remotely. Often, it works best for teams to be together, in person, at least part of the time to build bonds and to experience the energy that each person brings that you just can’t replicate over video calls. This is about what works (i.e. is conducive to great work), not just individual preferences.
The requirements come from conversations and collaboration within and between teams.
Requirements may also change to reflect what’s working and what’s not. Like many things at Redmond, this is an ongoing process.
If you are unsure of what is expected of you, or why requirements are the way they are for your role, you can always talk to your team admins. We’re serious. We welcome questions and we want to continually improve the way we do things.
It’s All About Engagement
We’re not aiming to be strict OR loose, because it’s not a dichotomy. Above all, we’re looking for engagement.
In many ways, we might be more strict than other organizations because we hold each other to a high standard of engagement (even if a lot of us wear flip-flops instead of Oxfords).
We might expect more of you than you’re used to because we want more than your time or even your skills and talent.
We want your effort and passion. We want your growth.
We expect the very best of you so you can be part of an exceptional team that is doing meaningful work in the world and contributing to elevating the human experience.
It’s not about how individually productive YOU are, but how productive the TEAM is. Not you, but US.
