The Future of Work is Decentralised, not Isolated

Russ Perry has been leading a remote team of 500 people for seven years. Pedro Henriques founded a company connecting international businesses and local talent, without underestimating the inherently social characteristics of human beings. Leading Portuguese magazine EXAME brought them together at the same table, to talk about the challenges and trends of this transmuting market.

The original text in Portuguese is written by Marta Marques Silva and the article photography taken by José Carlos Carvalho

Russ Perry, CEO of Design Pickle and Pedro Henriques, CEO of BRIDGE IN

Russ Perry has a 5-year head start managing people in remote work. The accumulated experience makes him have “strong opinions” on the subject. When, in 2015, he founded Design Pickle, he did so in his own image. He likes to travel, and the many years he spent between agencies and clients' offices gave him a sense of boredom in relation to routines, rigid schedules and daily commutes. In addition, the traditional business model of agencies required cost containment: a fixed monthly fee in exchange for unlimited design services. Well, then it was decided: Design Pickle would be global and operate on a telework basis. He hired the first team in the Philippines and quickly found out other advantages of the model, that went beyond cost savings: “What I initially discovered was that the time zone differences were an incredible advantage”. With most clients based in the US and Canada, the time difference gave him a 15-hour head start. “Customers could place their order during the day, and when they woke up, the work was in their mailbox”. The business grew and, today, Design Pickle integrates the list of Inc. 5000 of the fastest-growing North American companies for the third consecutive year. With more than 500 designers spread across 16 countries, the “follow the sun” approach guarantees a continuous development of services. But, after all, how is it possible to lead a team of this size and dispersion? How can a company keep remote workers motivated for seven years? And why is it better to have small teams in each country, instead of atomized workers? This is where BRIDGE IN comes in, the Portuguese company, founded by Pedro Henriques at the dawn of the pandemic, connecting international businesses and local talent, but in a “smart” way. We'll see what that means further on. 

We joined the two of them to talk about the challenges and trends of this new job market in constant evolution and without fixed rules. We met with Russ Perry at the end of March. He came to personally meet the team he hired in Portugal almost two years ago. Before landing in Lisbon, he passed through Colombia, Peru and Argentina. “We spend a lot of time and money meeting in person. We go to dinner, we go to karaoke or go-karts... we do fun things because that's the glue. Then a year goes by, the tank will empty a little and we go back to organizing in-person meetings and activities” The “tank” is Russ's analogy for “company culture”. And he confesses that it was difficult to fill the “tank” during the pandemic. “We went two years without meeting in person. The company culture suffered. It was hard”. Russ defines the company's approach to the workplace as “remote first”. In other words, the worker is encouraged to work from wherever they want, but Russ believes that the 100% remote environment does not build culture. “It’s almost impossible to create strong relationships. It's like the tank has a leak. We can socialize on Zoom, have virtual happy hours, and play online... but the leak is there. The only way to refill that tank is through direct contact and creating meaningful relationships. I firmly believe in that”. 

The company is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. In the US, they employ around 60 people that, similarly to the rest of the distributed team, are free to work wherever they want. Russ is, however, convinced that, in the long run, the permanent physical absence will end up creating another type of constraint. “I think that, in a few years, studies will conclude that those who continued to come to the office, who stayed connected, will have a much higher professional growth”. He does not say it in an antagonising tone, he believes it is rather an inherently human characteristic: “In whom do I trust? Who do I relate to? Who should I consider for a new opportunity? I will have a positive bias towards the people I see and meet.” So keep on travelling. That's why he's in Portugal. 

The Pod Teams Trend

These are also the same reasons that lead Russ to form small teams in each country - the pod teams - instead of hiring indiscriminately, only based on the profile and skills of the candidates no matter where they are based. The Portuguese team is composed of five people. “Last night, I asked them if we needed an office”. Their answer was no. They prefer to maintain the freedom and flexibility of teleworking and meet once a month for a group activity. To hire each of them, Russ had the help of Pedro Henriques. As its name implies, BRIDGE IN bridges the gap between international companies and local talent. Before founding the company, Pedro also worked remotely for a US-based business. In which role? Create fully distributed engineering teams. A Portuguese, an Uruguayan, a Polish, a Nigerian... “That was the norm”. However, after a few years, he realised the real challenge: “The culture. How does this person on the other side of the world feel part of this group?”. The challenge became a mission: to support the growth of co-located teams: instead of isolated people, pods are created as small groups that work in a decentralised way. “This is what the future looks like: there is no obligation to go to the office, but there is the possibility of having a shared space, a personal meeting. This is what creates a team spirit”. Once the “smart” model has been defined, it has to be operationalised, and there is no lack of opportunities here in Portugal: there is talent, a low cost of living and... well, a lot of bureaucracy.

BRIDGE IN works as an EOR (employer of record). The format has gained traction: in the last two years alone, more than a billion dollars have been invested in venture capital in the six largest companies in the area. The rationale is to reduce barriers to entry, giving confidence to entrepreneurs to eventually create their own subsidiaries in a certain country. In other words, instead of starting by investing time and money in lawyers and accountants, with no guarantees of setting up a successful operation abroad, BRIDGE IN reverses the process. “First, we recruit professionals, whose contractual relationship is made through us. We assume all the bureaucratic and legal support. If this part is successful and our client is happy with the newly recruited team then, we create the subsidiary and have people directly employed in the company. That creates opportunities”. Today, BRIDGE IN has more than 50 people employed on behalf of external customers, of which around a third have already set up, or are in the process of setting up, subsidiaries in Portugal.

Russ and Pedro share this vision: the most successful model will be the hybrid; the future is decentralised but not isolated, in a fine balance between the global talent demand and the individual's need for socialisation. And speaking of workforce, what are the tricks to attract and retain talent? Design Pickle's benefits package is extensive and includes unlimited paid vacations. Still, far from being able to compete with the benefits of a big tech such as Google or Facebook. But it seems that, at the end of the day, that’s not what makes the difference either: “What we see with new members, some of them coming from big techs, is that they value, above all, the impact of their work and their effort and the fact that they can work in a healthy environment”. Has that changed with the pandemic? “I think we are always looking for a purpose. What the pandemic has given us is time and space to listen to that inner voice”.