Getting to know our benefits: Working abroad for our remote first company
With around 250 people, working from all over the world, we shape the future of digital education internationally. How working with sofatutor from anywhere in Germany or from abroad works, you’ll read in this post. Catch impressions both from the team and the business side.
Where do we work?
Working from more than 10 countries around the world, you can take it literally when we talk about our international team: Next to sofatutorians distributed across Europe, team members join from the US, the UK and other countries far away, such as South Africa and Colombia.
Once a year the entire team gathers in Berlin, where it all started and where our central located office welcomes everybody who wants to work next to colleagues, in an environment with lots of plants and delicious office coffee. If you want to check out the office yourself you can glimpse in here. To see what we experienced at our first big team gathering last summer, click here.
How does working abroad work?
Well, there is not one single answer to this question and we don’t want to get lost in the jungle of employment law…
To simplify it there is two ways of working abroad for sofatutor, meaning outside of Germany:
- With an international employment contract, which we set up with an external provider, you can work with sofatutor from almost every country, for unlimited time.
- With a German employment contract you can work from abroad with our global mobile work policy. In consultation with your team and our people operations experts, you can work in a big number of countries for up to six months a year.
No matter where you want to work from, the main thing is to feel comfortable at your workplace and to have a stable internet connection.
In our remote company it doesn’t feel too different, whether working from Berlin or Iowa. Next to hybrid team events the daily business takes place online anyhow and includes digital team meetings, a variety of digital tools and routines.
What benefits do our employees see?
René, reported on his Italian workation last summer. Read the blog post he wrote on his six weeks abroad here to get to know the model of globale mobile work in more detail. So far from this point of view.
Now, what do team members, who are employed internationally, think?
Talking to colleagues from different departments, working from all over, I compiled major benefits they see.
By working for a remote first company our team members benefit from great flexibility and work-life-balance: “The day somewhat seems less hectic”, says Casandra (International Online Marketing Manager, located in the Netherlands). She also thinks that working remotely is helpful to efficiently focus on tasks. Working location independently also allows us to avoid commute and associated stress. Natasha (Content Writer UK) and Ray (Customer Success Agent US) moreover point out the great value of being able to work in their individual desired area. Working for a remote first company offers the opportunity to fill positions that either don’t exist locally or are associated with bigger burdens.
Team members also see a great opportunity to grow not only through working with EdTech specialists from all possible fields: “The international setting provides shared experience among people from different countries and backgrounds – we learn from each other and grow together”, says Maria (Product Manager, located in Croatia). James (Content, located in the US) adds: “I really enjoy getting to interact and learn from people from all different walks of life”.
Anyway everybody appreciates that sofatutor places great value on team spirit and a shared culture: “It is great that we are still able to have social events remotely which are fun as well as being lucky enough to travel to Berlin once a year and get together in person”, Natasha (Content, located in the UK), mentions.
Digital Birthday traditions and smiles about children and dogs, joining video calls, show that we are doing well, living common values and developing team traditions in the online space.
“It’s always very funny when a colleague’s dog suddenly appears on the screen when you are in a video call and they look at the camera very interested in the conversation you are having about retention rates”, Cassandra adds.
Ray finishes with a grin: “I will say though that we have and will continue to be constantly confused by the timezones”.
…Small challenges will keep us moving and growing, is the motto :)
What are the benefits for sofatutor?
From a company perspective sofatutor benefits from the fact that our team is becoming more and more diverse. Different backgrounds, talents and wealth of experience promote our team’s efficiency and adaptability to rapidly changing external requirements. The global talentpool is much bigger than the local German one, so we can not only attract more, but also more diverse talent around the world. One effect, important for our internationalization in the US and UK: We work together with experts on foreign markets with local experience and expertise.
We invite you to take a look around our company blog, to get even more insights into our team and work. If you like what you see, we look forward to receiving your application via our website or mail (jobs@sofatutor.com).
