Remote Work Revolution: How COVID Changed Hiring Forever
By Caleb Bak•December 15, 2020
Remote Work Revolution: How COVID Changed Hiring Forever
March 13, 2020. That's the day everything changed for hiring.
Companies that swore remote work was impossible sent entire workforces home. Recruiters who insisted on in-person interviews switched to Zoom overnight. The "office culture" that was supposedly essential to success... turned out to be optional.
Two years later, at HireGecko, we're still helping companies navigate what this means for talent acquisition. The changes are permanent, and they're profound.
The Before Times: How Hiring Worked (Pre-COVID)
Let me paint a picture of hiring in 2019:
The Standard Process:
Post job on company website and job boards
Geographic restriction (must be local or willing to relocate)
4-6 rounds of in-person interviews
Candidates took time off work to interview
Final candidates met "the team" in office
Offers included relocation packages
The Constraints:
Talent pool limited to commutable distance
Competition from local companies only
Office space determined team size
Required physical presence 9-5
"Culture" meant office culture
What we accepted as normal:
2-hour daily commutes
Open office floor plans
Expensive office space in city centers
Limited talent pools in smaller cities
Relocation as standard practice
5%
Percentage of workforce working remotely pre-COVID (vs. 35% at peak)
"In March 2020, we proved that most knowledge work doesn't require an office. We can't un-prove it."
The Overnight Transformation
March-April 2020:
Companies went remote faster than anyone thought possible:
Entire engineering teams working from home
Sales happening over video calls
Onboarding new hires remotely
Company culture... continuing somehow
What we learned:
Productivity didn't collapse (often increased)
Collaboration tools actually worked
Meetings could be async
Physical office wasn't essential
Trust mattered more than oversight
At HireGecko:
Switched to 100% remote hiring overnight
No in-person interviews for 18 months
Hired across 12 states
Performance stayed strong
Retention actually improved
What Changed Permanently
Some changes are here to stay. Here's what's different now:
Change 1: Geographic Boundaries Disappeared
The Old Way:
Hire within 50-mile radius
Offer relocation for exceptional candidates
Compete with local companies for talent
The New Way:
Hire anywhere (often globally)
Access to 100x larger talent pool
Compete with every company for every candidate
Impact on hiring:
Positives:
Access to much larger talent pool
Can hire specialized skills not available locally
Diversity improves (not limited to one city's demographics)
Can hire in lower cost-of-living areas
Challenges:
Increased competition for talent
Salary expectations vary wildly by location
Time zone coordination required
State employment law complexity
Change 2: The Interview Process Evolved
What stayed remote:
First-round interviews (95% still video)
Technical assessments (actually better remote)
Most interview rounds (3-4 on video)
Offer discussions
What came back in-person:
Final rounds for some companies (50/50 split)
Team meeting days (quarterly/monthly)
Onboarding (some companies, first week in office)
The hybrid model:
Most companies settled on:
Early rounds: Remote
Final round: Optional in-person
Hire: Full remote with occasional travel
Remote-first interviewing is faster, cheaper, and often better. Candidates can interview during lunch breaks instead of taking full days off.
Change 3: Compensation Got Complicated
This is where it gets messy.
The Geographic Pay Debate:
Approach 1: Location-Based Pay
Adjust salary based on candidate location
SF engineer: $180K
Austin engineer (same role): $140K
Rationale: Cost of living differences
Approach 2: Role-Based Pay
Pay same for same role, regardless of location
SF engineer: $180K
Austin engineer: $180K
Rationale: Same value, same pay
What actually happened:
Big tech mostly went location-based (with formulas)
Startups mostly went role-based (to compete)
Mid-size companies split
Lots of controversy
My take (at HireGecko):
We pay for the role, not the location
But we're transparent about market rates
Remote-first means location shouldn't matter
We want the best talent, not the cheapest
Change 4: Office Space Reimagined
What died:
Massive headquarters
Assigned desks
Office as status symbol
"Everyone in office 9-5"
What emerged:
Smaller collaborative spaces
Hot desking / hotel desk model
Quarterly team gatherings
Co-working space stipends
The economics:
Before COVID (100-person company):
Office space: $200K/year
Parking: $50K/year
Office snacks/perks: $100K/year
Total: $350K/year
After COVID (same company, 80% remote):
Smaller office: $60K/year
Co-working stipends: $120K/year
Quarterly gatherings: $80K/year
Home office stipends: $50K/year
Total: $310K/year
Modest savings, but much more flexibility.
The Talent Acquisition Playbook (2020-2024)
Here's what actually works for hiring in the post-COVID world:
Strategy 1: Remote-First, Not Remote-Only
The approach:
Default to remote work
Offer optional office space
Require occasional in-person gatherings
Hire anywhere, work anywhere
Why it works:
Access to global talent
Employee flexibility
Lower overhead
Competitive advantage in hiring
How we do it at HireGecko:
Fully remote team across 8 states
Quarterly all-hands (2 days, everyone flies in)
Annual company retreat (3 days)
Local meetups encouraged (company covers)
Strategy 2: Async-First Communication
The shift:
Default to written communication
Meetings only when necessary
Record important meetings
Document everything
Tools that matter:
Slack for quick comms
Notion/Confluence for docs
Loom for video updates
Async stand-ups
Impact on hiring:
Look for strong written communication
Less emphasis on "presence"
Value self-direction
Timezone flexibility
Strategy 3: Outcome-Based Work
The change:
Judge on outcomes, not hours
Flexible schedules
Trust > surveillance
Results matter, not activity
What this means for hiring:
Look for self-motivated candidates
Past remote work experience valuable
Portfolio/results over credentials
Interview for autonomy
Strategy 4: Distributed Onboarding
The process:
Week 1:
Ship equipment before start date
Detailed onboarding docs
1:1 video calls with key teammates
Async training modules
Week 2-4:
Shadowing via Zoom
Pair programming sessions
Regular check-ins with manager
Buddy system
Month 2-3:
Increasing autonomy
First projects completed
Team integration
Optional: Fly in for in-person time
Success factors:
Over-communicate
Regular check-ins
Clear expectations
Patience (takes longer than in-office)
The Challenges Nobody Talks About
Remote work isn't all upside. Here are the real challenges:
Challenge 1: Culture in a Remote World
The problem: "Company culture" was office culture. What is it remotely?
What doesn't work:
Mandatory fun (forced video hangouts)
Trying to recreate office vibe digitally
Ignoring the distance
What works:
Strong written values
Consistent communication
Regular (but not constant) connection
In-person gatherings (quarterly)
Shared mission
At HireGecko:
Weekly team updates (async)
Monthly all-hands (video, recorded)
Quarterly in-person meetups
Active Slack culture (but optional)
Strong feedback culture
Challenge 2: Junior Talent Development
The problem: Junior employees learn by osmosis in offices. How do they learn remotely?
What we've tried:
Formal mentorship programs (works okay)
Recorded training libraries (helps)
Pair programming sessions (works great)
Regular 1:1s with seniors (essential)
Bringing juniors to office more often (best solution)
Reality: Junior talent development is harder remote. It requires more intentionality.
If you're early in your career, consider in-person or hybrid roles. The learning opportunity is worth it.
Challenge 3: Collaboration and Innovation
The problem: Spontaneous hallway conversations drove innovation. How do you replace that?
What works:
Dedicated "think time" meetings
Structured brainstorming sessions
Digital whiteboards (Miro, Figma)
In-person strategy sessions (quarterly)
Slack channels for random ideas
What doesn't work:
Expecting serendipity
Assuming collaboration will happen naturally
Over-structuring creativity
Challenge 4: Timezones
The reality: Team across US timezones is manageable. Team across US + Europe + Asia is hard.
Strategies:
Hire in aligned timezones when possible
Use async for global teams
Rotate meeting times for fairness
Document everything
Accept some inefficiency
The Future: What's Next?
Where is this all heading?
Prediction 1: Hybrid Becomes Standard
The model:
Default remote
Optional office space
Regular in-person gatherings
Flexibility is competitive advantage
Not: Mandated 3 days in office (employees hate it)
COVID didn't invent remote work, but it forced the largest work-from-home experiment in history. And it worked.
Not perfectly. Not for everyone. Not without challenges. But it worked.
Companies learned they could hire globally. Employees learned they didn't need to commute. Everyone learned that trust matters more than presence.
The genie is out of the bottle. You can't force everyone back to offices. You can't un-prove that remote work is viable.
Smart companies will embrace this. They'll build for distributed teams. They'll compete for global talent. They'll offer flexibility.
Companies that demand everyone back in the office 5 days a week? They'll lose talent to competitors who offer flexibility.
At HireGecko, we're fully remote. We've hired amazing people we never would have found if we were limited to our local market. Our team is stronger, more diverse, and more productive than when we had an office.
The future of work isn't remote or in-person. It's flexible. And the companies that figure that out first will win the talent war.
*The office didn't make your company great. Your people did. Let them work where they're most effective.*
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Remote WorkCOVID-19Future of WorkTalent Acquisition
Serial entrepreneur, founder & CEO of InfiniDataLabs and HireGecko, COO of UMaxLife, and managing partner at Wisrem LLC. Building intelligent solutions that transform businesses across AI, recruitment, healthcare, and investment markets.