Take The Scotty's Pledge

Few topics create stronger opinions these days than where we work: office-based, hybrid, fully remote, most organisations feel the need to pick a side and then defend it.

Our experience has been that leadership rarely benefits from extremes. There’s a tendency in the modern world to frame things as binaries:

office or remote

control or freedom

structure or autonomy

But I believe that most effective ways of working sit somewhere along a spectrum.

At Scotty’s, we value the flexibility and focus that remote working gives the team. We don’t want to lose that. But at the same time, we’ve learnt that some things are simply better done in person. So rather than following a model, we’ve tried to design one intentionally.

What “remote” means for us

We are a remote-first organisation. The day-to-day (BAU) stuff works extremely well this way. It gives people autonomy, flexibility, and space to do deep, focused work without unnecessary distractions.

We have no plans to return to a traditional office-based model.

But remote doesn’t mean never together.

Some of the most important work we do, innovation, collaboration, problem-solving, strategic thinking, benefits hugely from being in the same room.

We’ve found that while this work can be done remotely, it’s slower, harder, and less effective for us than when people come together in person.

Those moments don’t always come with months of notice. Sometimes they emerge quickly and we want to be able to respond without unnecessary barriers.

That’s why we ask team members to live within around two hours’ travel time of Cambridge.

Not for daily commuting. Not for presenteeism. But so that when it really matters, coming together is realistic, not burdensome.

Are we restricting our talent pool?

On the surface, it might look that way. But in reality, I’d say we’ve done the opposite.

Since closing our King’s Lynn office, we’ve expanded our potential talent pool significantly. A two-hour radius from Cambridge covers a vast area compared to where we were and gives us access to people we simply couldn’t reach before.

So, while we’re setting a boundary, it’s one that reflects how we actually work and still gives us access to a much broader range of talent than we had previously. There will of course be great people we’re missing out on further afield, but finding the right balance for us is important right now.

We also don’t know what will happen in the future. We don’t pretend to have all the answers.

This doesn’t mean we’re planning to reopen an office or move to mandated office days. But it might mean that, over time, we create a hub for collaboration, events, innovation or team sessions, and if we recruit team members from all over the UK today, that will become difficult to do in the long run.

As a small but growing organisation, it makes sense for us to keep things relatively tight and controlled for now.

I totally get that this won’t be right for everyone and that’s cool.

There is no single “right” way to work and I think how an organisation works is becoming a key differentiator when people consider who they want to work for. Which organisation’s style of work best matches my own.

Some people thrive fully remotely with no geographic constraints. Others prefer regular office presence. Our approach sits somewhere in between.

What matters most to us is being clear about how and why we work the way we do, so people can decide whether it’s right for them.

If it resonates, great.

If it doesn’t, that’s absolutely fine too.