PayCaptain, an advanced payroll platform and co-host of our upcoming webinar Beyond Flexibility: Creating a Personalised Employee Experience, takes flexibility seriously. Not only is it a major part of what makes the platform so special, but flexibility was also at the core of its creation. CEO & Founder, Simon Bocca had this to say about flexibility as part of PayCaptain’s roots:
“I spent 16 years at Fourth, a workforce management software company, as Chief Operating Officer and, at the time, commuting to the office daily felt appropriate and productive. However, this was before remote working was really forced upon us during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Most of my career at Fourth was spent travelling around the UK and USA. After so many years away from home, I’d had enough. So, when setting up PayCaptain I decided to base myself at home rather than open an office.
Coincidentally, one month after starting PayCaptain , Covid-19 struck, which really dictated my next step. Due to the infancy of PayCaptain, remote working was perfect and suited me well. However, the nationwide lockdown did shape what soon became the core foundations of PayCaptain’s employment model.
After a little while in lockdown, there was a psychological shift to the new rhythm of working and this highlighted the people who wanted to embrace a remote working environment. The founding members of PayCaptain all have significant experience in traditional office-life and they all found great benefit to both their personal lives and their productivity during lockdown which came from working at home.
Building PayCaptain fully remote hasn’t come without its challenges. It was hard. I’d be the first to say “it’s not for everyone”. Firstly, it does take extra consideration in the recruitment process. You need to identify the right people that can really handle and benefit from flexible remote working. Also, training new employees can be slower compared to seeing them in person every day.
I realised that I need to make myself as available as possible to the team; remote working can be isolating and I did not want anyone to feel lonely, unsupported or unmotivated. You can’t just go to the pub after work, or head out together for lunch. At PayCaptain, we encourage everyone to communicate as often as possible.
We have daily meetings and monthly company updates for every employee – these are brilliant opportunities to provide complete transparency with PayCaptain’s business performance including our Financials, Strategy, Team Health Checks and Product Roadmap. Being transparent promotes the feeling of inclusivity. We also have monthly online socials, quarterly in-person events including our Summer and Christmas parties.
I also encourage our employees to work when they are most productive. This means that not only are they able to work wherever they want to be, but also whenever. Not everyone operates at their best between 9-5. Having the confidence in my team to work this way shows I trust them and enables them to perform at their best. Having an even work-life balance is a significant factor in running a successful remote working business.
Luckily for us, we launched PayCaptain as a remote working business from Day One. We haven’t had to close any offices or change any technological infrastructure. The advice I would give any company considering being more flexible with their employees is: Ensure open and transparent communication, and managers should be available to support employees as much as possible. This is a different way to run a business, but it is possible. You need to trust your employees. These people will likely be at their homes, surrounded by distractions, so you need to have confidence in their ability and commitment to getting their work done.
Remote working means different things to us all. Some prefer the camaraderie of the office, or even the commute in. You really do need to be empathetic to everyone, regardless of their role.
All in all, launching PayCaptain from the comfort of my own home, and encouraging all our employees to embrace this way of working, has been a decision I do not regret. The PayCaptain employment model continuously looks forward and we don’t have plans to open an office any time soon!”
This is just the beginning of PayCaptain’s story as they continue to grow, flourish and bring a different kind of flexibility to their customers. If you want to hear more about PayCaptain, their flexible ethos or how they’re transforming payroll flexibility, join us for the webinar on April 30th, 11am, GMT.
