Remote-first

Full Definition

In a remote-first company, work is designed to function optimally without relying on a physical office. It means async collaboration is the norm, documentation is prioritized, and no one is disadvantaged for not being co-located. Even if the company has offices, those are optional add-ons—not central hubs.

Unlike hybrid or remote-allowed setups (where remote workers are treated as exceptions or second-class participants), remote-first cultures ensure full inclusion for distributed contributors. Every meeting has a dial-in link, knowledge lives in shared docs, and tools are chosen for global access.

Remote-first also changes hiring strategy: companies recruit from anywhere, not just near HQs. This enables global reach, timezone overlap strategies, and diverse team compositions.

However, it demands intentional culture, strong onboarding, and constant reinforcement of remote-native behaviors.

Companies like GitLab, Zapier, and Doist have paved the way with public handbooks and async playbooks that exemplify remote-first best practices.

Use Cases

• A design team works across Europe, Africa, and Asia with daily async check-ins.
• A SaaS company ditches its office lease and reinvests in better remote tooling and team retreats.
• A startup hires the best engineering lead in South America, regardless of HQ location.
• A product team builds a remote-first design system with Figma, Notion, and Loom.
• An async growth team publishes weekly updates in a shared doc instead of holding meetings.

Visual Funnel

1. Strategy Declaration — Company defines itself as remote-first from the top down
2. System Audit — All workflows re-structured for async, documentation-first operation
3. Hiring Shift — Job descriptions updated to prioritize timezone coverage, async experience
4. Onboarding Design — Remote-native ramp-up process using handbooks, buddies, and videos
5. Culture Layering — Rituals built around Slack, docs, check-ins, and async socializing
6. Tooling Unification — Teams standardize on remote-first stacks (Notion, Slack, Linear)
7. Iteration & Feedback — Regular health checks to improve distributed work quality

Frameworks

Async Playbook — A living document defining how teams communicate without meetings

Remote Onboarding Canvas — A checklist-driven workflow for fully distributed ramp-ups

Time Zone Coordination Grid — Visualizes overlap windows for global collaboration

Ritual Stack Template — Defines weekly rhythms (e.g. Monday check-ins, Friday demos, monthly retros)

Meeting Replacement Kit — Bundles tools and tactics to avoid unnecessary live calls (Loom, Threads, docs)

Common Mistakes

• Hybrid in disguise — Calling a culture remote-first while rewarding in-office presence.
• No async norms — Without clear expectations, teams default to constant Zoom meetings.
• Poor documentation habits — Decisions and context get lost without write-first discipline.
• Overlooking social bonding — Distributed teams need intentional informal interactions.
• Uneven time zone coverage — Hiring without timezone strategy causes collaboration lag.

Etymology

“Remote” derives from Latin remotus, meaning “removed, distant.” “Remote-first” entered popular use in the 2010s as companies began shifting toward remote work not just as an option, but as the foundation of how they operate.

Localization

EN: Remote-first

DE: Remote-First-Unternehmen

FR: Priorité au télétravail

ES: Enfoque remoto por defecto

UA: Remote-first підхід / компанія з віддаленим підходом

PL: Firma z podejściem remote-first

Comparison: Remote-first vs Remote-allowed

Mentions in Media

OysterHR

OysterHR defines a remote-first company as one that allows employees to work from anywhere without requiring office presence, while organizing periodic in-person meetups.

Velocity Global

Velocity Global explains that remote-first companies create systems, policies, and workflows to support fully distributed teams, treating remote work as the default.

CircleCI

CircleCI describes remote-first as intentionally designing culture and tools to be inclusive of remote workers so they are not treated as an afterthought.

Safeguard Global

Safeguard Global notes that in remote-first cultures, everyone has equal access to information, development, and management regardless of location, often using asynchronous communication.

Cheesecake Labs

Cheesecake Labs explains that remote-first companies treat remote work as default while still enabling optional office access for collaboration.

Growrk

Growrk defines remote-first culture as designing company processes and values with remote workers in mind even when physical offices exist.

Timely

Timely emphasizes that remote-first cultures treat remote work as equal or superior to office work, not as a temporary perk.

KPIs & Metrics

• Async Response Time — Avg. time to reply in written threads or tasks.
• Remote Onboarding Satisfaction — Surveyed rating after week 1 or month 1.
• Team Inclusion Score — Internal pulse on equity across geographies.
• Meeting Load per FTE — Time spent in meetings vs async.
• Documentation Velocity — Number of new/updated internal docs per team.
• Timezone Coverage Ratio — % of roles with adequate overlap across working hours.
• Remote Retention Rate — % of team members staying 12+ months in fully remote settings.

Top Digital Channels

• Notion — Central documentation and handbook system.
• Slack — Async and real-time communication hub.
• Loom — Video walkthroughs and updates replacing live calls.
• Linear / ClickUp / Asana — Async task tracking and sprint planning.
• Remote.com / Deel — Legal, compliance, and payroll for distributed hiring.
• GitLab / GitHub — Dev workflows and global collaboration.
• Google Workspace / Dropbox Paper — Collaborative docs and file management.
• Donut / Gatheround — Tools for async or virtual team bonding.

Tech Stack

• Docs & Wikis — Notion, Confluence, Almanac
• Comms — Slack, Twist, Threads, Mattermost
• Project Management — Linear, Jira, Trello, ClickUp
• Video & Async Updates — Loom, Claap, Bubbles
• DevOps — GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Codecov
• Payroll & Compliance — Deel, Remote, Oyster
• Calendar & Timezones — Clockwise, Reclaim, Timezone.io
• Wellbeing & Culture — Kona, Officevibe, Donut

Understanding via Related Terms

Async communication

Seeing remote-first through the lens of async communication shows how distributed teams rely on non-real-time channels to collaborate effectively across time zones.

Time zone overlap

Relating remote-first to time zone overlap highlights how strategically aligning working hours can boost collaboration without requiring a shared physical location.

Zone-optimized collaboration

Understanding remote-first alongside zone-optimized collaboration demonstrates how structuring workflows around team members’ local times maximizes productivity and reduces scheduling friction.