While many companies are insisting employees
Bobbie Grafeld, chief people officer with Bill, noted in the announcement that about half the team is already fully remote, while the other half comes into the office three days a week under the company's hybrid policy. This created two very different employee experiences at one company, which led to a lot of time and energy working to bridge the gap between the two versus focusing on other priorities. Having two different sets of employees introduced hidden inefficiencies that slow teams down: uneven access to information, proximity bias and fragmented communication. Ultimately they had to make a choice. But while most organizations chose in-person, Bill has chosen remote.
"The remote population proved the model works: Hiring stayed strong, performance stayed strong, culture stayed strong, for half the company, for years," she said. "Instead of continuing to manage the divide, we realized the better path was to build one team that works the same way, with real programs for remote and for AI, at the same time, on purpose,"
For Bill, clarity and decision-speed matter more than physical proximity anyway, said Grafeld. She added that customers also don't really care how many days a week the team is in the office, they care about results. Becoming a remote-first organization is seen as a way to better attain those results.
"A team that isn't tied to zip codes is a team we can build with the best people wherever they live, moving at the speed our customers need from us," she said.
Further, going remote-first also broadens the company's talent pool as such policies tend to be highly desirable for workers.
This move does not mean Bill is abandoning physical presence altogether. There will still be an office and in-person meetings, but they will be far more purposeful and intentional than just coming into the office a few days a week. She said Bill is prioritizing thoughtful, high-value moments, including company-wide events, team offsites, planning sessions, and customer engagements.
"We believe time in-person should be purposeful, energizing and worth the investment, not something we default to out of habit," she said. "That doesn't mean the office disappears: For anyone who'd simply rather work from a desk than home, we're keeping shared spaces open too. Remote-first means the office is optional, not off-limits."
