How the tech company TaskUs anticipated the pandemic with its remote-work planning

TaskUs, the global digital-services company, was in the process of building a remote-work infrastructure when the pandemic hit in March 2020. The intent was to expand its workforce geographically and emphasize employee diversity.

By using a cloud-based performance-management system, “we could send employees home to do a hub-and-spoke approach, where people could work both remotely in surrounding suburbs, or from a central office,” says Vice President of People Operations Brandy Rosner. The company, with 30,000 employees and based in New Braunfels, TX-based, purchased a range of equipment to support remote work, including cameras to video conferencing tools.

The initiative turned out to be prescient. The program, called the Cirrus Project, pivoted to help now-remote workers adjust to working from home. Now it’s being used in the company’s return-to-the-workplace efforts.

The vast majority of TaskUs employees are still remote. An estimated 30% of the company’s workforce have chosen to stay remote. To address concerns for those coming back to a common workplace, the company put safety procedures on the intranet and created an open Zoom call for employees to speak with an HR representative and ask questions. Global hotlines operate 24/7, and its shared services team is always available across time zones.