Building the Hybrid Workplace with Nitro

Nitro is a global document productivity software company accelerating digital transformation in a world that demands the ability to work from anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Why Nitro moved to a hybrid work model

Founded in Melbourne, Australia, Nitro has five offices worldwide that, up until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, operated as a ‘butts in seats’ company. Employees could work from home if they had to. Still, as a company that relied heavily on in-person sales pitches to drive business, Nitro’s leadership team never considered full-time remote work to be a viable option.

We spoke with Chris Kirby, Global Workplace Specialist at Nitro, to learn more about how hybrid work has and will continue to impact the people who work at Nitro.

The world of sales has changed

The global pandemic altered the way a lot of things are done. One of the most impactful changes as it relates to Nitro’s business, is how it has changed the sales process. Instead of prospective buyers specifically requesting in-person meetings before inking a deal, more and more people are opting for virtual sales conversations or asynchronous product demos.

This shift in mentality is a big reason why Nitro continued with remote-first work even after the COVID pandemic rounded a corner.

“We always thought we needed to be in-person to close sales. COVID proved that that just wasn’t true.

Location-independent hiring

Since becoming a remote-first company, Nitro has opened up job opportunities to applicants all over the country. No longer are they limited by geographical boundaries when searching for the perfect candidate. This change has allowed Nitro to hire incredible people who wouldn’t have even been granted an interview two years ago.

Back to making memories

With offices in Dublin, San Francisco, and soon to be Toronto, the cities Nitro calls home are some of the most expensive housing markets in the world. So when COVID-19 forced all employees to work from home full-time, many of them were working from small apartments shared by roommates or spouses who were also working from home.

Those working conditions played a part in Nitro’s leaders making the decision to reopen offices on a limited basis as a way to give their employees a change of scenery and an escape from their makeshift home offices.

However, Nitro continues to operate as a remote-first company, meaning that working full-time in the office is not necessary. To emphasize that decision, Nitro adapted its office space, transforming it into a place for connection, collaboration, and company events, not an office full of desks or cubicles. The desks in the office are all the same and all bookable by the hour or the day using the Tactic app. Nitro redesigned common areas in the office to inspire collaboration, culture building, and productivity.

“Tactic eliminates the traffic jam that is email and Slack. It gets us back to the office to make memories with our team.”

Nitro + Tactic: A safe return to making memories together

Prior to using Tactic, Nitro had no use for an office space management software. They had used Envoy previously as a de facto receptionist for visitors, but didn’t love the interface they used for office management. So when Chris got a cold email from Tactic that displayed a beautiful interface coupled with all the features they were looking for in a product, he knew he had found the perfect solution.

By partnering with Tactic, Nitro gives their employees autonomy to come into the office whenever they need, while at the same time accomplishing their goal to create offices focused on connection and collaboration. Tactic empowers Nitro employees to get back in the office on their own terms.

Nitro is preparing to launch Tactic in their offices worldwide, starting with a soft opening in their Dublin office in October of this year.

“Tactic is thinking about the hybrid workplace not as an afterthought, but the way it should be thought about. In a way, it’s the most important piece to working in our offices.”