Revolut is the fintech company from the UK that has taken the financial world by storm since 2015 – not least during the Covid-19 pandemic. Having successfully broken into three new markets during 2020 made the company rethink their current business model and change permanently to a more flexible one in February 2021.
“Our employees asked for flexibility and that’s what we’re giving them,” commented Jim MacDougall, VP People at Revolut.
Revolut started out as an app for currency exchange and money transfers but quickly turned into what’s become the “global financial super-app” with more than 15 million active users worldwide. The app is used by both private and business clients who want to be able to manage their finances, regardless of their whereabouts, in an easy way as long as they’ve got internet access. Revolut entered the Swedish market in 2017 and has of today 180 000 active users.
Jim MacDougall says there were no active plans on changing over to a more flexible business model pre-pandemic. However, after conducting internal surveys regarding the employees attitude towards new working conditions during Covid-19, they had no choice but to reevaluate the entire company structure.
According to said surveys, 98% of the employees considered themselves having adapted very well to working from home and 90% of company team leaders reported seeing no negative effects on the overall employee performance. 80% of employees also reported teamwork still functioning well despite team members being distributed in different locations. But as many reports have come to show since the pandemic started – employees everywhere tend to miss their coworkers and having an actual office to go to. Revoluts employees being no exception.
New hubs for teamwork – introducing RevLabs
Employee feedback made Revolut come up with a hybrid work model that allows employees to keep working remotely, while the company will keep providing a physical space to work from. These new spaces, called RevLabs, will however aim to be more of a meeting point and flexible working surface, than the “typical” office we’ve been used to seeing in the past.
“In our RevLabs, 70 % of the space will be dedicated to teamwork and meetings, all according to our employees’ wishes.”
With this new business model follows a policy that allows employees to spend 60 days a year working abroad. The policy mainly aims to give employees from other countries the opportunity to visit friends and family back home more often, or to simply stay for a longer visit. Although Revolut might also have to prepare for local employees jumping at the chance of working elsewhere to try out what it’s like living as a digital nomad.
“The new policy also means that we can hire talent outside of London and New York. We want to give our Revoluters as much freedom as possible,” says Jim and continues:
“Personally I prefer working from home most of the time, taking a walk or going for a run instead of spending time commuting to and from the office. When the travel restrictions lift I look forward to spending more time abroad or in my hometown with my family.”
Being remote first makes Revolut a more attractive employer as talents from all over the world are turning their attention to those companies who offer a more flexible form of employment. In other words – the future’s looking good for Revolut who’s expecting to keep growing in the years to come.
Written by: Ronja Missler
Freelance Writer ⋮ studio CREATIVA
Advocate for people creating a lifestyle where everything doesn’t revolve around work, while the work you actually do should be something you’re madly in love with. The love of my life is writing – what’s yours? Skilled in SEO, Copywriting, Digital Marketing, Content Creation, Social Media and Community Management.
