There was a story that caught my attention in the news recently. It was about how to use ‘mouse jigglers’ – a gadget that will automatically move your mouse to prevent your computer from going to sleep. 

Why would you need one of these? Well, if you’re a part of the one-third of UK workers being watched when working remotely you might be looking for a way to outsmart your boss. Mouse jigglers are a £25 shortcut to “working hard” in the virtual world – a symptom of thinking about productivity in quantitative terms. Despite evidence of productivity gains from home working post-pandemic, many companies still struggle with trusting their employees to do their work when they’re out of view. 

At Samsara, trust is at the core of our company culture. In fact, it’s at the core of what we do. Our innovations in increasing the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power our global economy are driven by trust. Trust in technology. Trust in our customers. And trust in our people. 

When we trust you, you trust us

When the pandemic first hit it was all too tempting for organizations to see remote working simply as a placeholder. They could continue to use the same approaches to engagement and productivity as they had done at the office. Namely, watching and listening to spot if their employees had the audacity to be away from their desks for any length of time. 

When we shifted to home working, organizations began to open their eyes to what that was: micromanagement. Being constantly monitored and checked up on negatively impacted employees across the spectrum of traditional performance indicators, while increasing levels of stress and anxiety, too. 

My view – and what we nurture at Samsara – is that leaders place intrinsic trust in their employees to get the job done. People join Samsara because they want to grow professionally, make an impact, and contribute to creating a more sustainable world. When our Samsarians feel trusted we know that we can trust them to do exactly that.  

Raising the bar with flexible work and leave policies 

There are two key ways we embody this. First, Samsarians have the choice to work from anywhere. They can come to the office or work remotely, whichever they prefer. 

Our office hubs from Paris to Warsaw have been designed to nurture collaboration and communication – those human connections that might be harder to cultivate when working virtually. At the same time, our work-from-anywhere policy is all about supporting employees to do their best work in their chosen environment. We have every Samsarian complete a home-office ergonomic assessment so that we can provide the furniture and equipment needed for a productive and healthy workspace at home. 

Secondly, we offer flexible working hours. You might need to pick up the kids before a meeting or find you focus best in the early mornings so you want to schedule some do-not-disturb time then. We give our employees as much flexibility as they need because we want to enable our teams to thrive both professionally and personally. In fact, it’s vital. Personal well-being informs professional well-being and vice versa. You can read more about our flexible working policy here.

The importance of a holistic people agenda

It’s all part of our efforts to create a workplace experience that is based on a view of our people as a whole. 

We know that you have a life outside of work and we want work to be a positive part of that whole picture. I believe that Samsara has raised the bar in recent years for how we are making sure that employees are taking the time off that they need. We’ve designed full pay leave programs for all of life’s diverse experiences, whether that’s becoming a parent, looking after aging parents or sick children, or taking time out to work on improving our own mental health. As a bonus, we’ve also thrown in a six-week sabbatical for every five years of service!

We recently had our bi-annual mental health day – an extra day off where we encouraged Samsarians to take time to rest and recuperate with their loved ones. We introduced this day to help relieve that “always-on” feeling of work which can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout. 

Samsarians across the world went hiking, to the beach, and spent time with their families or simply chilled in a chair with a good book or podcast. It was great to see them doing what they enjoy to recharge.

Protecting and promoting mental health has always been important to Samsara and we make sure Samsarians have easy access to counseling when and if needed. We’ve also got a range of other initiatives designed to foster psychological well-being including meditation classes and a quarterly mindfulness allowance that Samsarians can spend on wellness, fitness, or other personal development. 

Joining Samsara

We’re always on the lookout for smart people passionate about our mission to build a smarter, more sustainable world. Take a look at our careers page to view open vacancies and find out more about what it’s like to be a Samsarian. We look forward to meeting you.