Motus Pushes Work Forward With Permanent Shift to Work Anywhere Operation

July 8, 2020

SaaS Company Partnering with Restaurant Groups, Wellness Providers and More to Empower its 250+ Team Members with Innovative Collaboration Opportunities and Benefits

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#WFH—Motus, the definitive leader in reimbursement solutions for businesses with mobile-enabled workforces, today announced its team members will remain fully remote permanently as the company embraces the future of work. In order to make this transition successful, Motus is partnering with restaurant groups, wellness providers and more to develop innovative programs tailored to building culture and collaboration among a remote team. Headquartered in Boston with offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, Motus has had its team members working in a remote capacity since early March.

“At Motus we have always prided ourselves on being forward-thinking, embracing change, and continually focusing on establishing our organization as a purpose and place that our team members want to be a part of and contribute to. We may be ahead of ourselves on this one, but we simply do not think that the notion of ‘going back to work’ is the appropriate response to what has been discovered and learned from this pandemic. We are instead focused on ‘working forward’ and imagining what the future of work and life could look like,” said Craig Powell, President and CEO of Motus. “I am certain that we haven’t yet nailed it with respect to the perfect formula for ‘working forward.’ But, what I do know is that I would rather invest the dollars we spend on real estate – which is vacant, inflexible, and will be limited for months to come – back into the personal lives of our team members and ensuring that they have the best work and life environment that they can. We’re focused on building the best culture we can for our people and ‘returning to work’ isn’t it, we want to work forward.”

Motus decided to make the shift to work from home permanently after conducting an expansive employee engagement study that included surveys, interviews and focus groups. Results showed a trend towards remote work prior to the enactment of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, as less than half (47%) of Motus team members spent a majority of their time in the office before the implementation of isolation measures. Respondents cited the absence of a commute and additional time for personal pursuits as the top reasons for working from home. Additionally, 80% of Motus team members reported the current shift to full-time remote work has not caused a negative impact on their productivity.

“The strength of our WorkLife culture, built on the pillars of WorkHappy, WorkHealthy and WorkSmart, helped our team remain on track as we made the immediate transition to a remote workforce in the wake of COVID-19,” said Kristen Dooley, Chief People Officer of Motus. “We’ve always embraced opportunities for our team members to work from anywhere, whether that meant traveling or spending more time with their families while continuing to achieve exceptional levels of professional success. Now we’re solidifying WorkAnywhere as our fourth pillar as we implement new programs that promote meaningful and purposeful social engagement and connection for our remote team. We have and will continue to create an incredible work culture and engagements that earned us recognitions as a ‘best place to work’ – now we’re excited to do the same for remote work.”

While a lack of social interaction with colleagues was a leading obstacle for remote work, Motus is taking inventive steps to maintain a sense of team cohesion and strong culture while its team continues to work remote. To date, this has included a Find-Your-Own-Balance movement, #MotusFYOB, engaging team members and their families as well as partners and customers with entertainment, exercise and advice across digital channels. In the future, it will expand to include in-person opportunities including physical meeting spaces and events.

Motus has developed a two-phase approach for the permanent work anywhere transition. The first phase, while public health concerns persist, will include resources such as sponsored time management coaching to help team members develop a tailored personal strategy, company provided mental health resources including one-on-one sessions with therapists to adjust to a remote work environment, and virtual events that will feature a speaker series and concerts through vendors like AirBnB. Motus is also offering enhanced reimbursement for business use of a designated office space, flexible work schedules with the possibility of flexible work weeks and “no meeting” blocks, a full technology setup, and a one-time office stipend for team members to purchase office furniture.

Once public health concerns lessen, Motus will shift to the second phase of its transition. Phase two will include in-person meet-ups and events orchestrated in partnership with restaurant groups to help fill their unused spaces. It will also incorporate optional office venues through corporate partnerships in cities with Motus cohorts; coworking memberships for team members in cities without a Motus office presence; and experience-based destination summits for team retreats, company gatherings, onboarding and training sessions in unique locations.

“This process will not be complete tomorrow or even within 30 days, but WorkAnywhere is the future of business that we’re adapting to and embracing,” Powell added. “There’s an opportunity to come out of the pandemic as a more united and agile team than we’ve ever been and I’m proud of the way our team is rising to meet that challenge.”

For more information about Motus, its culture and available job opportunities, please visit: https://www.motus.com/our-culture/.

About Motus

Motus is the definitive leader in solutions for businesses with mobile-enabled workforces. Motus simplifies reimbursement and management of mileage, mobile devices and remote work with proprietary software that calculates personalized reimbursements for each employee, while improving employee productivity, reducing overall mobility costs and supporting customers’ tax and labor law compliance programs. The company’s unmatched living cost data, refined over more than 80 years and updated in real time, has made Motus the leading provider of mobile workforce management solutions for top Fortune 500 companies. Motus automotive data, captured and analyzed across the world’s largest retained pool of drivers, also underpins the annual Internal Revenue Service (IRS) business mileage standard, the amount an individual can deduct for business vehicle expenses. For more information please visit www.motus.com or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.