In this episode of Redefining HR, I’m sitting down with Oyster CEO and founder Tony Jamous. I was thrilled to talk with Tony and discuss all things remote work. In this conversation, we’re talking about Oyster’s origin story, what scaling has looked like over the last two years as the demand for remote work has surged, his thoughts on building a thriving culture through globally and culturally distributed work, and much more.

Oyster is a global employment platform that has helped companies with their hiring processes and other HR services such as payroll, benefits, etc. Before Tony founded Oyster, he was the CEO and co-founder of a company called Nexmo, a hyper-growth company that Vonage acquired in 2016. But his passion for technology and equal opportunities for people started from a young age.

When he was a teenager, Tony had the opportunity to move to France to study computer science. The experience left a lasting impression and influenced him to create Oyster to be “first and foremost” mission-driven and help reduce the inequality of access.

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Benefits of Distributed Work

Oyster started right when the pandemic took a turn for the worse. Usually, a company starting out will have a slow but steady progression of scaled growth, but Oyster was different due to the effects of the pandemic and people needing talent for remote jobs. Oyster’s experience has been unique but consistent with its mission, which is to prove that distributed employment is better for business and people.

Tony shares that they’re building the “Golden Triangle of Hypergrowth,” which involves customer satisfaction, employee well-being and engagement. By balancing these three principles, Tony and his team have been able to find success and even spot early signs of damaging factors such as burnout. 

Tony shares, “We are intentionally building a company that is designed to prove that distributed work is better for your business, is better for your people and is better for the planet.”

It’s More Than Just the Work Structure

There are multiple variations of what structures like hybrid work look like. And in the path that we are on, it’s more than likely that hybrid work will become the default in our society. This has caused some to debate hybrid versus distributed, but Tony says models don’t matter in this case. 

When it comes down to it, work models don’t matter as much as building “a culture and systems and principles that make people successful no matter where they are.” It’s about creating a sense of inclusivity in business, and the only way that’s done is by changing the culture and how you work together. That has to start with a commitment from leadership.

Modeling the Principles in Real Time

As a CEO, Tony is committed to proving that a distributed culture is best through modeling inclusive and positive behaviors in his role. One way he’s done this was by taking six weeks of paternity leave when his third child was born. 

Paternity leave isn’t common in the U.S., especially for a CEO. But to Tony, other than being there for his family, it was also about modeling a work-life balance. This was particularly important personally, as he had experienced burnout at work before. Tony understood that he needed to define that line because if his team saw him burning out, they would expect the same for themselves. And that’s something that Tony wants to avoid.

So he met with his team to ask for advice and to devise a plan for his paternity leave, giving the team a closer look at the leader that Tony strives to be. Tony also modeled asynchronous collaboration, which is vital for the perfection of distributed work, as a way to still be up to date on what was going on while he took the time he needed for his family. 

And because of the solid foundation that Oyster has and the distributed culture it maintains, the company was still succeeding. “Not only did the business survive without me, it thrived without me,” says Tony.

People in This Episode

• Tony Jamous: LinkedIn, Twitter, Oyster website