Athletic Bilbao is a football club founded in 1898, located in Bilbao (Spain, Basque Country). The club won “La Liga” eight times Although six of these victories occurred before 1960 and the last win goes back to 1984. Athletic’s uniqueness is that the team plays exclusively with players that are considered as Basque or with Basque roots. It is safe to say that Athletic will, most likely, not win any Spanish Champions’ title in the future, as it fails to line up a truly competitive team. On the opposite, FC Barcelona, another team with strong regional identity, will probably continue to win titles.

While Athletic’s “Basque” rule might bring a certain romanticism to the football business, it puts a lot of pressure on its competitiveness. Successful football teams mix talents from across the globe to line up the most competitive teams. When we look at FC Barcelona, we see that during the past season only two players with Catalan roots (Piqué, Busquets) were lined-up.

War for talent

While most companies have little to do with romanticism, they act like Athletic when it comes to talent recruitment and work from the office policies. On the one hand, companies impose themselves to work with employees located relatively close to their offices. On the other hand, they spend significant amounts of money to move talents around the globe. What’s the point to relocate executives at great expense to, say, New York? They spend half of their time travelling and the other half behind a computer or in calls. Not to mention the additional time, effort and stress that is added by moving away from family or tearing your family out of their familiar environment.

Tech companies like Buffer, Zappier, Automattic, Gitlab or Upwork attract and retain the best talents on the planet. Their secret? They operate entirely remotely. And it works. Gitlab, for example, is even going public (IPO) while reaching $ 1 Billion annual recurring revenue.

War for taxpayers

In a response to the Covid-19 outbreak, Californian tech giants, such as Twitter and Facebook enforced remote working policies until at least 2021. The results were immediate. The rent prices for apartments in San Francisco dropped by 20% as employees fled out of the Golden State [1]. Meanwhile, states such as Idaho, Tennessee and Arizona actively attract these new (highly paid) remote workers who enjoy spacious and affordable houses. Even outside the US, countries such as Estonia [2], Barbados [3], and Indonesia put in place remote working permits, inviting digital nomads to work from their country. And pay some taxes while they’re there.

So – will your company be FC Barcelona or Athletic Bilbao?

It’s very simple, remote companies attract and retain better talents. A new world of opportunities arises, and traditional companies will struggle to fight back. So what is your remote strategy? Will your company be FC Barcelona or Athletic Bilbao? Unfortunately, you’ll have to face the truth sooner or later: you have no choice. As Athletic found out, they’ve had to loosen their Basque criteria over the past five years[4]. Why? Nothing more than a question of economic survival.

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Sources:

1.      Wall Street Journal – Remote Work Is Reshaping San Francisco, as Tech Workers Flee and Rents Fall – https://www.wsj.com/articles/remote-work-is-reshaping-san-francisco-as-tech-workers-flee-and-rents-fall-11597413602

2.      Estonia new digital nomad visa –https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlai/2020/07/31/estonias-new-digital-nomad-visa—legal-clarity-to-remote-work/#25e94f5f433a

3.      Barbados remote work visa – https://www.traveloffpath.com/barbados-now-accepting-applications-for-1-year-remote-work-visa/

4.      Struggling Athletic Bilbao staying loyal to Basque-only policy – https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/struggling-athletic-bilbao-staying-loyal-to-basque-only-policy-1.3754023