The logo of Robinhood Markets, Inc. is seen at a pop-up event on Wall Street after the company's IPO in New York City, U.S. July 29, 2021. Jan 12, Reuters -- Online trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc HOOD.O said it plans to move a majority of its 3,400 employees to remote work permanently, joining a slew of top tech firms that embrace a hybrid culture.
The plans for which were shared with employees in December will help create an accessible workplace, according to a statement from the California-based company's move to adopt a'remote first' approach.
Cynthia Owyoung, vice president of equity, inclusion and belonging at Robinhood, said that being able to go mainly remote means that now we can recruit and attract talent from almost anywhere.
Robinhood said some teams will have to live within a commutable distance to an office location due to regulatory and business reasons, and a small segment will still need to work from the office. It expects to see no change in the compensation structure of its staff.
Tech giants such as Twitter Inc TWTR.N Meta Platforms Inc FB.O and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O opted for flexible working policies early on in the COVID 19 epidemic.
A number of big U.S. companies, including JPMorgan JPM.N and Goldman Sachs GS.N, have been forced to delay their back-to- office plans due to the uncertainty surrounding the fast-spreading Omicron coronaviruses variant.
Robinhood was founded in 2013 and quickly exploded among retail investors due to its easy-to-use interface and commission-free trades.
It was instrumental in fueling the meme stock frenzy last year, but technical glitches and a temporary restriction on trading securities of GameStop Corp GME.N embittered some of its users in January 2021, which was a factor in the meme stock frenzy.