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Given the recent economic downturn, some companies doubt the pandemic’s drive to remote and hybrid work will have staying power. In an April survey by Good Hire, 77% of managers said they would consider cutting wages after firing employees or refusing to return to the office. Most remote workers expressed concerns about lack of focus, negative impact on company culture, and productivity issues.
Oscar Matson has a different opinion. That’s not shocking — his startup, Everywhere, sells business tools to facilitate remote work. Allwhere, which is raising $9.5 million in seed funding from Discovery today, aims to work with companies to implement remote work structures, manage the lifecycle of devices from purchase to disposal, and build onboarding, engagement, retention and security programs, Mattson said.
“While the current market is temporary, the new ethos of flexibility and employee safety is permanent. “Teams are realizing that they can work more efficiently using a distributed model, and a rigid back-to-office plan often leads to high contributors falling behind,” Mattson said. “[But] After two years of remote and hybrid work, nearly half of knowledge workers still don’t have the tools they need to do their jobs. As a result, budgets are lost, and staff are thin, which is why companies outsource these jobs in the first place.
Mattson began his career at WeWork as a founding member of the company’s enterprise division before expanding WeWork with partners into childcare, food and beverage, mobility and other sectors. While seeing WeWork at its lowest points, Mattson said he finally saw the value in services that enable flexible working.
Mattson co-founded Everywhere in 2021 at DE Shaw Venture Studio at DESCovery, where he is joined by WeWork alumni Ben Kessler (Everywhere’s Chief Marketing Officer) and Josh Rosenthal (Head of Customer Experience).
“I saw a gap in the market for a solution that could meet the needs of businesses adapting to a new remote, hybrid and distributed world,” Mattson said. “Allwhere is an Old English word meaning ‘everywhere’, which is in line with our mission to support employees and employers in any workplace.”
It provides enterprise customers everywhere with hiring tools, products, equipment and benefits, even reaching vendors and suppliers. In addition to installing and restoring office hardware, furniture, and accessories, Every Location offers wellness programs, subscriptions, gifts, IT hardware repairs and upgrades, and more.
Using Allwhere, companies can build their own white-labeled “stores” with configurable kits and HR and IT process integrations. Dashboards allow management to manage tools, security and benefits, as well as budget and status updates. Meanwhile, given a link to the aforementioned store, employees can select the equipment, benefits and services they want and get tracking information as well as pick-up and delivery options for any applicable equipment.
According to Matson, Allwhere has worked with hundreds of companies that buy laptop products—branded bags, T-shirts, and the like—with clients who are first-time in-person employees.
“In fact, every location offers white-glove, personalized service at scale so internal teams can focus on other tasks,” Mattsson said. “Most companies are working with different vendors for all these different vendors, so the HR, IT and executive teams we talk to are often relieved to have a solution that does it all.”
Matson explained that during the pandemic, companies tried to increase the value of their IT assets, especially by reducing employee satisfaction. In the year A 2020 Nulab survey found that due to the pandemic, a third of people who work remotely have had to shop out of pocket for work.
Pressure to cut operating costs is mounting as a recession becomes a reality.
“Many companies are increasing budgets, downsizing their teams, and facing equipment supply chain issues for new hires. We address all of these pain points with competitive pricing and efficient turnaround, which both facilitate inventory and trim suppliers,” said Mattson. They sit at the core and benefit our customers, especially in the current market… While in theory it’s possible to have internal teams manage equipment management, employee safety and efficiency, among our other offerings, it’s not the most economically sound or effective solution.
Mattson says New York-based Allwhere currently has customers ranging from startups to enterprises in North America, Latin America and Europe — though he wouldn’t name them. The focus next year will be on hiring and expanding operations, as well as expanding the capabilities of Everywhere’s platform, he said.
“In response to demand, Allwhere continues to grow rapidly. We’ve tripled our size in a few months, and plan to double it again by the end of the year,” Mattson added.
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