Work-life balance at ExpressVPN
An inside look at what our employees get up to outside the office—and how our culture supports them.
Our goal at ExpressVPN is to build an internet that's more private, secure, and free—and we couldn't do this without our superstar team. Everybody works differently; we believe people do their best work when they have the flexibility to choose how and when they work—and that work should complement and enhance one’s life, not compete with or detract from it.
Meet members of the ExpressVPN team—painters, parents, bakers, runners, and rock musicians—to see how some of us spend our time outside the office!
Renaissance woman
The work/life balance is one of my favorite perks of working at ExpressVPN! We have flexible working hours and WFH allowance, which gives me the flexibility I need to pursue my hobbies. Outside of work, I like painting and exercising—I take both quite seriously. Despite having a full-time job, I've been able to participate in art exhibitions and lead outdoor group fitness sessions.
Since joining ExpressVPN, I’ve rarely had to work overtime—which means no canceling nor arriving late to appointments with my friends and boyfriend. The flexibility allows me to arrange my schedule in a way that accommodates my hobbies.
I’m a bit of an early bird, so I enjoy starting at 8 a.m. so I can leave earlier and focus on my art.
— Laura, Localization
Breadwinning
ExpressVPN is particularly good at having a true "Goldilocks" situation with regard to work-life balance. I am extremely appreciative of the reasonable working expectations and the ability to shift time outside of core hours, which give me the opportunity to pursue the things below!
The biggest time commitment for me is our two young children, and given the situation over the previous year, most hobbies I've pursued have been home-based! I have been exploring baking extensively and have been bringing bagels, sourdough, rye bread, and other experiments to the office as I work through The Bread Baker's Apprentice and get better at this craft. Similarly, I've been able to get back to brewing beer at home, something that I used to do a lot but hadn't had the chance to do for years given the busy New York parent life.
The flexibility has been critical to being able to make a life here! I have two young children and my wife is a very busy entrepreneur whose job lacks much flexibility. Being able to shift hours from the edges of the day (outside of core hours) to respond to the needs of our young family has made it possible for me to be more productive and successful here at work as well.
Coming from NYC, I often felt that in order to pursue my passion and career as a developer, I had to sacrifice time with my family, and vice versa. Not only do I have the ability to have both here, I also no longer feel the constant stress of having to choose.
— David, Private Pipes
Lacrosse the universe
I really appreciate the trust the company places in employees to get their work done on their own time. We have core hours from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., but otherwise we can build our work schedules around the rest of our lives, whether that's running errands or going to doctor's appointments in the morning, going to the gym in the afternoon, or dropping your kids off at school.
There's also a real emphasis on fun and humor. We have a silly #pets channel on Slack that includes everything from cat memes to team members' pet hedgehogs. We do lots of fun team-building activities. Our Hong Kong office even includes a ping pong table.
I'm a bit of a fitness freak and like using my mornings to go to the gym or hit the running trails. I find it clears my head and helps me focus on work for the rest of the day. I also compete in various tournaments around Asia with the Singapore Lacrosse team, though sadly that's been on hold for the past couple years because of Covid.
Thanks to the flexible hours I'm able to drop my son off at preschool then head to the gym for an hour or 90 minutes without worrying about being chained to my desk at 9 a.m. I can also close my laptop in the early evening for my kids' bath time and bedtime, then get in a couple more quiet working hours later on.
I'm naturally a pretty driven and competitive person, so I love setting goals for myself and then seeing the results (probably another reason I love working at ExpressVPN, given our focus on OKRs!). I was recently able to achieve a longtime goal of running a sub-6-minute mile; before I had kids I used to compete in various 10k races in Singapore and elsewhere, with a few podium finishes. Now that I'm training more consistently I can't wait for races to start up again to see how I stack up!
— Kate, Content Marketing
Taking center stage
One way where ExpressVPN is particularly great at work/life balance is its focus on results, rather than face-time. If you spend 80 hours a week in the office but get nothing done—what's the point? Results matter, and everyone knows this, even right up to the top of the organization. One week when I was spending a lot of time working on a project, I even recall receiving an email from the boss which said something like "Hey, I've noticed you're spending a lot of time at work—don't forget to have a personal life, too!"
Outside of work I enjoy a range of activities, but mostly music. A colleague and I have similar music interests and formed a cover band. Mostly our gigs are a great excuse to go out and drink beer on Friday and Saturday nights, but it does require a fair bit more dedication to do it well. Thankfully with the company being flexible, we've been able to easily schedule practice time, and make it to events on time.
— Matt, Tech Architecture
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