Your Flexible Work Strategy Will Show Up In Your Earnings

How organizational culture and flexible work strategies shape innovation in your products, employee experience, and business results.

You can’t design what you don’t understand.
You don’t understand what you don’t live.

This week’s thought letter explores what happens when internal culture and external value drift apart. And why the companies that thrive are the ones where work and life evolve together.

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This article was initially published on Forbes»»

How can a company that speaks out against work-from-anywhere build products for people who work from anywhere?

You can’t design what you don’t understand.

You don’t understand what you don’t experience.

If you've never used your laptop for video conferencing, you might not have noticed that some high-end models hid the webcam at the bottom of the screen.
If you've never tried to run a meeting from a busy cafe, you might not have cared about noise-canceling microphones.
If you've never recorded a podcast or webinar, you might not have wrestled with the question: screen or camera?
If you've never set up an ergonomic workspace wherever you could grab a seat, you might not have noticed how tools designed for “average” users exclude everyone else.

Today, work is flexible, personal, and mobile. The best tools—and the best companies—are built by people who live that reality, not just theorize about it.

Flexibility and DEI aren’t just policies. They are principles that shape your people, your processes, your culture—and ultimately, your products. Or they don't.

Too often, companies treat remote work and diversity initiatives as isolated policy efforts. But they’re not. These choices influence who you hire, how you lead, what you learn, and how you innovate. In the end, they define the products you build and the markets you serve—and determine how your company competes and grows.

Take the difference between Dell and Logitech, both common household names for students and knowledge workers. But how each company has evolved—how they work alongside what they build—has been very different.
And it shows in their business results.

In early 2024, Dell told its remote employees they were no longer eligible for promotion or to change roles. In other words, employees who were experiencing work-from-anywhere were being sidelined, and those who conformed to office-based work were being promoted. By design, the policy discourages both employees and managers from gaining experience with distributed work—or developing the skills needed to succeed in it.

With that policy, Dell chose to distance itself from its customer base: the people who want to know they have the tools to work from anywhere. By the end of 2024, Dell's consumer business—its Client Solutions Group—saw a 16% decline in revenue and 8% decline in operating income year over year.

In contrast, Logitech offers a powerful case study for a company that understands its employees must mirror its customers — in who they are, where they work, and what they need. On The Future Of Less Work podcast, Delphine Donné, general manager of personal workspace solutions, explained that designing human-centered tools for a diverse, flexible world requires a workforce that lives those realities firsthand.

As Donné put it: "It’s understanding that everybody has different needs. Some people work at home, some in the office. Some have very complex tasks, and some want something very simple. Understanding the diversity of the future of work drives how we integrate innovation into our products."

When Donné took over her group in 2018, just 28% of her team were women. Today, women make up half. That shift wasn’t driven by a DEI checklist but by business necessity. As Logitech expanded its focus on well-being and ergonomics, it became clear that a homogenous team couldn't fully understand the diverse needs of a global, on-the-go workforce. Products like the Lift mouse, optimized for smaller hands, emerged directly from more inclusive conversations at the table.

But it goes deeper.
Organizations that succeed in designing for remote and hybrid workers often start by ensuring their own employees are remote and hybrid workers. Teams spread across time zones and continents must collaborate in ways that respect not just work needs, but also personal lives, family obligations, and well-being.

Flexibility policies in these organizations aren't framed as perks. They are foundational to innovation, embedding lived experience into product design: for digital nomads hosting meetings in noisy environments, for creators recording podcasts in public spaces, for professionals managing complex tasks across shifting contexts—because their teams live those realities firsthand.

As Donné summarized: "This culture of diversity and inclusion, how you bring people into the conversation, what tools you give them to be successful and be at their best—that's what drives better products and better business outcomes."

In 2024, that alignment showed up in performance: Logitech’s Personal Workspace Solutions group helped drive a 28% increase in company operating income year over year, reinforcing the link between culture, product, and business growth.

At a time when many companies are retreating from flexibility and rethinking their DEI efforts, Logitech’s story offers a powerful counterpoint. The organizations that will thrive aren’t the ones clinging to legacy models. They’re the ones building cultures that reflect the people they serve—and turning that alignment into better products, deeper relevance, and measurable business results.

The culture-product feedback loop is real. Leadership decisions—like allowing teams to determine how and where they work—don’t just show up on engagement surveys. They ripple outward into better insights, more relevant products, and ultimately, stronger growth.

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Your Turn:

Where do you see the gap between culture and product in your industry?
And who’s getting it right?

Served weekly with ❤️,
Nirit