It seems the remote work boom is starting to fizzle out, as more and more companies are issuing return to office mandates. But for HR leader Ann Hollins, remaining ‘remote-first’ is a strategic choice.
Hollins is chief people officer at Vertex, a tax compliance software and services company based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. She shares her thoughts about how she and her team strengthen employee engagement, streamline operations and build a healthy culture—all from their home offices.
How does your HR team enhance employee experience while streamlining operations?
At Vertex, we operate as a remote-first organization—a strategic choice that enables access to a broader talent pool while fostering flexibility, accountability and productivity. This model is underpinned by intentionality: We prioritize “moments that matter” by orchestrating in-person gatherings throughout the year at an enterprise and functional level that deepen cultural connection, spark innovation and unite teams around our shared purpose.
We ensure that our teams are digitally empowered, globally inclusive and strategically aligned. To support this model, we’ve built a robust digital ecosystem that enhances employee experience and streamlines operations across the lifecycle.
We use AI-powered platforms to gain real-time insights into engagement, capabilities and organizational health, which enables scalable personalization, workflow automation and data-driven decision-making. Through virtual onboarding, a new hire buddy system, executive connect sessions, employee-led resource group events and global wellness initiatives, we foster connection and support from day one.
Our remote-first culture is further strengthened by intentional communication practices and leadership enablement. We host regularly scheduled virtual and in-person All Hands sessions, leadership forums and skip-levels across teams and functions to promote transparency and alignment.
Our approach remains globally consistent while adapting regionally to workforce needs and business context. We also leverage tools to foster cross-cultural competence, ensuring an inclusive environment where employees everywhere can collaborate, connect and thrive.
How are you approaching employee engagement and development?
We strategically approach employee engagement and development as core business drivers, beginning with clarity of purpose. Our enterprise-wide objectives and key results, as well as our performance management process serve as the foundation—ensuring every employee understands how their work connects to and impacts our strategic objectives.
This strategy-to-execution framework creates alignment, accountability and transparency across the organization, enabling individuals and teams to focus on what matters most while driving measurable business outcomes.
Building on that foundation, we embed engagement into our enterprise rhythm through globally scaled, data-informed listening strategies that surface actionable insights. Our cross-functional engagement action planning teams then translate feedback into meaningful change at local and enterprise levels, ensuring employee input drives measurable business outcomes.
These teams and employee-led resource groups foster inclusion, connection and shared ownership, empowering employees to lead, shape culture and build community through purpose and belonging.
Development is a strategic growth engine at Vertex. Every employee has a personalized development plan, supported by quarterly feedback and curated learning pathways. Our LEAD program builds leadership capability at every level, while each function—whether in tech, sales or operations—offers tailored development experiences aligned to business priorities and future skill needs.
We’re also investing in AI-enabled tools to personalize learning, predict skill gaps and simulate career pathways. This future-focused approach ensures our workforce is not only engaged and skilled but also empowered to lead transformation and scale impact globally.
How would you describe your company culture and values? How do you recommend HR leaders share their culture and values to future-proof their organization?
Our culture is grounded in our core values of integrity, customer focus, performance, collaboration, continuous improvement, innovation and fun. These values are not just principles; they are performance drivers that shape how we lead, collaborate and grow.
Our culture is a strategic accelerator of where we’re going—it fuels our ability to achieve our vision, scale globally and deliver strong financial performance. As a high-growth, remote-first company, we’ve intentionally built a culture that empowers people to innovate, act with purpose and deliver impact across a globally distributed workforce.
We prioritize inclusion, transparency and trust, and we bring our values to life through everyday behaviors, leadership expectations and enterprise-wide practices that reinforce who we are and how we work.
Our people and culture team plays a central role in embedding these values across the employee experience. From onboarding and leadership development to recognition, performance enablement and talent management, our programs are designed to scale culture with authenticity and consistency.
We use digital platforms to amplify stories, celebrate impact and connect employees across the globe. Our employee-led resource groups are a vital part of this ecosystem—creating space for connection, inclusion and shared purpose across communities. These groups help amplify employee voice, foster belonging, and ensure our culture reflects the broad experience of our people and the wide-ranging markets we serve.
To future-proof the organization, a values-driven foundation must be treated as a strategic asset. HR leaders should codify core principles, assess organizational health and embed these values into every major business decision—from M&A to global expansion.
In a world of constant change, this shared identity becomes the connective tissue that drives resilience, attracts top talent and fuels high performance. At Vertex, our culture doesn’t just reflect who we are; it propels where we’re going.
How do people and culture strategies enable enterprise growth, transformation and global scale?
Whether developing new products and solutions or expanding into new regions and markets, we ensure that our organizational structure, operating model, talent and leadership are evolving to deliver on our strategic priorities. Our approach is grounded in intentional partnership—we work side-by-side with leaders across the business to co-create people strategies that are agile, scalable and built for long-term impact.
Talent considerations are embedded early in strategic planning, whether assessing leadership readiness for expansion, aligning organizational design with go-to-market shifts or preparing teams for M&A activity.
We are laser focused on further strengthening our core competencies while accelerating the development of new capabilities and business models in alignment with our growth strategies. While our approach is globally consistent, execution is tailored at the regional level to reflect business context and workforce dynamics.
This enterprise-wide collaboration is powered by data-driven insights and a strong cultural foundation. In a high-growth environment like Vertex, people aren’t just prepared for what’s next; they are the ones driving transformation, unlocking innovation and shaping the future of the business on a global stage.
