What is remote-first? In normal times, it’s an organization that is built in such a way that anyone can go remote if necessary.

“Whether or not you want to allow your employees to go remote, you should have the processes in place to be able to just-in-case because you see transportation problems loom all over the world, weather problems all over the world, sick children at home. There were all kinds of reasons why a business should be putting remote processes into place,” said Lisette Sutherland on this episode of The New Stack Makers.

For Sutherland, founder of Collaboration Superpowers remote team workshops, longtime remote work podcast host, and author of A Handbook on Working Remotely — Successfully — for Individuals, Teams, and Managers, we’ve been technologically ready for a remote-first world for about five years now. And she says there’s always been logic in factoring a remote-first mindset into your business continuity planning. Plus, giving the option of remote work often makes for a much more inclusive workplace that in turn empowers a business to hire the best candidate no matter where they live.

With remote work, “people can hire people who love what they do, rather than people who are just doing their job,” Sutherland said.