To learn more about the daily lives of our Team8s working in different parts of the business, we created this blog series featuring some special guests. Today we sat down with David Wrangham, who is located in the US and works remotely at 8x8 as a Senior Director for Compensation & Benefits.

8x8: David, thank you so much for accepting our invitation. To get us started, would you mind sharing a bit about yourself with our readers?

David Wrangham (DW):  Sure! I'm married, and my wife and I have actually known each other since we were about 10 years old. We live in the woods outside of Boston, and have two children, multiple chickens and rabbits, and a dog. I was a Japanese Language major in university, and spent one year living in Kyoto just outside the old imperial palace. I'm a big comic-book and graphic novel nerd, and actually published a graphic novel myself before my son was born.

8x8: What about work, what do you do at 8x8?

DW: I have worked at 8x8 for two and half years. I started by assisting with executive compensation issues, and now I manage our global compensation and benefits programs.

“My favorite thing about my work is that no matter how deeply you dive into it, there is always more to learn and improve.”

8x8: Did you always know that you wanted to pursue a career in your current field?

DW: I was looking for a job in 2009 after the real estate collapse in the market, and there were very few options. A friend put me in touch with a consulting firm that happened to be hiring compensation analysts, and that was my first exposure to the world of compensation. Since then, I've worked a number of in-house and consulting jobs in and around compensation, and my favorite thing about my work is that no matter how deeply you dive into it, there is always more to learn and improve.

8x8: And what do you like most about working at 8x8?

DW: By far my favorite thing is the team. I love working with the people on my team, but the entire 8x8 team as a whole is really special. As every employee at 8x8 is touched by both elements of my job, compensation and benefits, I work with an incredibly broad base of stakeholders: individual contributors with questions about their pay, first-time supervisors supporting a team navigating benefits, functional leaders looking to optimize their incentive programs, and even the board of directors when our actions are going to impact the entire company. From the bottom to the top, I just think that it's a great group of people who are genuinely looking to improve the lives of the employees at 8x8.

8x8: As someone who’s always worked remotely, what are your thoughts on hybrid work?

DW: Indeed, I’ve worked remotely for almost all of my career, and it has really worked well for me. The life of a compensation professional is one that comes with extremely busy periods, and having the flexibility to stay close to my family when the days can get extremely long helps keep me feeling human. With that said, working well remotely, especially with a dispersed team, does require additional attention and focus. Not only is additional effort required to make sure that you are building a strong relationship with the people you work with, but in a global company it becomes vitally important that managers stay vigilant to ensure that we are working in ways that work for all of us. It can be easy to forget that others have different hours when you aren't seeing them every day.

8x8: What methods or tools do you most rely on to organize your work day-to-day?

DW: I mostly use an Excel file as a task tracker. Both compensation and benefits are pretty high volume groups, so it's important to keep track of all of the moving parts.

“8x8 is a great place to grow and develop ... the people and culture are among the best I've found.”

8x8: What’s the most challenging thing for you about working from home?

DW: Easy: looking out my window at the woods and watching the wildlife wander by. I live in a pretty remote area, so it's common to watch woodchucks, deer, hawks, and bobcats wander by outside. Last week during a call with a team member a fox ran by with a neighbor's chicken in its mouth. As you can imagine, it was quite distracting!

8x8: What’s your morning routine for a good day?

DW: The kids wake up at 7:00am, so if I want to get anything done before work, I need to try to get up a bit earlier. On good days I am up by 5:30am. I drink some coffee and take the dog for a walk before the children are awake. Then I get them to school by 8:30am and then it's off to the races.

8x8: How do you unwind and recharge after work?

DW: Mostly I spend time playing with my children with whatever they are doing (Pokemon, Harry Potter, Legos, etc.) In the rare moments when I have time for myself, I like to read books, work on the yard outside, and play overly complicated board games.

8x8: What’s something surprising that not many people know about you?

DW: I can proudly say that I have professionally washed dishes on every continent except Antarctica.

8x8: What advice would you give to someone interested in working at 8x8?

DW: 8x8 is a great place to grow and develop. There is lots of good work to do, and the people and culture are among the best I've found. Something that I found has really helped me in being successful in my work is honing and harnessing my organizational skills.

8x8 is made up of a diverse bunch of more than 2,000 highly driven Team8s determined to shape how businesses communicate and work in today's rapidly changing world.

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Read more in 8x8’s A Day in the Life series: