CPO Sara Diniz explains how Playlist is proving that remote work can drive both culture and performance
When Playlist made the call to go fully remote, it wasn’t just a logistical decision – it became the foundation of how the company attracts talent, shapes culture and integrates wellness into everyday work, says Sara Diniz, CPO at Playlist.
For Diniz, who was balancing a career in Boston with the challenge of supporting aging parents in San Diego, remote-first was not just an HR strategy but a personal lifeline.
That lens informs how she approaches leadership. One of the biggest advantages she highlights is the access to global talent.
“Remote work dramatically expands our talent pool, so we’re able to recruit top talent globally rather than being limited to specific office hubs,” she explains.
Remote work is no longer niche. In Canada and globally, it has become embedded as part of organizational strategy and talent management. A 2025 survey by spark*insights and Western Compensation and Benefits Consultants found that 81% of Canadians believe remote work is good for workers and 66% say it boosts productivity.
Diniz’s team embodies this, with leaders in Vermont, North Carolina and Brazil—proof that geography no longer dictates who can join the table. But that kind of dispersion requires discipline, she says.
“You have to be really intentional about how you bring the team together and how you communicate,” she says.
Intentionality shows up in her practices. Diniz holds monthly all-hands for her people and culture team, brings in themes to spark personal connection and ensures every new hire gets time with her directly.
Offsites as catalysts for creativity and cohesion
Still, trust and creativity can’t survive on Zoom alone. To avoid making remote work feel “more transactional,” Playlist invests heavily in global offsites and regional gatherings.
Not only have these offsites fostered collaboration among teams, but the company has seen tangible business outcomes, like a marketing project inspired by an offsite session.
What could have been just another brainstorm became a branded, market-ready idea that provided “great media exposure” and “a unique and interesting way for a brand to come to life for those individuals,” Diniz says.
“The payout is really in building cohesion around our vision and our strategy and then building those bridges, the trust and the morale of the team,” she explains. “One is example is when our marketing team was discussing an emerging trend around nontraditional dating experiences. This inspired a project that led to ClassPass hosting a singles-only event with Barry’s Boot Camp.”
Wellness as a cultural norm, not a mandate
Beyond connection, Playlist has woven wellness into its identity. The company has run wellness bingo challenges, incorporated optional morning hikes into offsites, and even encouraged stretch breaks led by employees who moonlight as yoga instructors or boxing coaches
“We understand that wellness means many things to many people. So, it’s not one-dimensional,” Diniz explains. “It’s also not unusual to have people come to work in their yoga pants or workout clothes. And it’s not off-putting, because this is just who we are, and it’s really embedded in our culture."
Rather than mandating participation, Playlist designs inclusive programs and lets interest drive turnout, she says.
“We never want any of our activities to feel forced, but our leaders also try to model participation."
That could be as simple as posting photos from a walk outdoors or joining a wellness challenge.
Rethinking onboarding for a remote-first workforce
Diniz is also paying close attention to onboarding – a major pressure point in a remote-first setup. To address it, the company recently piloted “New Hire Social Hour,” a space for recent recruits to connect beyond the formal training week.
“We recognize that one of the bigger pain points of being fully remote is the onboarding process,” she says. “The intention behind this is to bring new hire cohorts together after they’ve gone through the formal week of onboarding, so that they can continue the conversation virtually and help each other in those early days.”
Feedback loops guide many of these programs. One survey revealed an eight-point jump in well-being scores – a signal the approach is resonating, Diniz says.
“We get a lot of feedback out of our onboarding survey from new hires. So, we hear what’s working or what they want more of, and we can react to that feedback."
Clarity over compromise in the remote-first model
For other HR leaders weighing the “messy middle” of hybrid, Diniz believes that clarity matters more than compromise.
“I feel like it’s either clear that you’ve got to be in office a set number of days a week, or it’s remote first, so we’re all in the same boat, and that levels the playing field,” she says.
The remote-first experiment is still evolving, but at Playlist it’s already reshaped how talent is found, how teams bond, and how wellness becomes part of work instead of an afterthought, she says,
“I think the biggest question to me about being remote first is, how do you create that stickiness and those relationships,” she says — and for Diniz, that’s the challenge worth solving.
