Latest / The Diversity Career Podcast with Fexingo: Inclusion, Equity, and Underrepresented Professionals / How a Tech Firm Made Remote Work a Career Accelerator for Rural Talent
Transcript
- Lucas: Picture this: you live in rural Nebraska, maybe a town of 3,000 people. The nearest office of a major tech employer is a three-hour drive. But you're a strong software engineer, or a product manager, or a data analyst. Until about three years ago, your options were either move to Omaha or Lincoln — or skip the tech industry altogether. Luna: Right. And that's exactly the kind of talent that a lot of companies say they can't find — but they're not looking in the places where it actually lives. Lucas: Exactly. So today I want to talk about a mid-sized software company based in Omaha — let's call it PrairieStack, not its real name, but it's a real company with about 1,200 employees. In 2023, they made a decision that most tech firms were walking back: they went fully remote. No hybrid, no mandatory days in the office. Luna: And they didn't just go remote for the sake of flexibility. They did it with a specific goal in mind — to tap into rural talent that was being overlooked. Lucas: That's right. The CEO had grown up in a town of 500 people in western Nebraska, and she was convinced that there were high-skill workers in small towns who would never move to a tech hub — but would be incredible hires if you met them where they were. So the company designed a set of programs around that idea, and I want to drill into the specifics because the results are pretty striking. Luna: Give me the first piece. How did they actually recruit these people? Lucas: They partnered with local community colleges and libraries in 12 rural counties across Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota. They placed ads in local newspapers — like, actual print. And they sent recruiters to career fairs in towns with populations under 10,000. But the real kicker was the mentorship track. Luna: What did that look like? Lucas: Every rural hire — and by rural, they defined it as someone living in a county with a population density under 50 people per square mile — was paired with a senior leader in Omaha or Denver. The mentor met with them weekly for the first six months, and the focus was on building visibility inside the company. Making sure their work was seen by decision-makers. Luna: Because that's the classic risk with remote workers, especially from non-traditional backgrounds — out of sight, out of mind. Lucas: Exactly. And the data shows it worked. In 2025, PrairieStack's internal mobility report showed that remote rural employees were promoted at a rate of 18 percent — compared to 15 percent for urban remote employees and 16 percent for office-based staff. So slightly above average, actually. Luna: That's a small margin, but it's meaningful. And it suggests the mentorship track was doing its job — closing the visibility gap. Lucas: Now, there's another piece: the co-working stipend. The company gives each remote employee $200 a month to use at a local co-working space. But in many of these rural towns, there isn't a WeWork. So the company worked with local libraries and community centers to set up designated co-working areas. They even paid for high-speed internet in some cases. Luna: That's smart because isolation is a real issue for remote workers. And in a small town, the library is often the de facto community hub anyway. Lucas: Right. And then there's the 'rural innovation grant.' Each rural employee can apply for up to $5,000 to fund a project that benefits their local community. It could be a coding workshop for high school students, a small business digital literacy program — anything that uses their skills locally. The company funds about 20 of these a year. Luna: That's fascinating because it turns the employee into an ambassador. And it gives them a sense of purpose that's tied to place, not just to the company. Lucas: Exactly. And the retention numbers bear that out. Among rural employees who received a grant, retention after two years was 92 percent. For rural employees overall, it was 84 percent. Compare that to the company-wide average of 76 percent. Luna: So the grant program alone seems to add eight percentage points of retention. That's huge. Lucas: It is. And the cost? About $100,000 a year for the grants. For a company of 1,200, that's trivial compared to the cost of turnover. And honestly, if an episode like this helps you think about your own career or how to structure inclusion at your workplace, that's the kind of value that — if it was worth a coffee to you — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just the smallest ask, no perks, no pressure. Luna: Yeah, it's what keeps the show ad-free and lets us dig into these specific cases. So — back to PrairieStack. What about the tension between flexibility and career advancement? Lucas: Right. That's the big question. If you're remote in a small town, are you less likely to be considered for the top leadership roles? PrairieStack's data shows that among their senior director and above positions, only 12 percent are held by rural employees — even though rural employees make up 22 percent of the workforce. So there's a ceiling. Luna: That gap is real. And it suggests that the mentorship track alone might not be enough for the highest rungs. Lucas: The company has started experimenting with something they call 'leadership rotations.' Rural employees who are identified as high-potential spend one month per quarter working from the Omaha office, with housing paid for. The goal is to build the kind of informal relationships that often lead to C-suite consideration. Luna: So it's a structured way to get face time without forcing a permanent move. Lucas: Exactly. And early results are promising. In the first cohort of 12, three have already been promoted to director roles. That's a 25 percent promotion rate over 18 months. Not huge numbers yet, but the direction is clear. Luna: What about the urban employees? Is there any resentment about the special programs for rural staff? Lucas: Good question. PrairieStack surveyed employees in 2024 and found that 78 percent of urban employees supported the rural programs. The main concern — voiced by about 15 percent — was whether there were equivalent programs for other underrepresented groups. So the company is now looking at a similar model for employees with disabilities, for example. Luna: That feels like a healthy tension. It's not 'we can't help rural workers,' it's 'how do we extend the same model to others?' Lucas: Right. And I think the broader lesson here is that geographic diversity is a real, measurable axis of inclusion — one that's often overlooked in the DEI conversation. If you're serious about finding the best talent, you have to go where it lives. And sometimes that's a town of 3,000 people in the middle of the Great Plains.