Nearly half of Grindr’s staff left the West Hollywood company after being told in August that they needed to return to the office. But the popular LGBTQ-focused social and dating application is looking at those departures as an opportunity, a rare chance to remold itself. According to Grindr’s chief executive, George Arison, the employees who left have made it possible for the company to bring in people who are committed to Grindr’s intensive work mentality. Among these new hires, Grindr is specifically packing its employee roster with artificial intelligence experts to set the company up for the future.

Grindr announced in August that all employees need to be in-office two days a week. Departments were assigned specific “hub” cities to report to, including Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C. Arison said that employees were given the choice to comply with the policy or depart the company with a “generous” severance package. Of Grindr’s 174 employees at the time, the Communications Workers of America union reported that almost half, or about 80 people, chose to leave. Other tech companies, including Meta and Amazon.com Inc., implemented return-to-office policies this year after allowing remote work for the last few years.

Need for commitment

Grindr’s app boasts roughly 13 million monthly active users and has become a culturally significant tool for dating among the gay and queer community since its launch in 2009. To support those users, Arison said that the company is hiring new employees and is focused on finding people who are invested in Grindr’s mission to “connect queer people with one another and the world.” 

“I think what we’re going to see is more people like that joining the company,” Arison said. “(With them) we can be more productive, have better execution and do more by having work be the primary driver of people who work here and apply here.” 

The decision to return to the office followed an announcement in June that about 100 Grindr employees had filed a unionization petition with the National Labor Relations Board. The group, Grindr United, sought commitment from Grindr to uphold existing benefits, including remote work. Since the strict hybrid model was announced by the company, the Communications Workers of America has filed an Unfair Labor Practice suit on behalf of Grindr United, alleging that company management “unlawfully silenced workers attempting to speak about their working conditions.” 

In a statement, Grindr United member Erick Cortez said that the mandate and severance agreements “have left Grindr dangerously understaffed and raises questions about the safety, security and stability of the app for users.” 

Grindr said that the claims filed by the union “have no merit” and that it has full confidence in its team and their ability to sustain and grow company operations.

Leverage from layoffs

While it would have been much more difficult to return to office without losing employees two years ago, layoffs across the tech industry give executives an advantage, according to Rory Bebbington, chief executive of Marina del Rey-based recruiting firm Fabric Staffing.

“People are scared for their jobs. They’re also desperate for jobs if they’ve been laid off for quite a while,” Bebbington said. “Companies think ‘we can use that to bring people back into an office as leverage. That’s kind of our bargaining chip.’”

Arison said that while he respects that hobbies or family are a top priority for many, operational excellence at Grindr needs people who will make work their top priority, which includes coming into the office and being open to a 45- or 50-hour workweek. He added that he believes the new hybrid model offers substantial flexibility and that there has been “positive energy” in the office among employees.

When it comes to prospective employees devoted to the mission Arison has laid out, Bebbington said they may be hard to find.

“No one’s going to jump at that, for one thing ‘working 50 hours’ really means working 60,” Bebbington said. “You’re going to be looking for younger people that live, breathe and eat Grindr … which is kind of a startup-culture mentality. That’s fine for certain types of people, but you’re not going to get someone that’s late 30s, early 40s with a family or kids.”

Current job listings include positions across product design, engineering, marketing and information security, with base pay for salaries going up to $275,000. Competitive pay at a profitable company that’s focused on the queer community is a valuable part of Grindr’s value proposition to new employees, though the return-to-office policy has garnered criticism. Grindr released a successful second-quarter report prior to the policy announcement with $61.5 million of revenue, up 32% from the same period last year.

“It’s infuriating to see this happening … especially with the narrative that workers are lazy,” former Grindr employee Rowan Rosenthal told the Washington Post. “It’s such an easy dig when so many companies with remote work have seen record profitability.”

Arison said that Grindr is in both a rebuilding phase and a growth phase. The company plans to hire its team back to at least where it was before, and perhaps be even bigger. In its second-quarter report, Grindr raised its full-year outlook to 28% revenue growth, up from 25%, after seeing positive results from operational decisions, including a recently launched weekly subscription offering.

AI hires

As Grindr rebuilds its team, it’s specifically adding AI experts. The company announced the hiring of three new executives in September, notably Solmaz Torbaghan as the director of AI and machine learning. Grindr had previously applied AI solely to security functions, such as flagging illegal or inappropriate behavior. After expressing interest in developing “smarter” product features in an April blog post, the company is now charging ahead with user-facing AI tools. Arison said Torbaghan will be building out her team to do this.

When it comes to matching with other profiles on Grindr, Arison said that users don’t always showcase their personalities in their profiles as much as they do in private messages. With users’ consent Grindr’s AI could factor in users’ messaging and matching patterns.

“With their permission, we could understand who they are better through their messaging patterns and what profiles they touch, then match them better with other people who are the right matches for them,” Arison said. 

AI has become ubiquitous among tech companies, and Grindr’s AI venture is happening in conjunction with other major applications. Match Group, owner of Hinge, Tinder, Plenty of Fish and several other popular dating applications, said that its current AI interest lies in profile creation. 

“We’re actually creating a photo selection feature that we’re testing that can take all the stress away,” Match Group Chief Executive Bernard Kim said on a recent earnings call. “(It) can look at your photo album and say, ‘OK, these are the five best photos for your Tinder profile,’ but also still like remaining authentic to that person and the profile that they want to create. ”

As it addresses the aftermath of departures and AI expansion, Grindr is focused on attracting “committed” employees and using its positive second-quarter finances to propel growth and advance itself as a competitor to other dating apps.

“Now that we are more open and clear about the key values and operational model that we offer our team, and how we want to work, we’re interested in people who want to fit that mentality,” Arison said. “We want people who are really into going out for ambitious goals and being successful … it’s up to me and my management team to help (employees) grow and become better, and it’s much easier to coach when you’re in the office.”