17 Mar ‘Happiness Crews’ And ‘Culture Committees’ Are Making Isolated Workers Feel Less Lonely
I stumbled upon this article a few months ago and thought it was never more relevant than now! With more people working from home and working remotely, there’s a risk our happiness and wellbeing will suffer as we feel lonely and isolated. But as you’ll see if you read on, there are things we can all do to stay connected even at a distance…
via Forbes by Nigel Davies
When the CEO of Hyr heard one of his workers had slept badly before a big meeting because of her bedding, he ordered a set of feather-filled pillows and had them sent to her home. And, when a shift worker took a job at an outdoor market for the holidays, a member of Hyr’s floating community team showed up with an extra warm jacket for her to wear.
The company connects short-staffed businesses with a community of 20,000 gig workers that have experience in hospitality, retail or as brand ambassadors. Because those workers are spread out across 21 U.S. cities, Hyr has an equally well-distributed community team to make sure they feel supported.
Hyr’s not the only business bringing joy to distributed workforces. New York-based FitSmallBusiness, a resource site for small businesses, has a “culture committee” dedicated to creating and facilitating engagement events and employs a “people experience specialist,” a role filled by Tsion McNichols.Today In: Careers
McNichols says: “We hold events at times that are comfortable for our people in different time zones and encourage them to dial in through video conferencing. We play games that translate well over video calls like spelling bees, Pictionary, and bingo to allow for participation by remote workers. We also hold a company-wide weekly meeting on Fridays where everyone joins on video, followed by a social hour for people to get to know each other.”
The company also sends personalized gifts on birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays–a job that is automated through a site called Snappy–and remote teams get flown to New York City for two days per quarter to attend company events and meetings so employees can collaborate on projects, teach and learn new skills, socialize and generally get to know each other…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE