Our team has been fully remote since its inception in October 2019, with just five employees. In the past few months, we’ve grown to twenty-eight and as we grew (and continue to grow!), we needed to be more cognizant and intentional in our policies to maintain the team’s closeness and our collaborative, assertive culture, where each one is empowered to share ideas and opinions with the rest of the company.
Building the company culture of your dreams isn’t easy when working in a 100% remote set-up. While it offers great flexibility, it’s more challenging to strengthen bonds among employees and create the feeling of belonging. We asked members of the team what they believe helps us build camaraderie and even boost productivity, even as we work in different corners of the globe.
Erudit has built a 100% remote team bonded by extraordinary moments that match our extraordinary technology.
Here are five activities we've tried that have worked and are now habits and policies as we seek to build the successful team of our dreams!
Assign a buddy to new hires
Assign a buddy to new hires so they have a point person for random questions! Start them off with an introductory call to get to know one another, get comfy, and talk about what it's like working with the team. Buddies should check in on each other every now and then to make sure all is a-ok!
Social one-on-ones with colleagues and bosses
We have quick non-work one-on-ones to talk about how we spent the weekend, what's on our minds (apart from work!), hobbies, music, and more topics. We recently installed the Donut app on Slack to help randomly pair colleagues and suggest topics, though we don’t necessarily follow the guide. Allowing people to take thirty minutes from their work hours to catch up with a colleague helps build camaraderie and makes working together smoother and, well, more enjoyable.
Weekly company meetings with all cameras on
Every Wednesday, the entire company gets on a video meeting to show their faces and to get updates on each department. Turning cameras on, especially during the weekly, has become mandatory company policy. Seeing the faces, expressions, and personalities shining through the screens doesn’t replace face-to-face interaction, but it’s much better than staring at a photo or name!
Clarifying values and principles
As a young and relatively small team, we were able to develop our team principles together with a fun activity. Divided into teams, we were given various scenarios as prompts, for example: Your boss presents a the new company direction with new KPIs without consulting you. From these scenarios, we needed to think of a reaction and next steps. From there, we determined what principles mattered most to the team and what we wanted to uphold. Developing and agreeing to these principles as a team now gives us a guide of how to act and how to resolve issues, should they come up.
Team trips are a game changer
Spending days together in a new environment recharges our batteries and strengthens bonds with unforgettable, collective memories. Yes, it may be a costly investment, but there’s nothing like spending days together working and sharing new experiences to establish strong relationships with colleagues and get the creative, collaborative juices flowing. From the Canary Islands to bustling Madrid, and now refreshing Miami (from where I’m writing!), Erudit has built a 100% remote team bonded by extraordinary moments that match our extraordinary technology.
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