How Side-in-Place is helping us get through shelter-in-place

Shelter-in-place orders have kept Bay Area offices shuttered for almost two months, and have quickly familiarized us with the challenges and opportunities associated with remote work. Here at Side, we’re committed to keeping our inSiders safe, productive, engaged, and comfortable during this time. Out of care for our inSiders’ well-being during this challenging time, we decided to quickly pivot and create an atmosphere of belonging and community on a day-to-day basis. 

Below are a few things that we did—and a few more that we learned—during this time that I’d like to share with you in hopes that you find it helpful.

We moved our virtual water cooler to Slack!

Early on, we wanted to assure inSiders that they were not in this alone. To foster a sense of belonging, we started a #social-hour channel on Slack that served as the virtual water cooler. Whether it’s a mid-day joke, a quick weekend update, or simply an interesting article or insight, this type of casual chatter is critical to building a sense of community and well-being at work.

We also established our “Side-in-place” weekly program—a calendar of daily events for our team, from the time they wake up to after-hours hangouts. Team members across the board offered their unique talents and expertise for the cause—from meditation and Zumba classes three days/week; how-to lessons for making dalgona and pour-over coffee; wildly popular baking classes with one of our software engineers; as well as numerous Lunch and Learns on delivering our sales pitch, optimizing Zoom for meetings, and using Slack effectively, to name just a few examples. 

We recognized that people’s need and desire to participate are different, so having options was important. Some people live alone, and after-hours movie nights or themed happy hours where you could share a glass of wine with a colleague and shoot the breeze might provide a much welcome company. Other teammates were so busy managing toddlers or just trying to find a quiet space at home to take a Zoom call, that these extracurricular activities might be impossible. So we had quick ways to still join the fun, with guessing games via our Slack channel such as, “Guess which baby this is” (featuring employee’s baby photos), or “Two Truths and a Lie” to see how well folks knew their fellow inSiders.

Your employees are more passionate and talented than you ever imagined.

In addition to the skills and talents that people are willing to share (pupusa making, anyone?), we have folks that go the extra mile to entertain others. Our leadership team has leaned into delivering these activities. Our VP of Engineering has led happy hours and taught margarita making. Our VP of Finance uses a different Zoom background for meetings, and also adopts a complementary personality for the day, whether it’s the Jake from State Farm, Wayne Campbell (Wayne’s World), Cady Heron (Mean Girls), or the local ABC7 News Meteorologist. We all look forward to meetings with Kris because he takes you out of the ho-hum of working from home. 

We have a higher turnout for learning activities.

Moving to a virtual state of affairs quickly forced us to think about what type of learning to offer, and how to spin it for virtual success. Overall, 86.2% of surveyed employees were satisfied with the program, which also uncovered a few key learnings for our team:

• Afternoon activities had the most engagement, with Lunch and Learns consistently garnering the most interest and sign-ups over other programs. 
• Slack posts such as facts, jokes, quizzes, and a “Guess which baby this is” had the highest engagement and 93% overall satisfaction.
• The top benefits of the program were being able to meet remote teammates and feeling connected and appreciated (especially for those living alone).

Seeing what resonated enables us to plan the next act (when we are eventually able to return to the office).

Perhaps the universal takeaway for all of us during this period of remote work is greater sensitivity, respect, and appreciation for all our remote employees. Having now experienced remote life “in real life,” we’re all better equipped to more effectively communicate, hold meetings, collaborate and otherwise be inclusive of remote teammates.  

While the situation is ever-changing, we know that the show must go on, and we’re here to distract from gloom and doom in all the varied, creative ways that we can with our team as we prepare for the new office environment that we hope to return to someday soon. Stay safe, healthy, and engaged. We’d love to hear what you’ve incorporated into your team culture that everyone might find helpful. Please share these in the comments section below.