It’s been a year now since the Netherlands went into lock-down as COVID-19 hit our country. Working from home, no more vrijmibo’s and the cancellation of the monthly meeting has an impact on your company and your culture. At Dynamic People, we are a very close team and many colleagues have contact with each other outside of work as well. Of course, as a company you can do all sorts of things to keep your employees connected. How did we do that? You can read about it here.
Usually…
In our life before Corona, we had all kinds of activities at Dynamic People. For example, we have an annual barbecue in the summer, we have unique event with the entire company every quarter and at the end of the year we have a weekend away with everyone. On Friday afternoons there are always some colleagues hanging around and every month we have a monthly meeting, with the entire Dynamic People team, where content updates are given by different teams. And, we are sporty too: every Tuesday we have a bootcamp after work and we regularly sign up for various sports activities (such as: The Dam to Dam, the Strong Viking Run or the Mud Race). Super fun! But of course, these are all activities that unfortunately had to be cancelled during corona.
And now?
Working from home as much as possible, that changes your life a lot. It’s important to stay in touch with each other. Not just by online events, but of course also by keeping your eye on your colleagues and making sure that your employees who need it, get the right attention. In my view, that is the most important thing and that comes in the first place. But of course, you also want to maintain your company culture culture. And that’s something you can do through fun actions and online events!
Dynamic People Got Talent Challenge
When working from home became the norm, we started the Dynamic People Got Talent Challenge. A challenge in which everyone could show off his or her talent: this could be a talent you picked up during corona time or a talent you already had. Our CEO Jeroen Bunck kicked it off with his multi-task talent: from hairdresser, to teacher and CEO, everything had to be done at the same time. After this he nominated 2 colleagues, who in turn shared their talent (in our WhatsApp group) and after sharing they could nominate one other colleague. So every day we got to see 2 talents. It was a very cool way to stay connected to your colleagues, and to get a glimpse of everyone’s life. We concluded this challenge with a prize giving ceremony: everyone could vote and a top 3 was chosen. These 3 were of course rewarded with a suitable prize 😊
Online bootcamp
The bootcamp on Tuesday evening could also not continue, so something else took its place: a half hour of digital bootcamp with our trainer Stefan. Tuning in from your own living room and still being able to get that work-out together, that was really nice. We even did a bootcamp suitable for kids, where we ended the work-out with all kinds of animal movements (a monkey, frog, or elephant). That way the little ones could join in at home too!
A little package here and there
To keep the organizational culture alive and the spirit high, we send packages every now and then. We like to celebrate successes together, so when there is something to celebrate, our colleagues get something send home. For example when project goes live, the start of a new assignment or the announcement of a pregnancy. We also regularly put colleagues in the spotlight during our business updates on Fridays, so that great work does not go by unnoticed. When sending packages, we always make sure that they really reflect Dynamic People. Because if our employees can’t come to the office, we bring the culture to them!
Online events
It’s always nice to see your colleagues at a get-together, in a different vibe and setting than during the workday. Since that was no longer possible, we decided to focus on the online events. Sometimes with a drink in our hand, but we always provide a fun activity. Sitting in front of the webcam with your drink and 50 people is fun for a few minutes, but not for very long. We once did a disco bingo, with Christmas we played “Rank your colleagues” and recently we did a baby quiz, where everyone had to send in his/her baby picture, and we had to guess who we saw on the pictures. Quite a challenge, but laughing guaranteed!
So…
Make sure you stay connected as a company. There are many different ways to do this, and it’s important that the actions you take also fit within the culture of your organization. This way, you don’t do something just for the sake of doing something. We keep going with new, creative online events and other actions. What about you?