How Is Your Organization Staying Connected?

Red Carpet During Uncertain Times
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Here at Prophix HQ, we moved to a virtual office after the second week of March. We have made the conscious decision to continue working from home at least through September 8th.

From day one, our Executive Team, Internal Communications Team, Social Committee, and others work to keep us connected with our colleagues, help us obtain the support we need, and ensure we’re able to support our customers.

Starting March 23rd, and every Monday morning since then, Alok Ajmera, President & COO, runs a Weekly Prophix Huddle. We gather via WebEx to hear the latest news and updates from Alok and other Prophix leaders. The floor is open for everyone to participate. It’s a great way to kickoff the week! Seeing our peers onscreen helps us to feel connected until we all meet again. It was particularly fun to prank Alok one day when we all joined the meeting with fashionable mustaches!!

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And of course, we were lucky to have Star Wars Day, May the 4th, fall on a Monday this year. Some of us of donned our Star Wars attire for the occasion.

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In addition to our weekly huddles, our Internal Communications Team updates us via emails. Those messages provide information about subjects like cyber security, health and wellness, tips for working remotely, and resources for parents with school-aged children, just to name a few! Initially, they sent these emails daily, now they send them weekly. Some managers set up additional weekly touch-points with their teams to keep the camaraderie alive.

Before the pandemic, Prophix employees participated in a wide variety of activities, from sports teams to our book club. While social distancing makes some of these activities impossible, many have continued. And we added some new ones to our repertoire. Virtually, we have:

  • Yoga
  • Guided Walking Meditation
  • French Club
  • Whisky Appreciation Club
  • Prophix Kids Online Group Classes
  • Lunch Time Games

Company-wide, we held our Prophix Chefs photo challenge, and soon we’ll host a “Meet Prophix Pets” event. We even had a virtual talent show - and boy do we have some talent! Our colleagues showcased an array of talent from music, fancy footwork with a soccer ball, and impersonations. Congratulations to the winners Zac and Rooz for their cover of “House of the Rising Sun.” Look out Coachella, Prophix may give you a run for your money!

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Our Customer Success Team has a weekly GIF battle in Microsoft Teams. Every week we select a new theme (like crazy hair or pandas) and participants post a relevant GIF. At the end of the week, we select a winner. Those winners get bragging rights, and they get to choose the theme for the following week.

Our Marketing Team ran a four-week scavenger hunt. They broke the department members into squads and they had to submit photos specified in the ‘hunt list’ (for example 5 points for a picture with a mailbox, 10 points for a photo of sidewalk chalk art). The hunt list varies each week and the squad with the most points wins!

These are some of the things we have done to remain connected and maintain a sense of normalcy. Moustaches excluded! What have you done at your organization to stay connected with your colleagues?

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We have 2 team calls weekly and then larger F&A team calls every other week. We use Zoom. Always talk about how things are going both with work and in our lives. Most of the time we get side-tracked into some random personal conversations.

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We do a lot of Zoom meetings and long before Covid-19 we’ve had an internal social media website (Yammer) to share IT tips, security precautions, company news -as well as personal items like pictures of weddings, pets and vacations. We’ve enjoyed a few Zoom meetings where the group dressed up like their favorite 80’s band and other groups have competitions for the best virtual background -like the Millennium Falcon cock pit or a deep sea diving video with a prowling shark. Don’t tell my team, but I have a backward facing roller coaster video ready for my virtual background on our next team meeting. Do you think throwing my hands up at random times during the meeting will be too distracting?

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Right before COVID-19 broke out, we started using Microsoft Teams for some meetings. Now with the Corporate staff working form home, Teams has become our goto meeting source.

Every morning we have 15 minute huddles with our Finance team members via Teams. We started these just via phone but switched over to Teams after a few weeks of working from home so we could see each others face.

All of our meetings that in the past were face-to-face are now via Teams.

We also have a Tuesday and Thursday 45 minute exercise class and a Wednesday Yoga class on Zoom for anyone that wants to join.

For fun, one Friday we had Happy Hour via Teams and another week we broke the office up into groups and had a Trivia contest via Teams. Everyone had a blast.

These are just a few things that we have done to stay connected.

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Wowsers, September 8th. I’ve actually been in the office about half-time (Mon-Tue-Wed then Mon-Tue) for the last few weeks, coming back to the office full-time after next week. We’re bringing everyone else back too over the next couple weeks.

Be that as it may, I think the one thing that kept us connected the most was Microsoft Teams. We used it for phone calls and video calls and instant messaging and note taking. It was installed just as we were dispersing to our homes. Definitely made a huge difference.

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Like everyone we’ve done a lot of zoom calls! Also, from early on we set up an internal phone extension # staff could dial and hear a pre-recorded daily organisation/ region wide update on various matters of interest to our staff.

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We have a lot of Zoom things set up to keep in touch with everyone. These are meant to focus on the more social side of things rather than having meetings to talk about work directly. The range from virtual coffee shops to virtual pub lunches. We also have week company wide catch ups to make sure that everyone is able to find out what other people are doing. Two people present in this meeting, sometimes about work and sometimes just to tell others a bit more about themselves.

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Daily conference call with my team with a set agenda. One of the agenda items is an ice breaker discussion. Over the past 3 months we’ve learned a lot about each other that we wouldn’t otherwise have been in a position to learn.

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Daily Zoom calls with individuals and teams… and of course, many ad-hoc connections as well. Can’t believe it has been 3 months already… but we are hanging on and getting through this together!

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Since I have been the only remote worker at my organization, when Covid hit, everyone else had a hard time. We had to invest in more go to meeting licenses. Everyone else quickly realized that they can do most things from home.

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I find these sidebar conversations great and very important. They replace bumping into people in the halls or in the kitchen.

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haha, fav 80’s band is a great idea, my team may not like that you’ve planted this idea in my head :wink:

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Our manager calls each of us each morning to see how we are coping? Other than that we have a few Microsoft Teams meetings. I think most of us prefer the working from home situation but we will be heading back to the office the week after next.

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We still go in to the office at least 3 days a week. We have a lot of google docs on when who is coming in and what days and what we are working on.

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We have Zoom meetings and conference calls. We probably need to do more to keep in touch

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I have worked remotely since 2012 so not much has changed for me. Email, chat and the phone remain the primary means of communicating; our team hasn’t really gotten into Zoom or other online meeting platforms.

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We’ve been having a lot of team meetings, internal web communications, and executive web conferences

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We have moved from using Skype to Teams. All meetings are held on Teams. Our social committee has organised virtual lunches for any staff who would like to join and catch up. We have also set up a staff feedback channel in Teams where we have conversations about gardening, which books we are reading, what puzzles everyone is working on.

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We stay in touch through the use of Microsoft Teams. It has been an incredible tool both when we were working out of the office and once we returned to the office.

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We have had our share of Teams calls but could use to more fun activities. Love the ideas!

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