👉 How do you Promote Connectivity (National Team) & be Budget Conscientious 

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TLDR: Encourage people to meet in person. If they live nearby or are in the same city as each other, put out an incentive to meet. Flying people out from different states or countries can be costly, making small groups within the company by location is the best action for IRL meets. Create location-based Slack groups and enable employees to plan meetups. Another method is hosting small virtual coffee breaks. The frequency of these coffee breaks should be high but the length of the meeting should be short. This will encourage people to come to the call and quickly chat without making it feel like another meeting. Having a couple of questions ready on hand will get the ball rolling. Another way that employees can connect is by renting out a WeWork or other coworking space. This way people can feel the sense of being in an office work environment, and communicate on the projects they are working on. 

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• Encourage people who live nearby to meet in person

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• Create some small groups where people don't need to travel extremely far

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• A virtual coffee break is capped so only the people who want to join will join. 4x a month is recommended. 

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• For virtual coffee breaks, it’s best to have a couple of icebreaker or discussion questions ready, or games for people to connect over

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• Make the meetings short and quick so people don't feel awkward or obligated

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• Looking into booking co-working spaces where people can go into the “office” and everyone can collaborate

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• Create a separate Slack channel where people who are near each other can coordinate meetups

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👉 How are Layoffs and Budget Cuts Affecting EX

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TLDR: Layoffs are a tough time, but letting employees know of their importance is crucial. Reassurance through small gestures, and letting them know how much they contribute to the company is important. HR and people teams also go through tough times as their team may also get smaller due to the layoffs. Creating a small support team for individuals to talk, or encouraging employees to communicate with their work friends is encouraged as this can be a stress reliever. 

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• Show respect and let employees know the importance they have contributed to the company 

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• HR and People teams also come together to support each other (often no one thinks of the front lines)

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• Create support teams or encourage managers to have team meetings on employee emotions as people tend to open up with who they constantly work with

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👉 Best Practices for Going Through Hard Times

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TLDR: When going through tough times, it's good to be near family, friends, or even pets. Having someone as support can uplift the mood and remove stress. When feeling stressed or overworked, simply allow employees to disconnect and encourage to employees to take time off. Burnout is bad, allowing employees to reset their minds and mental stability will help them get back on track. Placing boundaries is important in any workplace environment and letting managers know about respecting boundaries is critical. 

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• Family, friends, and pets can help reduce stress and negative emotions

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• Taking time off, and doing things that make you happy is important

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• Get away from your bed, work, and house to reset your mind and stability 

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• Disconnect yourself from all the tension buildup 

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• Take burnout seriously and enforce boundaries

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👉 How are Holiday Activities Right Now?

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TLDR: Most activities have been cut due to budget cuts, but the new challenge is how to make the same impact with a lower budget. Some have opted to remove gifts and divert toward more philanthropic benefits like planting trees or reducing carbon waste under employees’ names. Others have put more importance on having a EOY grand party rather than having multiple holiday events to save on costs. This way the comapny can still build connections, cater food, and create a overall fun experience for everyone. 

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• How to reduce expenses but have it not drastically impact the culture

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• Not giving out physical gifts but shifting towards something that can be beneficial like planting trees and reducing carbon waste

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• Parties in the large offices to let people relax and blow off steam

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• Renting out a comedy club, catering food into the office, and encouraging people to spend time with their coworkers

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👉 Vaccination Policies for Office and Events

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TLDR: Policies vary across companies for Covid-19, some have strict vaccination policies while others are more relaxed where vaccination is recommended but not required. However, most still have strict requirements where employees must be vaccinated when entering the office and take multiple rapid tests before a company event. Meeting clients, coming into the office, or company events, every employee must conduct a rapid test before entering. 

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• Before there was a vaccination requirement but now for events, there is no need due to recent studies. This has made vaccination a recommendation and not a requirement

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• Most companies still require being vaccinated before entering a event and must conduct a rapid test before entering the event and days prior to the event

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• Every employee, regardless of seniority, must be vaccinated

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• If one member of the team is positive the whole team will be notified and monitored

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• Meeting clients is a strict requirement on vaccination

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