Q&A series about Insider Inc.'s COVID-19 response: Here’s how we're supporting a newly remote workforce during the pandemic
As the Insider Inc. workforce settles into a “new normal” in the wake of coronavirus, the People & Culture and Employee Experience teams have been moving quickly and creatively to offer new events and workshops, ways to stay connected, and helpful resources to maintain our unique company culture.
We conducted a (virtual) interview with members of our People & Culture team about various aspects of the current situation. In part two of this three-part Q&A series, Margaret Bowani, senior vice president, People & Culture, Melanie Naranjo, director, People & Culture, Ali Fetzer, manager, People & Culture, and MoMo Lamping, manager, Culture & Employee Experience, talked about what they’re doing to help and the thinking behind some of these initiatives.
Read part one of the series about how we prepared for the crisis here.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
(from left) Nikki Torres, Front Desk Coordinator; Ali Fetzer, Manager, People & Culture; Margaret Bowani, SVP, People & Culture; Melanie Naranjo, Director, People & Culture; MoMo Lamping, Manager of Culture & Employee Experience.
This can be an isolating time. How are you helping employees stay connected? How is Insider handling this on a company-wide basis? What have you seen individual teams and departments doing?
Melanie Naranjo (MN): This is an interesting question because on the surface it can seem like there’s no risk of losing that sense of connection. We have a fairly meeting-heavy culture, and so we “see” each other every day. What we’ve found, however, is that simply seeing each other in a virtual capacity doesn’t have the same impact as our in-person meetings. It’s harder to capture things like body language and mood — there’s no opportunity for those more organic, shared moments, like walking over to a conference room together.
At a company-wide level, we’ve worked hard to make up for this by investing a majority of our efforts on prioritizing those more lighthearted, shared moments together. We’ve rolled out several buddy programs and picture contests (“best work from home buddy” is my favorite — I’m all about the hilarious “cat coworker” pictures), and have made a concerted effort to encourage people to take advantage of our social Slack channels (no surprise here: #cats is my top go-to). We’re also leveraging our employees as resources for events. One great example is our WFH Q&A. Three of our employees who work remotely year-round answered questions during a company-wide live Q&A on their top tips and tricks for kicking major butt at working from home. Not only did this provide great exposure and career development opportunities for our Q&A hosts, it also gave everyone a chance to connect with them in a more informal setting.
At the team and department-wide level, the leaders at our company have risen to the occasion with unparalleled aplomb. Walking meetings, morning check-ins, and end-of-day sign offs have become our new norm. Our shoutout and props culture has never been so active. Leadership has been hosting weekly office hours and Q&As. And making time for “fun” has become everyone’s new priority: virtual happy hours have sprouted up all across the company (as it turns out, it is 100% possible to host a successful department-wide trivia night over video call — thanks to our tech and product teams for testing that one out). Many of our teams are making sure to start every meeting with a fun icebreaker. Our SVP of Tech has had success with the fun getting-to-know-you game, Two Truths and a Lie. My favorite so far has been a quick round of Heads Up!, which never fails to energize the entire “room.”
Now more than ever, people are being open about the mental and emotional impact of this crisis. How are you supporting employees who feel stressed and overwhelmed?
Ali Fetzer (AF): We have worked to ensure we have many resources for employees who are feeling overwhelmed and need more support. We’ve encouraged employees to take breaks throughout the workday to increase mental stimulation. There is an open dialogue throughout the company about struggles and positive ways to cope, including encouraging employees to take PTO even while we’re WFH! Taking mental health days is key and our leadership has promoted examples of ways to spend days off to give ourselves a break.
Our Employee Assistance Program is a free resource we offer to all employees to provide support, counseling services, and an assortment of resources. In addition to promoting this, our EAP hosted a grief counseling training for our employees and managers. We have been encouraging employees to use this resource for support during this time.
In addition, the People & Culture team has created a remote period FAQ which provides helpful answers and resources for our employees, including links to free exercise programs, training tailored toward mental health, and at-home meditation. We’ve hosted weekly live health events, including workout classes and at-home massage, which engage our employees and give them a chance to relieve some stress!
How is Insider supporting parents and other caretakers who are balancing work with homeschooling, caretaking, and more?
AF: Insider has worked to prioritize the support of those who are balancing work with caretaking. We realize that the burden of working full time along with caring for children is incredibly challenging, and therefore we’ve worked to create a flexible work schedule for all employees with support and encouragement from leadership at the company. There can be a lot of meetings throughout the day, so we’ve encouraged employees to replace meetings with emails whenever possible.
Insider has integrated parenting into many of our events. Employee Resource Groups Hue and Rainbow both hosted fireside chats with parents in March. We also encourage parents to involve their kids and families in our weekly fitness activities and fully welcome and embrace kids in the background of meetings!
Our parents have come together in our #parents Slack channel to support one another with ideas like how to occupy children of different ages and assist them with homeschooling. They have created a community with open communication and encouragement from those going through the same thing. The Employee Experience team has created a parent buddy program to pair parents up to have a network of support during this unprecedented time.
How did you pivot in-person Culture Club events to virtual ones?
MoMo Lamping (ML): There were three things we quickly learned were essential for laying a strong foundation for our remote period events — accessibility, engagement, and communication.
Our employees are living and working all over the world so we have been extra diligent in remaining aware of time zones when scheduling our events, making sure we share dial-in links in all communications, and we’ve also committed to recording all of our meetings and trainings so employees can view them at their leisure.
When you’re working from home, it can be easy to feel isolated and lose your sense of community. Our team has worked hard to maintain the social and interactive feel of our events. We’ve pivoted from bake-offs and happy hours to recipe contests and virtual mixology lessons. These events still have the community feel but can be done on your own at home.
We’ve also made a conscious effort to give back to our community in this time of need. We’re using our supplies budget to make donations to local businesses and pay freelancers to provide virtual classes for our employees.
Probably the most important thing we’ve learned through this transition is that people are craving information. We’ve bumped up our communication into overdrive with not only monthly and weekly culture emails but daily reminders and tips, resource guides, the new Slack channel #wfh-tip-of-the-day, as well as more messages in existing Slack channels like #parents, #cats, and #dogs.
Are there any specific tools or resources you’ve been using that have helped guide your response?
ML: On the very first day of the remote period, the Employee Experience Team discussed the changes to come, and in that meeting we decided to use this time to learn how to better support our employees who don’t work at our global headquarters. We have really leaned on our employees, especially those who already work remotely full time, to help shape our events and trainings. We realize that in order to “get better every day” we must listen and embrace feedback.