Keeping Remote Work Culture Fun

Across the world, companies and organizations are struggling with building a work-from-home or hybrid workplace model to accommodate our changing times. WebDevStudios (WDS) is a fully distributed WordPress agency. We have been since day one. In fact, not only do we know how to successfully build a remote work culture, we know how to keep remote work culture fun.

If your business is challenged with maintaining a distributed workforce that is engaged and connected, while also enjoying their occupation, continue reading. We have a myriad of examples from which you can choose to implement to keep remote work culture fun at your company.

Rewards

At WDS, we use a third-party Slack application called Hey Taco! as a team-executed reward system. It works like this: every WDS team member gets five tacos per day to reward coworkers for anything they desire. Each taco equals one point. Points accrue and are used to purchase things such as an Amazon gift card or a day off from work.

While Hey Taco! works for us, any reward system you administer will be appreciated and keep remote work fun for your employees. Find a process that works for your organization.

Contribution

It’s always exciting when people come together for a common goal, but it also creates an opportunity for bonding. That’s priceless.

Group contribution is an excellent way to bring the individuals on your staff together and forge new links. Here are three ways we do it at WebDevStudios:

1. Five for the Future – Five for the Future is a WordPress initiative that encourages companies and individuals to donate 5% of resources to give back to WordPress. The last Friday of every month is when our team takes a break from client work and gives back, which allows for contribution and collaboration. Our staff really enjoys this time, and they voice their support for this activity often.
2. Charity – Each holiday season, our WordPress agency hosts a charity fundraiser. Sometimes, we even make it competitive by dividing into teams to see who can raise the most money for their chosen charity. By joining forces in an act of selflessness, we create impactful memories and solidify our working relationships.
3. Spotify – It might sound silly, but one of the ways we keep remote work fun is by having a Spotify profile for the company and inviting everyone on our team to contribute playlists. An effort such as this one helps people feel included. Plus, who doesn’t love music? (You can follow our Spotify profile to see all of our cool playlists.)

 

Swag

Company-branded swag is an impressive way to welcome new hires and keep remote work fun. It also adds that feeling of inclusion, letting teammates know they belong and are a part of a team of people who appreciates their presence. In a distributed environment, it’s pretty difficult to achieve those emotions, but having company-branded swag sure can help get you there.

Events

Having a celebration is a wonderful opportunity to unify a group, even when working remotely. From Halloween costume contests to ugly holiday sweater competitions, WebDevStudios is always setting up virtual events based around holidays to keep our company culture lively and amusing.

Additionally, WDS also holds an annual company retreat that we call WDS Camp. Due to the pandemic, we had to go virtual last year. While it wasn’t the same as seeing each other in person, our Virtual WDS Camp still gave us time to connect, strengthen our relationships, and simply have fun.

Random Good Times

We like to keep thing popping! Sometimes WebDevStudios will host a random trivia event (we recommend Geeks Who Drink), and daily, we keep our conversations going after hours on GroupMe, a group text messaging app.

We also have dedicated Slack channels where teammates can talk about specified topics. For example, we have a “spooky-scary” Slack channel where we conduct creepy convos and another channel dedicated to coffee talk. From DIY, to shopping, to TV and movies, we have several different Slack channels for good times and great conversations.

You can keep remote work culture fun.

By now, you should be able to see that it is completely possible to keep remote work culture fun. Be creative and remain open to suggestions and ideas from your team. A remote workforce that’s having a good time is one that will be productive, dedicated, and stick around. And if you ever need more advice, you are welcome to contact us.

WDS is hiring!

We’re on the hunt for savvy technologists to join our team. We invite you to visit our Careers page now.