Navigating a pandemic

Colorado here too!

In windy Colorado too

Burnout has been challenging this year. Working from home has given me more flexibility, but it's also blurred the lines between work and home life. Our team has felt the Zoom fatigue and often makes themselves available after traditional working hours. I do this too. Need help creating boundaries!

Longmont, CO - Growing a team/company through so much change/difficulties!

Here from Yakima, WA (it's trying to snow here, but we've got power). Biggest challenge is dealing with vaccine requirements as a healthcare facility.

Calling in from Detroit, MI! Working in-person during the pandemic for some team members.

Joining from Denver & listening to the wind outside. Biggest challenging: burnout among staff due to increased work caused by the pandemic (we work with docs).

Here from New Zealand. Definitely navigating the pandemic

From Colombia. Having people going back to the office… even doing it two days a week has been challenging

New Orleans - growing team and finding qualified employees

Auckland, New Zealand 👋

Brooklyn, NYC! Hi from team donut 🍩 social loneliness and zoom fatigue are a brutal combo

High burnout, employee productivity is down with employees working from home.

Hello, Jamille here from Northern California

michigan here - maintaining team atmosphere in hybrid remote environments

Livermore , California , biggest challenge isa navigating pandemic RELATED ISSUES, SICK LEAVE

Hi! Calling in from Jacksonville, FL. Challenge - finding work life balance in the hospitality industry.

Mike from Bloomington, IL - how to secure more digital data than evr

ever

Kaneez from Vaughan Ontario, Canada

Hey y’all, Courtney from Donut here, if I have to mute my camera for a few mins, it’s because my computer is giving me some Zoom troubles, sorry about that! :)

Hi. Julie from Virginia

Kiristen from SF Bay Area

Remote performance reviews have been a struggle this year as well! This was the first time I've given and received feedback fully remote.

Deily from Colombia too. The big challenge for us is turnover. A lot of competition in tech companies, crazy salaries and benefits!

BOSTON!

Hello nice to meet you as well

Oracle, AZ

Staci from California. Definitely burnout. We are navigating so many competing priorities.

If you could sum up this year in one emoji… what would it be lol

Unfortunately, I have to leave early, will we receive a copy of recording?

🥴

🤯

Is my 2021 emoji

:-/

🤔

Yes, Cole! You’ll receive the recording in 24 hours :)

🏃‍♀️

1000% - you always “hit the wall” in a marathon

Such a great analogy.

Precisely mile 20 - maybe equivalent to October??

I like that - Work Hard & Be Nice to People

So true Julie! Companies are having to get creative to attract top talent.

Working WAY more

Working WAY more

Whoa, jinx

How many hours are you both working per day?

++ to Cornell on the expectations around work and life

Vanessa from the Bonusly team here! 👋 If you’re curious about the cost of employee turnover, we’ve got a blog post you might be interested in: https://blog.bonus.ly/cost-of-employee-turnover

The tone of the work is also different! Zoom calls are more down-to-business, and less camaraderie & connection than in-person meetings or hallway runins

For me, its self inflicted - workaholic. Orgs need to be more intentional about forcing breaks and time spend working

So true. We just hired for 3 new positions and every interview included questions from the applicants about work-life balance and the staff culture. Not the type of questions we received just a few years ago.

YES! alignment, putting things into perspective, what really matters to people.

Vanessa from Bonusly here! 👋 If turnover is top of mind for your organization, this blog post might be a good place to start: https://blog.bonus.ly/cost-of-employee-turnover

Setting personal boundaries is hard - something I’m working on as a manager. I want my team to see me creating boundaries and empowering them to do the same.

I love that addition, Alicia!

Yes- be intentional! 🙂

Got to bring the fun back to work

I love that!

that's so important. "Small" talk has a big impact!

We have scheduled virtual water cooler time for staff - 20 minutes once a week, open to all staff. Not required, but a space to just connect informally without an agenda. It has helped my staff feel more connected (something they really loss when our in-person events were cancelled in 2020 and 2021).

I love small talk, Kaneez! I could talk about the weather for hours :) no shame!

We just created a new holiday in April--"Spring Fling." Looking forward to it!

Alicia - such a great idea.

Same! Stress relief in a small non-judgemental way :)

Julie! Love that. What day is the holiday?

Thanks, Laura. =-)

Last day of the schools' spring breaks. Keeping it flexible!

I like the made up holiday, Julie!

Ah, smart! And great for parents!

Social standup is the BEST new ritual

Wow I love that!

Oh, I like that idea, Courtney!

I love the addition of “Belonging” to DEI, Cornell.

I love that, Cornell!

So good, Cornell.

I love that Cornell. I think that will become the norm.

Yes! We need to stop drawing lines in sand. Too flimsy.

We've been loving the integration of Headspace into Microsoft Teams/Viva Insights. We've been doing wellness challenges with staff for the past 2 years, including some that use Headspace resources; however, the integration of Headspace into Teams has been great - easy way for everyone to remember to take a few minutes to reflect each day - all in a space that they are logged into all day anyway. =-)

I love that, Alicia!!!

Agreed, education is so important around the holidays, Julie! As we approach the winter holidays, here are some tips on how to celebrate holidays inclusively: https://blog.bonus.ly/work-inclusive-holidays

@Julie DeBuhr - Love the idea of brining education and awareness to 'non mainstream' audiences by highlighting important days - kudos to the leadership team at 1Password!

DEI questions at interview should be mandatory!

It's also important to create opportunities & space for Introverted personality types as well as Extroverted types

Walking phone meetings are great! Need to do more of them.

💯

Don’t forget to drop your questions for the panel in the chat! We’ll get to as many as we can at the end.

I’m curious who has lengthened their 1:1s since going remote to have more space to chat about life?

Yes! HR needs the support :)

I have, Laura. We've been remote for 7+ years, so it wasn't new when COVID hit. That said, we haven't been able to meet in person for retreats or events because of the pandemic. Extending the one-on-ones has provided a space for employees to share things that they would normally do over coffee or lunch at an in-person event.

I cannot get my dept to bit on those fun lead-in questions. Crickets! I keep trying, but anyone else experiencing that?

Ah, so we can all learn something from you about remote work, Alicia! :)

Yes Jennifer. Maybe 5 or so out of 70 will reply

@Courtney, you mentioned going over DEI resources together. Where do you get your resources or how do you decide on what to review/discuss?

@Jennifer / @mike def - lots of thoughts on this. Feel free to reach out at support@donut.com and we can help you troubleshoot!

Lol tread lightly!

Spill the beans!

We use Teams and in addition to the staff channel and one-on-one channels, we have a wellness channel that is reserved for just wellness challenges and engagement activities. Right now I am doing random winter/holiday trivia. Everyone participates and it has been a lot of fun.

I love that Alicia! My cousin just mentioned that her husband’s company was giving rewards for wellnesses challenges for spouses to encourage healthy couples/families.

I love that idea to expand wellness challenges to couples/families, Andrea!

Yes yes yes, Julie!

amazing insight @Julie!

we use Bonusly currently and love it!

Yes, Bonusly has been great for our team!

Great question, Jessica! Thanks for submitting 💚

I love the video q/a format!

Totally agree, Cornell about People Leaders.

Bring back office phones!

I miss phone calls!!!

Yes, Rebecca! Such a great question.

I LOVE that.

Oh my gosh - YES

Yes! Normalize asking for feedback from employees more often.

Yes! We started doing that at the start of this year. It has been really valuable!

And then acting on it!

That’s great Alicia! What feedback that you’ve received has been most valuable?

We're a small nonprofit and have been expanding rapidly, including the addition of 5 new staffing positions just this year. Knowing what our current staff likes/is proud of and what additional support/benefits they want has been the most valuable. For example, we started the virtual water cooler time as a result of that first set of feedback.

That is wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing.

It has shown that there are a lot of intangible benefits that don't cost much (or anything) that really impact how happy staff is in their position - or how we can improve the culture/environment.

Even if you don't make any changes, staff feel heard and that is invaluable.

Great insights. Thank you to all the panelists and hosts!

Wow that’s so true. It’s normally the simple/small things that matter most!

Thank you!

Thank you, all! =)

Yay! Such a great discussion!

Thanks so much!

Thank you!!!