Remote Work At Persolvent
While most of our team is based in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, we have had remote team members contributing to our team for years. So, while we wouldn’t consider ourselves 100% experts, we have learned a few things about effective remote work, especially during the pandemic.
Our goal is to include the whole team, so no one feels like they are on an island. We want remote team members to feel like they are a priority.
In this post, we’ll talk about initial connections and then ongoing connections in both work communication and fun social engagements. Much of this post was from thoughts from Paula, one our remote team members
“When I started, I got a welcome kit/swag box with a copy of Traction, Persolvent jacket, snacks from the office and other fun things to help get started at Persolvent. My first day, the whole team joined a virtual standup to welcome me. I also got a Peer Mentor, a work buddy, who connected with me on a social level and helped me feel comfortable as I started. All these little things in the beginning made me feel really connected. Jay the CEO and Vince the President even reached out to me. Vince was one of the first people to welcome me and he still pops up occasionally, to check in and see how I’m doing.
When it comes to my immediate team, I have always felt included. Even though I’m in my own office, I’m one step away from calling my supervisor. We talk all the time. Every morning, our team has a morning meeting, and we just hang out. That’s one of my favorite parts of the day. You feel really connected. On Fridays, me and my teammates have little pow-wows chat about the week and anything that’s new. I get to know things about my team and I actually feel more connected to my team now than at my previous job when I worked remotely with a team in the same city.
The broader team stays connected doing our monthly Wellness Challenges, participating in book club discussions and extra stuff the Fun Committee puts on, like celebrating cute things like everyone’s favorite restaurant, National Donut and Pizza Party day and Mother’s Day. There’s a social slack channel where the team stays connected on who’s pregnant, who’s engaged, etc. We also celebrate successes, work anniversaries and birthdays.
I also loved our Get to Know Your Team Initiative and Lunch Connections, when we were encouraged to reach out to people we didn’t know for a virtual meet & greet. It was great to get to know people who weren’t on my immediate team more personally.
From a work perspective, I love our regular company meetings where we get to know each other, celebrate success and ensure there’s clarity and unity around our mission. Having open communication and clear accountabilities helps everyone know how to gauge success and achieve goals. I also think Jay’s regular reach outs to touch base with every single team member are awesome.
One great thing about working remote is that team members can live wherever they want. That’s huge for work-life balance. My dad had to move to every city he had to transfer to for work. My experience moving as a kid every year - my kids haven’t had to move, even though my husband has had four different jobs. Same for me, I get to work from home.”
Final note: In a post-pandemic world, Persolvent typically has two major get-togethers during the year, our Summer Party in July or August and our Holiday Party in January or February. When possible, we love to fly our remote team members in for these events to spend some quality face-to-face time with the team they work with every day.
We supply our new remote team members the technical equipment required to do their jobs and do not require them to have a landline. We also do a quick review of their internet speed to ensure it can sustain the needed connection.
That’s a bit an overview of what remote work at Persolvent looks like for one of our team members. There are connection points built in from the first day and ongoing communication in both social and work related areas, so you can feel 100% part of the team no matter where you work from.