How we keep our remote team happy

Introduction.

We believe that having a happy, driven team reflects the quality of our work and agency results. Therefore last week, we announced three new initiatives that will become permanent fixtures in our company wellbeing policy.

In 2019 we recognised the commute was having a negative impact on the company, we moved to a ‘Work from anywhere Wednesdays’ and it had an instant effect on everybody. Some people were commuting for up to 3 hours a day and it just wasn’t right! It was nice to allow our team to take a break from public transport at least once a week. From the perspective of time, we can see that those Wednesdays enabled us to adapt to the remote working set up for the upcoming lockdowns.

I’d like to think we have always been conscious of mental health for our team and encourage a really healthy work-life balance. That said, we wanted to go further this time.
Today, we have announced a few new initiatives – a compulsory paid sabbatical for every 5 years service with KOTA, a yearly wellness fund for every employee, as well as a fun fitness challenge for this February

 

Paid Sabbatical.

Our team love to travel and draw inspiration from different experiences and cultures. We firmly believe the inspiration for our work comes from outside of the studio/home. This last year has put a pause on travel and given us a reset to appreciate how lucky we were. It’s given the directors a focus to empower our team more than ever. Every day they work incredibly hard for our agency and clients, producing inspirational work time and time again.

Recognising 5 years is an incredible loyalty, we’re introducing a compulsory, paid 5-week sabbatical. It’s hard to keep good people and this is a small reward to show our appreciation and allow the team to reset at such a great milestone.

 

Wellness Fund.

Ending our lease has given room to reinvest in our team. After announcing our FUNd in December, we wanted to do something specific around mental health. We have given every team member £250 to spend on something that ‘makes them smile’. It could go towards the gym, a Headspace membership or even some plants for the home office. It isn’t up to KOTA to dictate where this is spent but it is encouraged to go towards improving mental health.

 

Fitness February.

January was a long month and we all could be doing more in those testing times to encourage and support each other. We wanted to do something together, whilst being apart.

This initiative allows us to focus on getting away from the screen and enjoying the outdoors whilst feeling good about yourself. Recognising that not everyone enjoys running, we made the goals personal to each individual.

Some people are walking 100km, some doing yoga, some HIIT and some running. More importantly, we are sharing our journey in a Slack channel and encouraging each other with updates. It’s given us something to focus on away from the screen as well as a topic to talk about in a world where not an awful lot is happening right now.

 

Conclusions.

Every company’s leadership should prioritise employee satisfaction and wellbeing. We’re proud of the company culture we have worked hard at over the years and keeping the team morale high is always key to a successful agency. Switching to 100% remote working is a challenge, but so far we had nothing but great feedback from our team and clients.

We’re very excited about our new initiatives, keep an eye on our social media or subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the updates on our progress!