We caught up with our incredibly thoughtful and fun-loving folks in HR, Melissa and Colleen, and they were happy to share some ideas for keeping up with ourselves and our employees through gracious gifting, promoting wellbeing, and sharing nostalgic comforts.
Vibe check? Let’s do it.
There are so many ways to check in with employees and let them know you are thinking about them. Here at Boundless, we love giving gifts, promoting physical health and mental wellness, and seeing our people’s faces.
Colleen: To help out during the first few months of the pandemic, we gifted Boundless Cares Boxes filled with masks, hand sanitizer, and matching shirts. That was one way of making sure people were keeping safe and feeling connected. We also sent everyone a Cheers Box with two unbreakable champagne flutes for a holiday toast that celebrated our resilience over the past year. After all, who doesn’t like opening gifts?
Melissa: We also sent out a survey to see if individuals needed anything to more effectively work from home after they were sort of thrust into that environment. Making sure people were aware of our health advocates was also important, and we continue to send regular email reminders to encourage folks to take advantage of those resources. We made our Company Connections weekly instead of monthly for a while to have that constant touchpoint and to see everyone’s faces when we unfortunately can’t engage with them in person.
Colleen: And checking in with managers to make sure they are touching base with their teams and promoting these helpful resources. If someone needs a mental health day, encouraging them to take a day off and get some fresh air.
Melissa: With the world being so virtual, we created an online suggestion box so people can drop anonymous suggestions or ideas to better advocate for each other. We also re-invigorated our Party Planning Committee and turned one-day activities into week-long, virtual festivities. I just wish we could give hugs again someday soon!
Us too, Melissa. Queue the unanimous applause.
Consider implementing new initiatives to help your people stay positive. For us, that includes keeping our office doors open for people who want that familiar work environment (while making sure social distancing efforts remain intact). We embrace mindfulness and meditation, recognition, diversity and inclusion, and more than a little celebration!
Melissa: We just completed our Pal-entine’s Week, celebrating positivity, love, and caring with our pals at work. We’re also building upon our Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging Committee with monthly newsletters including DIB information and how people who are interested in making a change can get involved. We are so grateful to our Black team members for putting together our BLM forum and we’re so proud to see such a HUGE level of participation from our people.
Colleen: We have the 2021 Wellness Challenge coming up in March! There’s more opportunity for prizes this year, and all you have to do is walk! It’s all about giving people a reason to get their blood pumping.
Melissa: And this year, the Challenge includes mental wellness, mindfulness, and meditation, which is just as important as physical wellness. A double dose of goodness!
Boundless folks can also look forward to short and casual one-on-one meetups with Colleen and Melissa, Core Value recognition, virtual events and happy hours, Founders’ Lite (a virtual version of our annual sales conference and awards ceremony), and more. This year, it’s all about maintaining traditions even when we’re apart!
What gives your company a fun and unique personality? For us, it’s the heavy use of the word y’all even though many of us aren’t even located in Texas. We are obsessed with our pets and include them in our social media, costume contests, events, and at our office!
We also place a lot of stake in our own nostalgia and love to share our favorite pastimes, “guilty pleasure” music, Saturday morning cartoon memories (Looney Tunes is a Colleen fave), and favorite childhood snacks (Dunkaroos and Squeezits, anyone?).
Colleen: We go super extra on a lot of theatrics, on the skits and short funny movies we produce. We try to keep everything fun and engaging. We have a lot of characters, in general, and we use it to our advantage.
Melissa: We love our people. They’re what makes Boundless truly boundless.
We’re proud to be a company that prioritizes people, and that’s the business of being Boundless. Here’s to all the good vibes.