In early 2020, the pandemic took us by storm and we had to quickly go into lockdown as the governments around the world took measures to ensure public safety This had to affect work culture deeply. During the lockdown, many companies and organizations had to implement strict measures to guarantee the safety of their employees. Social distancing, masks, tests, and work from home were some of the requirements to which a company had to adapt. While some companies might have seen this as a challenge, at ng-voice we acted quickly and embraced it as an opportunity to make our work culture even more flexible, concentrating on the importance of connectivity and making sure our employees are at the center of it.
Fast-forwarding to mid-2021, the restrictions remain, and our company keeps growing with this hybrid remote model that is now a part of our culture. In this article, we will show a glimpse of what the working environment looks like at ng-voice.
We live in times of fast and ever-changing environments which means as a company, our model needs to be future-proof and can withstand the changes around us. At ng-voice we understand the importance of remote policy and remote communication to create such a hybrid model. Even though we value seeing each other at our offices in Berlin and Hamburg, everyone has the flexibility and freedom to choose the work environment which best suits them. We allow all members of our team flexibility to work from the office, from home for a few days, or being on the road for months. And all of this works because we keep transparent and frequent communication, and base our work culture on the values of trust and ownership.
We understand that remote work has benefits and drawbacks. The aim however is to create an experience that minimizes the drawbacks and improves our work productivity. Therefore, our team has developed several guidelines and best practices that help us to perform better while being outside of the office.
As Slack is much faster and less distracting, we prefer Slack over emails. Using Slack helps you to easily choose the relevant channels for your job and thus reduce “noise”. As we do not meet in the kitchen for a coffee anymore, we use the “random” channel in Slack to share personal and funny stories. And we use Zoom for our meetings, making sure that people in remote environments are always able to attend.
Due to the pandemic restrictions and on-site events being limited to only a few people, we have not stopped being social. Occasionally our team hosts a virtual event to get the team back together to have a fun time. Working from home can be exhausting and we believe socializing virtually can improve work quality. Virtual lunch, virtual cooking, and virtual happy hour are some of the event examples that we host. And when we are allowed to travel, we will organize retreats to get the team all together!
It is very important that our employees have the same access to tools and equipment from home as they would have in the office. Every employee has a budget to spend with home office apparel the way that they please. If you want to learn more about flexible work culture you can find more information here.
Listening to our employees and their needs is key. We value our team’s well-being and want to make sure that they are being taken care of, especially during the pandemic, which is already a challenge for all. We implemented weekly pools to keep track of our team’s mood and workload and offer support whenever needed.
At ng-voice, we truly care about the well-being of our team and working environment. We are constantly evolving and improving our remote work policy to ensure a healthy and dynamic atmosphere.
If you are fascinated by our work you can check this article to see how is the first month for a newcomer. Also, feel free to check out our website to learn more about ng-voice and our career page for available positions.
Publisher Bio
Having more than 6 years in recruitment and talent acquisition with a focus on full-cycle recruiting, employer branding, sourcing, training creation and people support, she leads the Talent Acquisition team ensuring we are bringing and growing the best talent.
