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So virtual vocations has been a virtual company since we were founded in 2007
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So over the years, we've just naturally developed some different things that we do to keep our
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team energized and everybody excited about working together. A couple of those things include allowing most of our team members, anyone who's interested
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in cross-training as far as working in other departments, taking on side projects, assisting
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with annual events for bringing everybody together. We allow everybody who is interested to really expand their skills working in various areas
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of the business and that helps our team members stay energized and excited about different
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types of projects and different ways they can use their skills. Another way that we stay connected with all of us working from home is we have meetings
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every other week and we spend as long as we need to just kind of catching up at the beginning
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of the meeting. Sometimes of course we will set a specific time if some of us need to jump off at a certain
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point, but we do allow for enough time just to chit chat and catch up and that really
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helps keep us connected. So our team is like many other companies in that we use Slack as our primary method of
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communication daily. It's our virtual office and as such over the years we've definitely incorporated some different
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things that we do and some of our team members have taken it upon themselves to bring in
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some fun to our daily work. A couple of those team members, they make it a point to share recipes on a weekly basis
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and get everybody involved in what they're cooking for the weekend. We have a team member who keeps us all informed on what day of the year it is from Pi Day
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to bring your tractor to work day. And then of course also part of the fun of working online is memes and I am not sure
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how it started, but over the years Matthew McConaughey memes have become a staple around
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here in our Slack work environment. So we have quite a bit of fun as we work
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We also celebrate annually with activities like Secret Santa, trivia, Thanksgiving
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So we have a range of ways that we really try to keep everybody involved and engaged
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throughout the year and just on a day-to-day basis as we're all working together
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So over the years, we have tried different types of management and we have settled and
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adopted on a flat structured management model. It works the best for us where we have very few layers of management and it allows us
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to interact with all of our team members and get feedback from everyone on internal processes
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new features, changes to the business. And we have found that that really makes people feel valued and heard and also just
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brings quite a few different perspectives to the business and to how we can help our customers
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So it has proven to be really a valuable way of getting our team's feedback and input
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And it allows everyone really to be a part of the process of building and the success
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of the business. So my top three tips for motivation would include don't leave your employees alone for
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too long, meaning be sure you have regular check-in meetings, whether it's once a week
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or once every couple of weeks, but you'll want to touch base with them and make sure
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they're doing well on their projects. They're not experiencing any bottlenecks with any coworkers or communication, and you'll
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just want to check in on them on a personal level as well
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So that would be my first tip. My second tip would be allowing your team members the autonomy to work during whatever
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hours suit them. So this is one of the biggest perks of working remotely
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People are productive differently during different times of the day. And as long as everyone is getting the information that they need in a timely manner and there's
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no communication barriers happening, then I've found that it is really motivating to
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allow people just as much control over their work schedules as possible
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And my last tip would be encouraging your employees to take time off on a regular basis
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Working remotely tends to keep people from taking time off for some reason
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So I think probably part of it is just if you do have a lot of flexibility already
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you don't feel as big of a need to take a break
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But that can turn into months and months without an actual day off other than maybe the weekends
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So as a manager, you'll definitely want to make sure if you are in that position that
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you model taking time off and putting it on the calendar. And then make sure to notice your team members and employees
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And if it's been a few months and they haven't taken a break or scheduled anything on the
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calendar, then we encourage our team members strongly to put something on the calendar
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as far as when they're going to be out of the office and get their break
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So those would be my three top motivation tips. So here at Virtual Vocations, we don't really have a set process for what we do to keep
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employees engaged. We do definitely make it a point to recognize our employees and team members for excellent
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contributions that they make above and beyond their daily workload and projects that they complete
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As far as other engagement, we really value transparency. And we make it a point to just check in with each other daily to chat about what we're
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working on, if we need any support with projects or daily tasks
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And then as well as if anybody needs to discuss anything that they have going on personally
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that they want to chat about, we do that as well. Because engagement really works best and improves team morale when people can just kind of chat
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and support each other both on a work level and a professional level
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So that is how we support keeping our employees engaged within our virtual workforce
