🎉 Happy EOW and welcome to the 111 new subscribers this week. Today’s newsletter is 593 words, a 4.5-minute read.
Today’s big idea is a topic a little lighter than the layoffs weighing on our mind right now. We thought it might be nice to talk about something else briefly. As always, it was inspired by thousands of conversations we’ve had with People people like you.
THIS WEEK'S TOPIC
🤹♀️ The future of remote fun (can virtual team events evolve?)
We talked to founders of virtual team event startups that have been innovating in the space since the pandemic first sent everyone home. They include:
Why it matters: For many People people on remote teams, virtual events are logistically-nightmarish necessities. They need to happen, they require a lot of creativity, they easily go awry, and they're never quite as fun as you want them to be.
Here are their thoughts about how to make your events better:
You need smaller groups. Dividing into breakout groups increases feelings of connection compared with one large Zoom call.
Fertig notes that when divided into smaller groups, 95% of participants “report feeling closer to their coworkers weeks after the event.”
You need repeatability. Brainstorming one off events and starting from scratch each month creates too much work for the manager / People person in charge of planning. This is why these founders’ companies exist and provide value.
As Sillings notes: “It’s a waste of time to worry about booking magicians and mixologists every few weeks – it’s better to set it, forget it, and focus on core work.”
Kovalsky sums it up: “We view our job as fairly simple: provide incredible shared experiences employees are excited to join, remove all the burden of organizing them, and optimize them with the right people, content, and cadence to make them actually work.”
You need to think about ROI. To maintain a budget for virtual bonding, it’s important to know the bigger purpose and to build the appropriate metrics around it.
Whether an event serves a DEI purpose or is just fun bonding, those in charge of events should have metrics that show impact.
And some predictions for the future of the industry:
Most event companies will move to subscription models
Regular events that become company traditions (i.e. monthly trivia nights) will be most effective
Companies will start to bring job candidates to virtual team events
As some teams head back to the office, virtual team building will continue to provide highly-engaging ways to connect global teams
The bottom line: If you plan on remaining remote or hybrid, you’ll need to continue to evolve your virtual team events to make them work better.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Only 7 of 103 current job posts on the People Ops job board include a salary range.
I’m disappointed that >90% of job posts – even many from fantastic, people-first companies I otherwise really admire – don’t offer pay ranges.
But I’m optimistic this will be a year of change 👇
FROM THE PEOPLE WORLD
📖 What We're Reading
💶 Are we reaching a tipping point with transparent pay ranges?
“Microsoft said Wednesday it will include pay ranges in all of its U.S. job listings, a move that likely foreshadows a range of big corporations following suit, experts say, as competition for talent remains high.”
🚀 This engineer left a $450K job at Netflix because of fatigue
This story of the loss of joy at work, a culture that was no longer working, and the search for meaning beyond pay, puts one face and name to movers of the Great Resignation.
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