Our office in Printers Row is the secret member of the 88 team. It gives us collaborative spaces to energize brainstorms, and quiet corners to burrow into solitary work.
Most vitally, it fosters our agency culture by bringing us together every day. So when the pandemic required us all to work remotely this spring, we made it a priority to keep our culture thriving.
What did we learn?
1. Always experiment. Coming together in Google Hangouts for Virtual Happy Hours was a pleasure, but we quickly found ourselves experimenting with our weekly remote gatherings: one week we offered “Cribs” tours of our homes; the next week, Pictionary; the next, a full-scale Scavenger Hunt. All ideas were welcome as we explored the potential (and limits) of conferencing tools to bring us together.
2. Keep pursuing your passions. We delight in each other’s pursuits outside the office, from cooking to illustration to creative writing. Recognizing that sheltering-in-place would limit our external endeavors, we enrolled every 88er in MASTERCLASS for a year, so we could all keep our minds engaged and juices flowing with the help of some of the world’s most accomplished thinkers.
3. Roll with it. Working from home forced us to juggle a mess of responsibilities and distractions – from restless infants to sick pets to spotty wifi. Rather than fight the disruptions, we worked together to accommodate and support each other. We simply welcomed each other’s “stay at home” colleagues as temporary members of the 88 team.
Our time apart deepened our appreciation for our office and the time we spend with each other. But it’s nice to affirm that, together or apart, 88’s culture can always come with us.