AVOXI Goes All-In on Remote Workforce
As a global organization, providing a supportive and flexible work environment for our AVOXI employees has always been incredibly important to us. We understand that if we can take care of those who work for us - in return, they’ll be the ones taking great care of our customers.
Over the years, more and more technology companies have evolved into a remote work model, and to be honest, it’s something we’ve considered for quite some time. When the pandemic hit in 2020, it allowed us to see firsthand how our business would adjust to 100% remote work, and no surprise to us - our team nailed it!
Not only were we able to close 2020 strong, but our employees told us the work-life balance was better than ever before. Heading into this year we had an opportunity to make a big shift - an opportunity to make remote work a permanent aspect of AVOXI.
When considering this path, we knew there were some very important things to do:
- Support Various Work Modes. As the world started to recover, we realized that each country had varying degrees of pandemic restrictions. We have several employees still at home taking care of loved ones or supporting their children’s virtual schooling, so we wanted to remain supportive of varying work modes.
- Keeping Offices Open. Some employees prefer working from home, while others favor spending some time in-office. Because of that, we knew that we needed to keep our offices open so that our employees would have a place to convene whenever needed.
- Invest More into Culture. Face-to-face interaction is something that we knew our employees love and miss. Investing more time and resources into our company culture through different virtual events and engagement would have to be a continued focus for us. We also realized that local remote would be best for us - allowing employees to conveniently collaborate in-person when desired.
We also took time to speak with our employees and hear what they had to say:
“Remote working surprised us all,” says Andrew Guarnieri, Product Owner. “My home is my creative space and being able to help my team bring a nascent idea to life really gave me confidence that this new work model will bring us success in 2021, just as it did in 2020. There was definitely an adjustment period, but we found our groove and prospered.”
“Not only does remote working bring respite from a long commute, but the enforcement of work-life balance remains,” says Michael Mahoney, Digital Marketing Specialist. “AVOXI has always prioritized a healthy boundary between work life and home life and has continued to do so through this transition.”
After much consideration and deliberate planning, as a team, we decided that AVOXI was going local remote as of January.
What Does Work-Life Programs at Home Look Like for AVOXIANS?
To make work-from-home a truly successful experience for all, our team outlined a series of programs to keep our global teams connected, engaged, and collaborative:
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Weekly All-Hands Video Meeting: An easy, collaborative, and virtual way to keep us connected and aligned on all aspects of the company. Our teams from across the globe gather on one screen to discuss company performance, department projects, and general well-being.
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CEO Roundtable Chats: CEO David Wise hosts an intimate roundtable chat with a small number of employees each week, allowing team members to open up and provide feedback on what’s going well in the company and the areas that might need improvement.
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Onboarding and Training Certification Program: We’ve dialed up our new employee onboarding program, allowing new team members to easily learn AVOXI’s products, company history, service experience, and customer targets. After working their way through a series of training modules, employees continue to take interactive quizzes throughout their tenure to stay current on the organization and the industry.
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Spirit Week: Twice a year our AVOXIANS submit their favorite requests for spirit week. In the past, we’ve had days such as “dress like your favorite coworker day,” “crazy hair day,” “favorite sports teams day,” and more! We’re very much a work hard, play hard type of company - and having fun is at the top of our list!
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Small Team/In-Market Social Activities: We’ve empowered our management team to set up quarterly events for their immediate groups - whether it’s an in-office event or off-site activity. In the past year, our teams have organized activities like hikes, tailgates, oyster roasts, and outdoor happy hours for associated groups.
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Company-Wide Virtual Social Programs: AVOXI has several company-wide virtual social programs that emphasize relationship building and connection. These include an ongoing book club, lunch hangouts, and even yoga!
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Employee/Manager One-on-Ones: Everyone in the company has a one-on-one meeting with their direct manager or supervisor regularly, often weekly. These sessions are to review projects, discuss issues, chat about career growth, and simply connect.
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Slack Channels for Work and Fun Topics: We began using Slack as a collaborative tool last year, and it’s been wildly successful in keeping our teams connected in real-time. We can easily bounce ideas off each other for work projects, but also connect personally through fun channels about our pets, kids, concerts, and recipes. You know, general water cooler talk!
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Home Toolkits: With our team remote, it’s important to ensure they have everything they need to be successful. Our IT team delivers new employees a full toolkit to their homes, which includes a computer, external monitor, mouse, and keyboard. AVOXI voice software is also included, providing an online interface and a webphone to make business calls online.
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Providing Feedback to Improve: The most important aspect of working at AVOXI is not really where we are located, but how we stay connected and communicate with each other so we can keep improving. We’re constantly asking for feedback through short surveys, voting on ideas for more effective solutions to employee concerns, and gathering responses on what is working well for everyone as well as strategies that need to be refined for success.
No doubt, 2021 will come with its own set of business challenges - every year does. But here at AVOXI, we feel like we’re making the right decisions for our employees, our customers, and our future success. The culture we’ve built and the exceptional talent we’ve gathered, make us positive and empowered by the new local remote options we’re now offering at AVOXI.
Want to join an innovative and growing team in the CPaaS space? We’re hiring! Come be a part of a great and talented organization by applying to one of our open positions here!
