Credera Introduces Award to Honor Flexible Teams

Matt Cole

Credera Introduces Award to Honor Flexible Teams

Credera has always been a firm driven by connections between people. However, the events of recent years have driven us to re-evaluate how we pursue these connections. As many employees all around the world continue to work remotely, it appears that remote work is here to stay, and with it the necessity to change how we pursue connectivity and effective work.

In response to these changes, Credera developed the Flexible Connection working model and created a few fun ways to celebrate teams who are implementing Flexible Connection well.

What Is Flexible Connection?

Flexible Connection is Credera’s new working model, born out of much research and reflection, and focused on balancing flexibility for our people, building meaningful connections, and delivering exceptional client service.

Within this model, the team is the core working group, meaning there is no firm-wide, one-size-fits-all schedule imposed on our people. Team members are given the freedom to work with their project teams to determine an inclusive schedule that works around members’ needs while also providing structure.

This structure can look like daily sync-up video calls, collaborative focus hours, or weekly in-office meet-ups. The key tenet of the Flexible Connection model is that it allows each team to set working guidelines that fit the unique needs and preferences of their people, while balancing that with the ever-present need to work effectively for their client.

“Gumby” Award

At Credera, one of our core values is “people first.” This often takes the shape of creating a culture that is quick to offer encouragement to each other. Driven by that value and motivated by a desire to maximize teams’ buy-in to this new way of working, we decided to implement an award to honor teams implementing this flexibility well (what we’re calling The Gumby Award).

The Gumby Award is a quarterly award, recognizing excellence in implementation of the Flexible Connection working model. Named after the green bendable character, Gumby, whose rubber body is as flexible as our hybrid connection teams should be! This fun award is given out to the teams who are living out the flexible working model in exemplary ways.

Recent Award Winners

At our recent firm-wide call, we recognized two teams as award winners for their resilient and innovative working practices. In addition to being announced and celebrated during quarterly firm-wide calls, award-winning teams are awarded a cash prize, published on Credera intranet, and given a budget to use for a celebratory team dinner. We believe that teams should be recognized for the good work they do.

These teams were made up of members across the United States and even in South America! This geographic diversity meant that these teams needed to create flexible, yet structured team practices to allow for individual flexibility and team-wide productivity. Emily Henry, one member of the team, explained how they prioritized flexible working hours:

“Our project director let us set our own hours as long as we are attending meetings, responding to clients, and providing quality work. I've found my rhythm of hours that allows me to best meet all expectations and typically wrap up early on Fridays."

“A flexible working model allows me to use my time best for my professional life and my personal life. Especially when working from home, being able to schedule 30 minutes to take a break and get offline has been important to me.”

Another example of this collaborative, inclusive model is described by Sai Lammata, another member of an award-winning team:

“Our team relies on a consistent task board that hosts all of our task tickets across our various projects. At the start of each month, we also check our collaborative PTO calendar, which lets us know who will be in and out of office especially around the holidays. These may seem like simple solutions, but they are what keep the team aligned throughout the year."

“Having a cohesive team that stretches beyond geographic distances and time zones is something that I don’t take for granted at all. Although I haven’t met most of my fellow team members in person, they are truly some of the closest friends I have here at Credera. It’s possible through the ways we have fun and celebrate one another and our successes at and outside of work. As a professional, I’ve understood the importance of a team that leans on and learns from one another. On a personal level, this team has turned into a family, for which I am very thankful.”

We are proud of these teams for their innovative practices that demonstrate commitment to our core values of being people first and pursuing excellence. They adapted to individual needs, overcame difficulties, and executed flexibility—and in doing so, became worthy winners of The Gumby Award.

The Future of Flexible Work at Credera

In this new and ever-changing world of remote work, Credera is excited to offer a working model that is adaptable and flexible, yet still puts a strong emphasis on true connection. No matter the situation, we are confident that building meaningful connections while also working flexibly will continue to be our priority.

Interested in Working at Credera?

Is this way of thinking and working through challenges interesting to you? Are you looking for a new career that allows more flexibility?

We help both new and experienced professionals take the next bold step in their careers. If you are seeking a similar opportunity in a fast-growing, global firm, we encourage you to check out our open opportunities.