I worked with a previous employer in New York where the client was tough and ran our noses into the ground. Morale was low and my employer didn’t seem to mind.
That’s when I started to change things. I tried to keep spirits up on my future projects, but quickly learned something: Morale is contagious.
Keeping a fun, friendly, and engaging work environment is important to me. I am amazed and relieved that my fellow Credera teammates feel the same way. It’s much easier when your company fosters this environment and you are surrounded by like-minded individuals. But, since my project team is primarily on-site with the client, we have to come up with our own ways to keep up morale.
Here are three ways we have incorporated fun into our project team and built friendships along the way:
Celebrate Outside of the Office
Getting out of the office gives you and your colleagues a chance to get to know each other on a more personal level. Just on the carpool to lunch, you can find out what type of cuisine someone prefers, if they have kids (because they have car seats in the back), and what kind of music someone likes.
After every successful sprint, the team goes out to lunch to celebrate. Thus coining the term “Sprunch” (sprint + lunch). We make it a point to go to a different sprunch spot each time. It’s always fun and it gives us something to work toward and look forward to in the future.
Friendly Competition
We have friendly bets and wagers on a lot of things: i.e., baby births, fantasy football, company trip locations. It’s always a source of laughs and deeper conversation.
Having a little friendly competition creates discussion and offers a planned distraction. I think it’s healthy for your brain to take a break and switch gears throughout the day.
Our friendly wagers have resulted in everything from bragging rights to jalapeño eating. A spoonful of creamed herring and spray tans are still on the table for discussion.
Prank You Very Much
Office pranks are just entertaining. In addition, it takes some creativity because it has to balance the line of being “safe for work” and prank worthy.
Our team room is filled with bouncy balls. We all engage in trying to set each other up for an avalanche. The best ones have actually come when the pranker is setting up the prankee.
Bouncy balls have been discovered in paper towel rolls, cups, tissue boxes, juice boxes, and yes, donut holes.
Our Responsibility
I spend more than 40 hours a week at work. I see my colleagues more than my family. So it’s not just a bonus for me to like the people I work with—it’s a must.
Yes, we are high-performing individuals with goals and deadlines to meet. Our primary objective is to deliver high-quality results to our clients. But I think morale is part of our jobs too, and that means fostering a fun and friendly work environment. It benefits everyone, especially our customers.
Happy employees create happy customers.
LIFE AT CREDERA
We’re “open-sourcing” the Credera culture in a series called Life at Credera. We are sharing an authentic perspective on what we are learning and where we are growing. We are talking about friendships and fun, growth, higher purpose, talent and character, leadership, and communication.
We hope this series is a helpful resource on the continuous pursuit of a great culture. And we hope the results are encouraging to our company, employees, clients, and friends.
Looking for more? Check out these great Life at Credera perspectives:
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