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As you might already know, over the last year and some change the Advertise Purple team has been working from home—just like countless other companies. Whether we’ve been working from our living rooms, bedrooms, balconies, or makeshift desks next to our fridges, we’ve been doing the damn thing.
Has it been easy? Well, as we talked about in the post about our virtual meditation event, not really. But hey, we’ve managed, and so have others. In fact, there are a ton of companies gearing up to go fully remote in light of adjusting to the big workplace shift that the pandemic brought. This is something that we both support and are a part of ourselves, but there’s still something about it we want to address.
It’s an element that’s hard to attain while working remotely and something that’s been different over the last year—company culture, and more specifically, fun. As much as we’ve been game for bringing our fun and culture digital, they’ve been hard to maintain over Zoom. Culture itself requires the human connection, trust, and relationship building that often only come from in-person interactions.
When I talked to Kyle Mitnick, our CEO and President, about it, here’s what he had to say: “When it comes to safety, there is no better way to ensure outbreaks are avoided by just keeping team members separate. However, as the years tally up, so do the hours of isolation. AdPurp is not a WFH shop, although we have and are accommodating it, our position has always been ‘hire local, create human connection, and foster growth and happiness under one roof.’”
Now, why is fun so valuable for AdPurp and our team? A couple of answers come to mind, but at the top are employee satisfaction, connection to management, interactive brainstorming, and overall team morale. Plus, there’s nothing like laughing with teammates in person rather than reacting with gifs or emojis on Slack. Am I right? Shoutout to Slack for the diverse emoji and gif options, though.
Luckily, with our offices slowly reopening for our teams, it seems like that fun is no longer in short supply. You know what that means, right? The company events that we love—like the Dodgers games, beach cleanups, and happy hours—are making a glorious return. Say what?!
In the last month or so alone we’ve been pumping up the fun with long-awaited team events like post-work happy hours, patio hangs, and even taco parties. That’s right, I said tacos. I don’t mess around when it comes to tacos. Anyway, we’re really psyched, especially after a year of PJs and Zoom backgrounds. So far we’ve hosted two taco parties and team happy hours and we’re loving it.
Actually, just last night, our Account Management team gathered on the famous AdPurp patio for one of those epic taco parties I mentioned. Woot! The tacos were catered by The Taco Catering Company and the beverages on deck included an assortment of beer, wine, and White Claws, among others. Laughs and hugs were exchanged and good times were had overall. This is just the beginning, too.
“Employees deserve to have the option for in-person connection with colleagues and managers, and what we are noticing, is that it is directly improving their skillset, job satisfaction, and positive workplace mindset,” Kyle added. “One of the workplace casualties of COVID is fun, and we’re doing our best to begin the rebuild in that area. Tacos are a great start!”
Agreed! Out of pure curiosity, though, let’s see what some of our team thought about the shindig:
Matt W: “Last night’s happy hour event was amazing, it reminded me of the old times and the great culture we have at Advertise Purple. It was so great to finally be able to catch up with old friends and meeting all the new faces of AP. I think it’s safe to say that we are all looking forward to more happy hours in the future!”
Kendra G: “It was awesome being back in the office for the first time this week! Being a fairly new AdPurp team member, it was great finally putting faces (and personalities) to names in real life. Everyone has always been so kind and helpful via Skype/Slack, so it’s great to be able to thank them and feel that again in person! The right culture fit was the biggest thing for me when looking for a new company and I’ve 10/10 found that in a company that not only lets me bring my dog to the office—shoutout to Lucy’s new BFFs, Morgi and Coda—but also throws happy hours complete with ‘soyrizo’ and hard kombucha!”
Kylee Z: “It was great to catch up with everyone after a year working from home! Being back with the team reminded me of how great the AdPurp crew is and made me excited to start doing more in-person events with the company.”
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Thank you so much to our Project Management team, Marissa V and Christina F, for putting together these awesome events and all future ones to come. Not only do gatherings like these engage us, but as Marissa mentioned to me, they reflect the true company culture of Advertise Purple. Till the next one!
