Team-Building in El Paso
We believe work is what you do, not where you do it. That’s why we broke up our central call center several years ago.
Today, we hire the best people we can find in different states across the country and even around the world. We don’t ask our employees to come to us—we send the work to them, over the Internet.
Still, there are challenges to working on remote teams. When you don’t see people in person every day, it can be difficult to build the rapport that helps a team thrive.
Enter: Meetups.
When a remote team gathers for an in-person team-building session, the benefits can last long after everyone goes back to their home offices. A meetup is like an investment in team cohesion.
Our team members in the El Paso area recently met up for lunch, a park cleanup, and a few frames of bowling. The first stop was Steakpedos, a sandwich shop owned by one of our team members, Lucy, and her husband.
For many of our associates, the meetup was the first time they had a chance to spend time in person with the people they work with every day.
“The best part of it all was to finally put a face to someone’s name other than just chatting away on our message boards or team chats,” said Denise, one of our Customer Experience Associates. “It’s as if we have all been friends for the longest time and just gathering together made it all much sweeter.”
Trash Talk at Vista Del Sol
The second stop for our team was nearby Vista Del Sol park, where we broke out our trash bags and pickers to do some litter clean-up. We find that meeting on the move, while walking around outside, can be a great break from the work routine. And while you’re outside, you might as well pick up some litter. We call this a “Trash Talk.”
Building some service into a team meetup not only gives people an activity and a little exercise, it lends a sense of purpose to the outing.
Jessica says it took some team members a little time to warm up to the idea of picking up trash. “Although many of us were not as thrilled about it, we eventually made it into a little competition to see who got the most,” she says.
Giving back to the communities where our team members live is just one expression of our company values. “When people see that you’re not all talk,” says lead trainer Trina, “they tend to feel better about working for you.”
Meetups for Team-Building
From Vista Del Sol, the team went to Bowl El Paso for some ten-pin. “Most of us got to show off how unskilled we were,” Jessica says. “We even ended up competing to see who got the lowest score! It was fun.”
Jewel, our operations manager, saw the meetup as a great opportunity for real connections with the people she supervises.
“As a manager, I love being able to meet people face-to-face that i only ever get to talk to via chat or video and only when there is an agenda to the conversation. I rarely get to just visit with associates. Meetups bridge relationships with associates to people outside of their teams and allow them to meet others as people, not as ‘Boss.’” –Jewel
Meetups Have Lasting Effects
Our Texas teams are a critical part of the services we provide to our clients across the country, helping with coverage in the Central time zone and, in many cases, bilingual Spanish-English service.
The team has already seen some lasting effects from the meetup. Beronica, one of our newer employees, says she didn’t know her coworkers well before the event, and rarely interacted with them online. “Ever since then, I’ve had a lot more conversations on Skype with people I met,” she says.
