As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, creating a thriving workplace culture in the hybrid working era takes special considerations to make sure employees feel engaged, supported, and aligned with the company’s mission and values. This is especially important for new employees who are joining companies at a time when teams are increasingly remote and distributed across geographies and time zones. Managers need a strategy for onboarding new remote team members to ensure they are on equal footing with peers working from the company headquarters.

It all comes down to one thing: connections.

Connecting New Hires to Your Company

New hires are focused on absorbing as much information as they can to learn the business. Their minds are like sponges trying to soak up as much as they can as quickly as they can. New hires are absorbing the basics about who the company is, how and when it formed, pivotal moments, the culture, and benefits available to them. If employees can easily access information, have clear conversations, and connect to the company even from afar they will be much more successful. Having access to the right technology out of the gate is paramount. Employees need to be able to hear and see the onboarding team, ask questions, and feel connected the entire way. If they are successfully connected to their company in this time, employees will make decisions with the big picture in mind to help drive success in all that they do. It’s a win/win for both the new hire, the team, and the company.

Connecting New Hires to Their Team and Key Stakeholders

The people you work with can make or break the experience. New hires are eager to make connections to their team and key stakeholders, but this can be challenging in a remote environment. If new hires can’t be seen and heard they will struggle to connect. An easy and inclusive practice we’ve adopted at Poly is making sure that people managers are proactively asking new team members for their opinions and ideas during team meetings to get them engaged and encourage interaction with their peers. Now that in-person team building is not an option, allocating the first five minutes of a call to catching up about personal interests or hobbies or taking turns to share quick updates. These small yet impactful interactions go a long way in creating a feeling of belonging, replicating what used to occur around the water cooler (remember those?).

Connecting New Hires to Their Role

In addition to learning about the company and completing meet and greets, new hires are also trying to understand and clearly define their role and responsibilities. Gaining this understanding early on is important so new hires can align with their manager on strategy and approach. This serves as a compass helping them narrow in on the focus areas that will have the biggest impact while helping them feel like they are moving the needle. Part of a good employee experience is feeling like your work is meaningful and understanding how it ladders up to the company objectives.  At Poly, we have rolled out an OKR (Objectives and Key Results) process that starts with senior leadership defining key objectives for the company that every team then aligns to.  This way everyone can define and track how their contributions support our overall objectives. Walking new hires through the OKR process and establishing their personal objectives has been very impactful to help position their roles as mission-critical right out of the gate.

Equality for All Meeting Participants

At Poly, we want to ensure that every new hire has an opportunity to shine and contribute, regardless of whether they are working behind closed doors in a quiet office or at their dining room table with roommates, children, and dogs wreaking havoc in the background. Our professional-grade gear including headsets, conference and business phones, video conferencing cameras, software, and services help to ensure your new hires make these connections without skipping a beat. To learn more visit www.Poly.com

Around the world, Pride celebrations are taking place to honor the incredible progress that has been made on the path towards equality for LGBTQ+ individuals everywhere. While many advancements have been made since the June 1969 Stonewall Riots, the fight against bigotry, systemic discrimination, and violence remains. At Poly, we believe that through the power of many, our actions and words make a profound difference in creating a more equitable and tolerant workplace and world.

With social distancing measures still in place in many communities around the world, here are eight ways to celebrate Pride all season long.

1. BE AN ALLY

You can show your support this month (and all year long, for that matter) through your actions, words, and listening. This means speaking up if you witness a member of the LGBTQ+ community being marginalized, thoughtfully leaning into tough conversations around your own implicit biases or assumptions and making an effort to un-work heteronormative ways of thinking and acting. Other important traits of an ally are using inclusive or non-binary language, using a person’s chosen pronoun, and never partaking in humor or name-calling that disparage LGBTQ+ individuals.

2. ATTEND A PRIDE CELEBRATION

Throughout the Spring and Summer, cities around the world will be holding both virtual and in-person, parades, celebrations, concerts, talks and more. Check out this list of 2021 International Gay Pride Events going on around the world.

3. HOST YOUR VERY OWN PRIDE PARTY

If for some reason you cannot attend a Pride event, throw your own! Gather your ‘pod’ and deck the house with rainbows, jam out to a playlist of Pride anthems or LGBTQ+ artists, and make colorful treats. Here’s great opportunity to put your Poly gear to work and invite friends and family to virtually join in on the celebrations over Zoom.

4. DONATE OR VOLUNTEER TO LGBTQ+ ORGANIZATIONS

A powerful yet simple way to show your support is by donating to the various nonprofits making a profound difference in the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals.  Poly has an ambitious goal to raise $10,000 for Rainbow Railroad this month through our Global Giving with team member donations being matched 2:1. A nonprofit that directly helps those in danger get across borders to safety, Rainbow Railroad has assisted more than 1,600 LGBTQ+ people find safety through emergency relocation and other forms of assistance since its founding in 2006

5. READ AND LISTEN TO LGBTQ+ VOICES

One of the best ways to be a better ally is to gain a deeper understanding of the LGBTQ+ experience through reading and listening. There are many inspiring authors and podcasts that share their stories in inspiring, entertaining, and informative ways.

6. ROCK THE RAINBOW

The rainbow flag is far and away the most popular visual representation of Pride. Whether it’s putting up a rainbow flag, rocking some rainbow flare, or any other rainbow paraphernalia, displaying the rainbow is a simple way to either show that you are a member or an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.

7. ART PROJECTS

Bust out the art supplies and channel your thoughts and feelings into a piece of art or get crafty making pride celebration decorations. This is an especially fun activity to do with your young ones while having age-appropriate conversations about the spectrum of gender identity, homosexuality, discrimination, anti-bullying, and inclusivity.

8. PRIDE MOVIE NIGHT

For a more low-key option, you can grab the popcorn and let the power of film transport you into the lives, struggles, and triumphs of people in the LGBTQ+ community. Here’s a list of 200 LGBTQ movies to choose from.

In the wake of 2020’s hardships, this year’s Pride theme “All in This Together” really hits home. I hope that we’re able to hold onto the understanding of our interconnectedness we learned during the pandemic.  Regardless of how or when you celebrate this Pride Season, Poly is proud to be a workplace where everyone feels accepted and appreciated to show up as their authentic selves.

For most, the adjustment to working 100% remote has been a ‘journey’ to say the least – each of us having faced unique challenges in adapting to this new way of working. While some enjoy their new arrangements, others are itching to get back into the office. Regardless of where you sit on that spectrum, one thing is for sure: video calls will continue to be an integral part of how we collaborate with our team.

NEW MEDIUM, NEW APPROACH

On the surface, the increased use of video in our day-to-day work lives may seem benign, but the effects that a video-heavy work culture can have on your overall corporate culture are worth noting. For a clearer picture of what I mean by this, take stock of how interactive your meetings are – who is contributing most during team calls, and who doesn’t get a chance to speak up? This lack of two-way communication is unnatural and can leave people feeling overlooked and disengaged with the projects discussed during the call. Now that video is the primary way most of us collaborate, it’s critical that we engage participants so that they leave meetings ready to execute and feeling energized by a positive social interaction with their teammates.

BUILDING A CULTURE OF TRUST

According to a study by ADP, employee engagement should be a priority for organizations because it’s known that when employees don’t feel engaged, the organization suffers. Trust or ‘psychological safety’ in the workplace plays a significant role in ensuring everyone feels relaxed and confident enough to turn their camera on, speak up, and contribute their perspectives. ‘Psychological safety’ is a term coined back in 1999 by Harvard Business School professor, Amy Edmondson that refers to the understanding that it is safe to take risks and that a person won’t be punished or shamed for speaking up with questions, concerns, ideas, asking for help, or admitting mistakes. According to ADP, this begins and ends with a team’s leader. When the most engaged teams were put under the microscope, it was found that by far the strongest indication of employee engagement was whether the team members trusted their manager.

COMBAT SUBCONSCIOUS BIASES

So, what to do? Take note – are there still members of your team who are perpetually on ‘mute’ or have their camera turned off? Prompt them to engage by asking them how their day is going or what they think about a point raised during the call. Next, it’s important to acknowledge subconscious biases that might be below the surface of this disparity. As Renee Cullinan shared in Harvard Business Review, two segments of the workforce that are routinely overlooked are introverts and women – and this is only exacerbated in a remote-only working scenario. Chances are leaders aren’t consciously silencing these individuals, rather it’s more likely that there are several hidden biases at play. For instance, Cullinan explains that our unconscious bias is that ‘smart people think on their feet.’ However, she explains what’s really going on is that extroverts talk to process their thoughts, and introverts take longer to process information and think carefully before speaking. Furthermore, the well-studied unconscious bias that ‘men have more to contribute’ and ‘are better suited to leadership positions’ are deeply ingrained and will take conscious work to unlearn. There have been multiple studies that have concluded that women are interrupted far more than men during meetings, and their ideas are taken less seriously. These unconscious biases undermine the quality of dialogues and put a significant dent in your team’s collaborative potential. To overcome these, consider the following ground rules.

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR TEAM’S ENGAGEMENT

Leaders should reflect on current patterns and make an effort to adjust communication flows with some ground rules for team calls so that everyone feels engaged.

Cultivate a Video-On Culture

Strongly encourage all meeting participants to turn their camera on. Naturally, a face-to-face video interaction will be more engaging for all parties. Additionally, a video-on culture will discourage multitasking and result in a greater sense of respect and increase the quality of the interpersonal interaction. If there are external factors influencing why someone can’t have their camera on, be understanding and make an effort to engage them regardless.

Comradery is your Secret-Weapon to an Engaged Workforce

Now that we’re all working from home, much of our team communication is purely task-related, leaving little to no time for small talk and niceties. Creating space for comradery is an important ingredient in employee engagement. According to Sterling, a thriving corporate culture results in “higher employee engagement, better retention, and more productive employees.” While a poor corporate culture leads to increased attrition rates, expensive hiring costs, and the longer roles are filled by new hires.

Now that in-person team building is not an option, allocate the first five minutes of the call to catching up about personal interests or hobbies or taking turns to share quick updates. These small yet impactful interactions go a long way in creating a feeling of belonging and “breaking the ice” before diving into business.

Take a Moment to Pause

One of the reasons some parties don’t engage is that they are not left an opening to share their thoughts without interrupting. A good rule of thumb for engaging ‘the quiet ones’ and combatting unconscious biases is to involve all parties by soliciting feedback, asking them for their opinions, and periodically pausing for input.

Circulate a Meeting Summary

For larger meetings, it’s not realistic nor completely necessary to hear from everyone on the line. However, some people might have ideas or clarifying questions that they either didn’t get a chance to ask during the call or didn’t have the nerve to speak up in front of so many people. Not to mention introverted types might still be processing information long after the call is over. For instances such as these, consider proactively soliciting engagement by circulating a meeting summary with something along the lines of, “If anyone has insights on any of the topics discussed please let me know, I’d love to hear from you.”

REMOTE CULTURE BUILT FOR THE LONG HAUL

Building a remote culture of trust and engagement will require more effort than it did in the office. Leaders that are serious about creating or maintaining a vibrant and collaborative working environment will need to spearhead the unworking of bad habits within their organization and pay extra attention to communication patterns during virtual meetings. With a little extra work and some great Poly technology to keep your workforce connected, organizations can unlock the full potential of their team’s collective thinking and create a thriving virtual culture where everyone feels welcomed and valuable.

Our mission at Poly is simple. We create amazing new ways to hear, to see, to work and to work together. Culture is a huge part of that. We’ve accomplished a lot in our first year as Poly, and we’d like to take a moment to reflect now that we’re one year into being a company built from the DNA of both Plantronics and Polycom.

1. New Company, New Culture

Poly’s culture is grounded in what we call, “pragmatic zeal”. This concept illustrates how we as a company value curiosity, creativity, and a can-do attitude to get the job done — all the while wowing our internal and external customers. This quality of continuously looking for opportunities to improve and learn together makes Poly a truly unique place to work, and we’re really proud of it.

As we are simultaneously learning and shaping Poly’s culture, we introduced bi-monthly learning sprints focused on how we work together through the power of many. These bite-sized videos reflect our company Values, Mission, and Vision while helping us on our journey to create a unified culture through common language.

2. Culture Leaders and Ambassadors

We have roughly 75 Culture Leaders and Ambassadors who help drive Poly culture. This has been a career builder for each of these individuals, as they took this on in addition to the responsibilities of their regular jobs. We are enormously grateful to them for continuously advocating for our new Poly culture and helping others learn.

3. Flexible Working

Flexibility is a key driver in making our employees happy and engaged, no matter where they work. Poly’s diverse portfolio of products allow us to maintain strong collaboration and be creative in how and where we work – in an office, in a huddle room, or remotely.

As the year comes to an end, we encourage our people to enjoy the flexible time around the holidays and spend time with family, hobbies, in nature, and reflect upon how much we have accomplished as Poly over the past year.

4. Poly Internship Program

Our Global Emerging Talent program is another success of 2019. Our teams welcomed interns from all over the world to get some hands-on experience driving innovation, solve problems, inspire action, and power productivity.

5. Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

We focused our year on growing our employee resource groups to celebrate an inclusive place to work. This year, the Women’s Leadership Group introduced A Day in the Life, a series that highlights the careers of female leaders at Poly. Additionally, this year we added both an Accessibility group and Veterans group, each of which are steadily growing.

6. Professional Development

Poly believes that continuous learning is what makes careers successful. Poly provides resources including LinkedIn Learning as flexible on-demand resources for associates to stay current and develop new skills.

7. Supporting Our Community

Poly proudly works with local and global giving organizations. This year, we’ve invested in young people by hosting school science fairs. We’ve donated Poly products that enable children to keep learning when they‘re unable to access classrooms in war torn countries. We also collected clothes to help people feel confident returning to the workplace.

8. Environmental Advocacy

The environment is always top of mind for us at Poly. Our facility in Tijuana has the 2nd largest private rooftop solar installation in Latin America and the facility has ISO 14001 Certified Environmental Management System. For our products, our headset line distribution packaging contains an average of 70% recycled material, and we’ve had several Green initiatives set up at our locations around the globe, such as reducing one-time use plastic cups in Maidenhead, and a campaign around using steel or ceramic water bottles and mugs in Hyderabad and Santa Cruz.

 9. New Products

By the end of this year we will have refreshed nearly our entire portfolio. From our UC enterprise headset portfolio with the refresh of our DECT Savi family and our new Voyager Office products to our exciting Poly Studio X family, our teams have been innovating on industry-leading technology to offer the most comprehensive portfolio and being a truly end-to-end provider.

 10. Recognizing Good Work

WOW, our employee recognition program, gives people the opportunity to express gratitude to their peers and teams in a real-time, all-in-one social feed. This goes from a simple ‘thanks’ all the way to big-ticket recognition for global impact and strengthens our culture while we embrace our adventure together.

At Poly, we encourage people to bring their most authentic selves to work. Our diverse company and extensive portfolio allow us to constantly learn, collaborate, and achieve, every day. We are truly global, and we drive authentic human connection and collaboration through the power of many.

Join us: www.poly.com/careers