How did BigCommerce, Epicor Software and Insperity adjust to a new work environment when the pandemic first emerged? How do they manage large teams remotely while promoting a fun and engaging company culture? What are the best tools and apps to accommodate employee engagement?
We dove into all those topics and more at our Future of Work virtual event Thursday afternoon.
For the conversation, Inno was joined by Jill Chapman, senior performance consultant at Insperity; Sherri Manning, director of HR at BigCommerce; and Brittany Black, senior manager of employee experience & culture at Epicor Software.
We'll recap a few of the high points here, and then be sure to check out the full video below.
Early on in the pandemic, in fact before a pandemic was officially declared, many tech companies were already taking action to prepare for a potential work from home scenario. Many companies had been building toward more efficient work from home models months and years before the the virus emerged. But, all of sudden, it happened.
"I always felt like it was just is a slow march towards where we are and then March came in and boom, we landed here within just a week's time," Chapman said, talking about how we're just now using many of the virtual tools we knew about before the pandemic.
While many companies are allowing limited numbers of employees back into offices, no one yet knows when full-scale office work will resume.
"You know, at this point, I don't think you can give a hard and fast date (for re-opening offices) anymore because it's fluctuated so much. So, I think, we just keeping a pulse on what's going on and, again, allowing for that flexibility." Black said.
But, despite many of the difficulties of working at home and ensuring employee happiness from afar, many in the tech industry say they're thankful the pandemic and related economic fallout haven't had huge impacts on the industry.
"We're all a bit blessed, I think, to get to work in technology... I'm so grateful to have a job. I'm so grateful to work for a company that's in an industry that's growing exponentially," Manning said. "And so, I think we're in a bit of a bubble."
There's so much more to dive into. The event, sponsored by Insperity, can be viewed below.
