Creating a healthy and lively company culture is no easy task, which is why we wanted to highlight the individuals responsible for working towards making Capacity’s culture unique and second to none. Meet our Talent Acquisition Manager, Kate Bell, and our Experience Manager, Jenny Fritz. Though we’ve been working from home since March 2020, these ladies have done an amazing job at keeping our organization connected and our culture thriving. If you’re curious about what the secret is to their success, keep reading!
When we asked them what they think makes up a great company culture, Kate told us that she thinks, “a great company culture allows people to feel free to speak up and say what they need. Some of us need flexibility, some of us need different pay structures, some of us need to be consistently challenged, and everything in between.” She added that she believes “a great company culture is one where hard questions are asked and thoughtful responses are given.”
Jenny told us that she thinks, “a great company culture requires deliberate effort and prioritization. One of the best things about our company culture is that we are a very intentional team. Collaboration is at the core of all of our processes and that’s been especially impactful during a year in which we’re all a little more isolated from one another.”
In addition to their beliefs in what a company culture should look like, they’ve done a great job of putting together opportunities for teammates to work hard, have fun, and feel valued and included.
Company-wide meetings.
Before we began working from home, we hosted All-Hands meetings once a month in our office to keep everyone informed on important and upcoming events, have our leadership answer any questions in an open forum, and gather as a team to complete exercises and ice-breakers. Though we’re working remotely, our All Hands Committee continues to host these monthly meetings in a virtual setting.
We try to make this time together stand out against the typical virtual meetings that we have during the workday by making them fun. For instance, every All-Hands has a break-out session where everyone is split into smaller groups with people from different teams to answer ice-breaking questions. Though we can’t see each other as often as we used to, it’s still important to connect even if it is only for a few minutes.
Holiday party.
Like many other organizations, we typically have a holiday party towards the end of the year to come together, let loose, and enjoy each other’s company. In 2020, our Holiday Party was hosted via zoom during work hours, but our Social Committee made it extra special by sending gifts for everyone to open during the meeting together.
The box was filled with local treats and snacks that the team could munch on. There was also a highly anticipated branded beanie as a gift, and “golden tickets” were randomly added to some of the boxes for extra-special surprises.
Team lunches.
In the past, our team could gather in our kitchen and have lunch or snacks with one another during the day. We also have an office that’s within walking distance of some great local restaurants that our team would frequent.
During the summer, our F&A Team began hosting gatherings of small groups of people for socially distanced lunches at our CEO’s house. They were completely optional but it was another opportunity to have some face-to-face time that we all missed.
Friendly competition.
At Capacity, we’ve completed 4 company-wide competitions for team members to participate in during quarantine. Some have been inspired by the Netflix series, Nailed It!, and others have been inspired by holidays. The bottom line, our team enjoys a good contest. The prizes are generally gift cards to the local businesses in our area to help support our community.
The first competition was a contest where team members baked rainbow cakes! After presenting all of the photos and videos of the cakes, the company got to vote for the best and best worst cake.
Another interesting competition we’ve held includes an AI art competition where teammates generated or remixed photos with AI.
Since then, our company has had a Halloween costume contest where we voted on the funniest, creepiest, and best group costumes and most recently a gingerbread house competition similar to the rainbow cake competition.
Wellness.
Every Tuesday at 11:00 am, team members can join a meeting for a virtual yoga session that lasts 30 minutes. With the stress and monotony of working from home, this small gesture gives everyone a chance to unwind during the day. The standing meeting also acts as a reminder that employees can take time for themselves during the day.
Donations.
Pre-Covid, our team always made it a priority to give back to the community, and that hasn’t changed now that we’re working from home. We’ve donated baby and children’s clothing, adult clothing, houseware items, toys, and hygiene items to the Helping Hand Me Downs charity for the first time. And we donated gift cards to support two families in the Adopt-A-Family program from St. Francis Community Services. Though the donation process was vastly different this year than the past few years that we’ve participated, we still tried our best to make it special for our adopted families.
What our team members had to say.
Senior IT Support Specialist II, Gabe Edwards, told us that the culture at Capacity makes it clear that “What we do matters and how we do it matters. This can be felt across the organization in how interact, work, laugh with each other. This makes a world of difference and this also motivates us because our voices matter here.”
Director of Content Marketing, Jennifer Sabin, described Capacity’s culture as, “collaborative, entrepreneurial, and fun!” She mentioned that “It is very inspiring and motivating to work with such a talented team. Our mission is to help teams do their best work, and we live and breathe that mission each day.”
Account Executive, Kyle Hubert, said, “In my experience, the characteristics that are most unique to Capacity’s culture are collaboration, communication, and accessibility that most organizations only talk about. As a team member at Capacity, you have a direct line to interact and get feedback from senior leadership the same way you would a peer on your team, which is why I think we’re able to be so successful with the lean team that we have.”
If these events and quotes don’t paint a picture of how unique our company culture is, Jenny and Kate explained why they believe our culture stands out from the rest.
“I think our company is unique because there is a true baseline understanding of the challenges people are facing, said Kate. “Because our teams are so small, there is a place to have ideas heard, situations understood and individuals valued.”
“I think the most unique thing that helps drive Capacity’s culture is that we’re a startup that is not funded by institutional money, which means decisions are made by the team rather than outsiders,” said Jenny. “Our team members not only get to have opinions and ideas, but they have the opportunity to impact the product and process we put in place.”