Ahhhh spring is here! Congratulations, you made it through a scary Winter, and while the stress of Covid is not quite yet behind us, we hope your team can still find some stress-relieving fun this month with Perkbox. We want to equip you with all the tools to ensure your team connects with one another and stays banded together during these tricky times.
This month's culture calendar will have ideas for you to bring the team together both online via Zoom/Hangouts or in-person. As always, take as much or as little guidance as you need, we are here to help with any questions you may have.
Week 1: September 1st - 5th
Kick-off Spring!
Admin to-do list:
Wednesday is World Letter Writing Day, so why not kick off the warmer months with some warm and fuzzy letters of Recognition! If you have Recognition, schedule a Power Hour in everyone's diaries so that they can set aside some time to send recognitions to all of their teammates.
Don't have Recognition? Not to worry, encourage your staff to schedule an hour in their diary to email each other some kind words, recognizing each other for their hard work. This is a great way to boost peer-to-peer recognition.
Sunday is Father’s Day, three weeks we sent out an ‘opt out’ message, inviting those who did not want to receive Father’s Day updates to change their contact preferences. You can check your preferences by logging into Perkbox, selecting ‘My Account’, then ‘Contact Preferences’. From there you can toggle off Perkbox communications related to Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and any alcohol related communications. Preferences below:
This poster has some awesome Father’s Day perk options!
Celebrate the dad’s on Friday (a little early) by filling the break room with some delicious treats using your 5% Woolworth's perk. Working from home? We recommend sending around $10 rewards to the dads on your team or letting them finish up work an hour early. Whatever works best for your team.
Here is some email copy:
Hi everyone,
Happy spring! Congratulations, you made it through a pretty scary Winter, I am proud of all of us. The month of spring is going to be a fun one, filled with ways for us to connect as a team and get through COVID together.
Wednesday is International Letter Writing Day, in celebration we are going to be sending eachother recognitions/email letters filled with positive comments, recognitions, and any other warm fuzzy feels you think are apropriate. Let's get spring started with some warm feelings of peer recognition.
Father's Day is coming up this Sunday, you would have received an email from Perkbox a few weeks ago prompting you to opt out of any Father's Day communication. If you are yet to do this, but still want to opt out, please do the following:
1. Log into Perkbox
2. Select 'My Account'
3. Select 'Contact Preferences'
4. Toggle off any comms for Father's Day, Mother's Day, and Alochol related content.
That's all from me for now, let me know if you have any questions.
Warmly,
<Sender>
Week 2: September 6th - 12th
R U OK? Day
A brief note about mental health:
Many of us know what R U OK Day is all about, and while it is an important day to remind Australia of the importance of mental health, R U OK day should not end on September 9th. It's always a good day to check in on the well-being of your colleagues.
Please take this time to review the mental health care policies in place at your company to ensure that people who need additional mental health support can access it. Whether this is through your company's EAP , online counseling, or more. It is also important to understand and acknowledge the warning signs of somebody struggling with mental health, which you can learn more about on the R U OK? Day website.
Admin to-do list:
R U OKAY? Day’s official website has lots of important information about the day, and how you can get involved at work. Read through their useful resources to learn more about how you can support the mental wellbeing of your staff.
Whether you’re working from home or in the office, you can host a morning discussion/tea on the day. If you’re working from home, break everyone up into break-out rooms over Zoom, and provide them with some question prompts. It may not be appropriate to dive into mental health conversations, so keep questions light, such as:
Who do you look up to the most?
What’s one of your favorite memories?
Favorite movie and why?
Stimulating conversations between staff members can help to improve team connection and an overall sense of bondedness.
Now is a great time to promote wellbeing perks, send this poster to your team to remind them of all the wonderful health and wellness perks they have access to.
The Aura app is also a fantastic way to help support your staff, and help relieve stress via their sleep stories, meditations, and more.
Week 3: September 13th - 19th
Lunch n Learn
Admin to-do list:
Invite a team member to host a lunch n learn. If you’re in the office, invite the team to bring in one dish each and have a potluck lunch during the lunch n learn. If you’re working from home, and have Recognition, send everyone a $10 uber eats voucher and eat lunch together. If you don’t have Recognition, eating lunch together is still a lovely way to bring the team together.
Thursday marks the UN’s International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. In honor of this day, invite everyone to get to work via public transport, bike, or by foot. Or, do a 1-hour no-power hour in the evening (use the 10% off Dusk candles perk)
We have some awesome perks to boost your team's green footprint:
15% off Plant and Prosper's sustainable zero-waste products
50% off a subscription to Space White's environmentally friendly home and cleaning products
10% off Koh’s eco home cleaning products
Here is some email copy to send to your team working from home:
Hi everyone,
Half way through September already, wow!
There's a few things on this week, starting with a lunch n learn! Just because we're working from home, doesn't mean we can't get together and share our wisdom. I invite anyone wanting to host a lunch n learn to send me and email and we'll get that scheduled.
(Those who have recognition) I will be sending a $10 Choice gift card to use on uber eats so that we can order something delicious and eat lunch together over video chat.
Thursday marks the UN’s International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. Let's do our part and have a 1 hour no-power hour the evening on Thursday! Here's some awesome perks you can redeem on Perkbox to improve your green footprint:
15% off Plant and Prosper's sustainable zero-waste products
50% off a subscription to Space White's environmentally friendly home and cleaning products
10% off Koh’s eco home cleaning products
Together we can do our part in minimising our global footprint.
Let me know if you have any questions, have an awesome week!
<sender>
Week 4: September 20 - 26
Gratitude Day
Admin to-do list:
We have some fantastic Perks to promote for Gratitude day on Tuesday such as:
15% off LVLY flowers and gifts
15% off Cardly personalized cards
10% off Hamper Emporium
10% off Gifts Australia
Make the most of Gratitude Day and send round loads of Recognitions to your staff, encouraging them to do the same.
Week 5: September 27th - October 1st
International Podcast Day
Admin to-do list:
Wednesday is the UN’s International Food Loss and Waste Reduction Day, if you’re in the office, invite staff to bring no single-use plastic to work that day/week.
International Podcast Day is on Thursday, which is a perfect time to start a Podcast club!
If working from home: pick a podcast episode for the team to listen to, create a monthly calendar event where you spend halfa drinking coffee/tea and chatting about the podcast.
If in office, do the same thing but in person! Spice is up by sending everyone $5 Hey You vouchers so you can sit at a coffee shop and chat about the podcast over a warm bev.
Final note:
If you are working from home, we strongly suggest prioritizing a 15-minute daily team catch-up at the beginning or end of the day. This is an informal catch-up to see each other's smiling faces, have a laugh, talk about life and simply connect. Perkbox Australia's team has been doing this since the start of lock-down and it has been a game-changer, making us feel more connected to each other.
Lastly, we just want to give a huge shout-out to all of you admins and managers. It is easy enough to struggle under the weight of stress in regular life, let alone during a global pandemic. So please remember to look after yourselves too, not just your staff, and reach out to us for support. You got this!