In 2014, Trello had 22 employees. Two years later, they were at 93 and rising. How would you like to manage that party?
Meet Liz Hall, VP of People for Trello. She handles everything related to recruiting, retention, performance management, diversity and inclusion, and employee engagement.
Surprisingly, Liz’s biggest challenge isn’t about scaling staff. It’s about promoting team bonding among Trello’s remote workers.
That’s because 63% of Trello’s staff work remotely. And if culture eats strategy for breakfast, then the question is: how do you maintain company culture when your people are scattered all over the world?
You build it in.
Taco days and custom cakes
It begins with how you value your staff, regardless of whether they’re based in New York or abroad. At a recent event, Liz shared Trello’s philosophy on remote workers:
“Even if it’s just one employee working remotely, think about policies to make them feel included.”
She continues with:
“Make them feel part of the company, and feel even with everybody else. That takes a bit of work.”
So what does that “bit of work” include?
For example: for every birthday, Trello sends remote workers their favorite cake. They also launched Remote Week—where all remote workers converge on Trello’s NYC headquarters twice a year. Things like Taco Day is already popular at Trello, but they might need extra salsa for Remote Week—pass the guac, people.
Because there’s nothing like touching base with your dispersed team to up morale and inject much-needed inspiration into your people. And it doesn’t end there. They also have the annual company retreat where all staff get to Trello Together.
And that’s when things really get interesting.
Trello Together
At their company retreat, the Trello family focuses on fun and team bonding. The only work to be done: enjoy the scenery, the people, and the group activities.
Their last retreat was held in—wait for it—beautiful Puerto Rico. But despite the magical surroundings, Liz ran up against a minor problem. The resort they booked tossed in an oceanfront villa as part of their package (I know, nice problem to have).
So what did Liz do? She went straight to Trellists in an email:
“We now have an oceanfront villa as part of our Trello Together package. There’s no way I could pick who gets this special room. You all rock!”
Here’s what she suggested:
“Instead I’ve made a quiz. Should you want to be in the running for the oceanfront villa during Trello Together, fill out the typeform.”
What lucky human would get to bask in such luxurious glory? Some top-level executive? Someone on the inside pulling a few favors?
Nope. Liz opened up the contest to the entire Trello family in the form of a quiz. She quickly created a typeform quiz about Trello and its employees. You can check it out here.
What better way to get to know one another?
Questions ranged from “Who was the first remote employee?” to “Who owns the cat Memow?”
What if everyone gets all the answers correct? Liz had another great solution:
Tiebreaker is the time is takes to complete the quiz. Clock starts once you hit, “Let’s begin, shall we?”
Problem solved. By the way, you can view time stamps in Typeform’s admin panel under “Analyze.”
The oceanfront villa may have been the icing on the cake for one lucky Trellist, but the main takeaway was continuing to build a strong company culture.
And the next Trello Together? The Sonoran Desert. Looks like a good dose of horseback riding and hiking.
What about you? How can you use a quiz to engage staff, encourage team bonding, and make others feel more special?
How did Trello do it?
1) Video and images
Want to make your quiz more immersive? Interactions that involve images and video make interactions more engaging.
2) Custom Thank You screen
Use your Thank You screen to talk about next steps or send them to a page on your website. Keep the conversation going.
And of course let us know if you have any questions! Our team is always here to help.