Keeping Chimers connected in 2021: A look at our Workplace Experience Team

When the Workplace Experience team started 2021, they never expected it could top 2020 — the year when all of Chime transitioned abruptly to working from home, and the ‘workplace experience’ became every Chimer’s experience working from home. “2021 was, in a word, completely unknown — we didn’t think we’d be doing another year like this,” says Moti Phillips (she/her/hers), our Culinary Program Manager. “We were able to take our learnings from 2020 and apply them to make our second year of remote work a success, and our work shows we got better at providing a workplace experience that was engaging for Chimers.”

What’s more, that number of Chimers showed unprecedented growth — we started the year with 568 full-time Chimers and are ending it with 1200. “We hired so many people this year and had to learn how to scale up everything our team offers,” says Cat Lee (she/her/hers), our Events Manager. “We’ve iterated and developed a deeper understanding of what resonates with folks and which events work virtually.” The team learned a lot, failed a few times, and fine-tuned their offering. One learning they took away from 2021 is that some employees want to opt-out, and that’s ok — giving them that option is important. They also found out that coordinating shipping to over one thousand Chimers is a huge undertaking. But mostly they learned that no matter how crazy it all becomes, they’re happy to — because it creates a sense of connection for Chimers.

“It’s cliché to say because we work in events, but this year was eventful in many ways,” says Brianna White (she/her/hers), our Workplace Experience Coordinator. “We pushed our limits and helped Chimers feel more connected to each other and to Chime.”

The importance of keeping Chimers connected — now, more than ever

“One part of the workplace experience our team hasn’t been able to deliver to Chimers is the physical experience of being in one place together,” Cat explains. “The company still feels so small to me, but we’ve really grown — and as we’ve hired more and more people, our work has become even more important to help people understand the scale of the company.”

The reality is, there are close to 1000 Chimers who haven’t been in the same room with each other — yet, still, everyone is working together towards our mission. Part of that comes from individual Chimers’ connection to our mission, and part of it comes from the connections they’ve forged with each other, whether virtual or in real life.

“It’s our mission to create events that allow Chimers to build the relationships that will enable them to do the best work of their lives,” says Rachel Prael (she/her/hers), our Senior Events Coordinator. “This year, we’ve had so many wins and fostered many connections — I’m proud of our team and of Chimers for stepping up to the occasion.”

The critical puzzle piece: Chimer engagement

What Rachel is referring to is Chimer attendance at events (and participation and engagement). “Workplace experience is only as successful as our employees are engaged with it,” admits Cat. “The fact that Chimers, including our CEO, Chris Britt, attend events and stay the whole time, is amazing.”

Moti agrees, chiming in that “Chimers are willing to engage and give feedback, contributing to the balanced relationship between what our team plans and how employees engage. We’re lucky that so much of our company lean in.”

Part of Chimer engagement includes feedback — the best way for the team to continue providing events and opportunities that Chimers want to engage with. Taking feedback involves the realization that no event will ever please everyone and a commitment to creating events that offer a range of experiences (kid-friendly, adult-friendly, extroverted, introverted, hands-on, learning-based…the list goes on). “It’s an interesting challenge to constantly come up with new opportunities that address feedback and are innovative,” says Cat. “It’s an ongoing learning cycle of iteration and applying what worked.”

The events that kept Chimers connected in 2021

In 2021, the Workplace Experience team organized or helped facilitate over 80 events that created more than 6500 experiences for Chimers. Here’s a look at some of the highlights:

Chime Connections are a series of events that take place twice each month that fall into four categories: Chime Makes, Chime Tastes, Chime Builds, and Chime Cooks. Chimers can attend one event per quarter (to limit them to 100 Chimers) and receive a kit sent to them prior to the event (to make, taste, build, or cook with). For example, Chime Builds is an event series hosted by a LEGO Masters winner, during which Chimers assemble and discuss a specific LEGO project.

“All of our Chime Connections events have sold out,” says Brianna. “Chimers often bring their spouses or kids along to the events, and many share photos or continue conversations afterward in our active Slack channel.”

“It’s also been really great to partner with small businesses in San Francisco, Chicago, and Vancouver who provide us with recipes or classes,” says Moti. “Chimers have continued relationships with many businesses from the series, like Diaspora Spice Co. and The Mellow Plant Store.”

SummerChime, our annual summer event, was Rachel’s first event as part of the team. “I came in at the execution phase of the event, so it was really special to simply help with day-of logistics and see all of the love that poured in after,” she says. “To see how truly grateful Chimers were for the experience was such a big reward for the team.”

The Chime Holiday event, which took place in December, is the ultimate culmination of everything the team has learned in the past year and a half. “We kept thinking about how we could one-up ourselves again,” says Cat. “It’s hard to continuously make Zoom events interesting, but I think we did it.”

The event, which was a “Holiday TV Special,” had multiple segments, including a member segment to share member stories with Chimers, an animal segment, a musical segment, and more. “It was so, so unlike anything we’ve ever done — and people loved it,” says Cat. “It was the best way to round out the year.”

A look to the future workplace experience

As the team rounds the corner into 2022, they’re more ready than ever for what the next year will bring. “I feel more confident in our ability to pivot and innovate than ever before,” says Moti.

Next year will surely bring with it new challenges and opportunities — with Chime’s new office in San Francisco, hybrid work policy, and distributed Chimers, the team will work to connect every Chimer, no matter where their workplace. “We’ll have to strive for equity of experience for all Chimers next year,” says Cat. “That’s our goal going into the new year.”

The way Brianna sees it, we’re going into the ‘junior year’ of the pandemic. “Our team has moved so gracefully through all of the ups and downs so far, from taking what was meant to be an in-person holiday party to a fully virtual event,” she says. “I trust that we’ll navigate the virtual and physical workplace that Chimers will straddle in 2022 in the same way.”

Regardless of what comes their way, the reason that Brianna, Cat, Moti, and Rachel do what they do won’t change. “When I get a Slack message from a Chimer I’ve never met saying they feel like they’ve connected to the company thanks to an event or piece of swag, I’m reminded of why we do this work,” says Cat. “Ultimately, it’s Chimers who are participating and connecting with each other — we’re just proud to create the spaces for them to do so.”