Thriving, and not just Surviving During Distressful Times
How Israeli startups are supporting their teams during the work from home period
During the lockdown, days blend together, quickly turning into weeks. And yet, if you are a parent trying to get work done from home, each day can feel like an eternity.
So short of plopping your kids down in front of the TV for another marathon of animated show tunes, what are parents to do?
Innovate of course.
In the last session of the Secrets of HR forum, which we run in partnership with Microsoft for Startups and Linkedin, we talked about what Israeli startups are doing to keep their employees engaged and in good spirits during these challenging times. We found that many companies have found very creative solutions and activities for team members and their families.
I have decided to highlight some of these solutions the startup shared in the session in case your team has run out of ideas and needs some inspiration. We have made a point to include the names of some of the vendors who worked with these companies in case you want to try them out as well.
Intuition Robotics Goes to Hollywood
For a company that has made its name in working with seniors, this team brought a pretty strong game when it came to engaging kids.
Intuition Robotics brought in Meiri Zarmi to work with their young filmmakers and teach them about cinema and animation. They learned about the history of film and the basics of how movies are made.
The kids even had the opportunity to make some of their own cinematic creations. As an added benefit, with the kids engaged, their parents were able to capitalize on the two hours of quiet to catch up on some work.
JoyTunes Stays Active
For a company that focuses on teaching kids how to develop a love and talent for music, the decision to offer their team’s kids online classes was an easy one for JoyTunes.
The music education startup has been working with Kobi Sade who runs weekly music and movement classes for the kids where they learn about sounds, rhythms, and movement.
Hoping to keep their team limber as well, JoyTunes is also offering parent-child yoga classes with Ophir Rotenshtrauch, giving everyone a chance to move and shake things out a bit.
Samsung Next Cleans House — with Style
We decided to bag two birds with one stone while engaging our creative side.
The artist Hanoch Fiben joined us to lead an art session for parents and kids where he taught us how to create beautiful portraits from items scattered around the house. So not only did we end up with some fridge-worthy art pieces, but the house got a good Pesach cleaning up as well.
Judging by the internal feedback, we got the sense that the parents may have enjoyed this activity even more than their kids.
Tasty Treats Sent with Love — Lightricks Thinks about the Parents
While the companies discussed above helped to make parenting a little bit easier, Lightricks made sure that their team’s parents felt some love as well.
Social distancing has led many people to suffer from loneliness. Many parents have had a rough time not being able to spend the holidays with their children and grandchildren. In hopes of making their time in lockdown a little sweeter, Lightricks worked with “Yeladudes” bakery (which educates kids from low socioeconomic backgrounds towards a productive, working life.) to send all of their employees’ parents a cake and personal letter. As an international company, they made sure that their global team members were included in this campaign as well.
The Lightricks team reports that this effort (which required some global logistics) was a huge success and that the thank you notes are still rolling in from grateful parents.
Maintaining Routine Even in Tough Times
For some companies, not even a global pandemic is going to keep them from having fun and staying social — JoyTunes is keeping the good times rolling with their weekly movie nights held over Zoom, complete with lectures on the film’s topic by the team members. They are also making the effort to maintain social spaces, even if they have to be digital.
Throughout the day, employees can meet in a dedicated Zoom room that they call “The Kitchen” where they can have coffee, shoot the breeze, celebrate birthdays, and have non-work interactions. This is a great way to keep those company bonds strong.
On a more practical level, DayTwo offers their employees daily allowances for baby sitter services to help them focus on their tasks and avoid distractions
When the Times Get Tough, the Tough Teams Shine
The past few weeks and months have been without a doubt the most challenging of the past decade or maybe even century. With stress levels rising as companies look to navigate the months ahead, taking care of the basics for home and work is becoming increasingly difficult for employees.
However, with a little bit of creativity and the willingness to go that extra mile for their team, these companies are having a big impact on keeping their people together. I hope that this creativity and empathy will continue when we return to the office (hopefully soon).
Disclaimer: Intuition Robotics and DayTwo are Samsung Next portfolio companies
