Corps Community: Slacking Our Way to A Better Workplace

Wait… Slacking our way to a better workplace? For many agencies, including the Digital Corps, the word “slack” doesn’t always mean lacking diligence. Slack is a digital workspace that organizes communication for offices and business teams. From group channels, to direct messages, Slack makes exchanging our ideas efficient. It’s fast and accessible, complete with engaging features that make office interactions easy and fun. According to the first Slack project manager, Kenneth Berger, workplace interaction is essential for friendly and collaborative work environments.

“Great communications cultures don’t happen by themselves,” said Berger.

We’ve been Slacking since December 2014, and it’s helping us plan meetings, discuss projects, and build office culture. As a creative agency of seventy-five students and seven full-time staff members, we have conflicting schedules. Slack allows us to communicate quickly and easily, improving workplace communication.

This was the first time the Corps ever used Slack. Since then, we’ve added lots of new channels and changed the way we communicate.

Initially, the Corps looked into Slack because team members were constantly spamming the all-office email account with irrelevant questions and information. Riley Paulsen, the current Facilitator for Training and Design, brought Slack to our office.

“I heard rumors that Slack was catching on big in the tech industry, and I wanted to make sure that students were exposed to this kind of communication before graduating,” said Riley.

Each of our projects has its own Slack channel. People use the channels to exchange information, update staff, and get feedback in our reviewal process.

Slack quickly became the preferred method of Corps communication to help connect all members inside and outside the office. Instant messaging makes collaborating on projects and editing our work efficient. Additional features make it easy to set reminders and save important documents for future reference. For the Corps, Slack isn’t just a communication tool, but a platform to build a community. We bond over our favorite emojis, schedule team activities, and crowdsource exciting content for our social media channels — all of which shape coworker friendships. Slack helps us form unique relationships by fostering communities within communities. For example, our channel #allcorps notifies every Corps member with general information, but #newbie-talk is only for onboarding new employees.

#allcorps helps organize birthday celebrations, important meetings, and keeps the office clean. People can also react to messages with a fun emoji, and reply to questions.

Slack also lets us get to know our coworkers and have a little fun. Channels such as #random and #dnd are outlets for Corps members to share fun facts and strategies for after-hours games.

The channel #dumb-debates lets us discuss controversial topics, like whether “Parks and Recreation” is better than “The Office.”

Slack revolutionized the way we talk and form workplace communities at the Digital Corps. From efficient information exchange, to project coordination, and social fun — Slack reinforces the energetic and fast-paced atmosphere in our office. We may be Slackers, but we still get the job done.