CULTURATE SUCCESS STORIES
WaySeven
Build strong hybrid teams
Create a sense of belonging for your team and strengthen a positive work culture, where everyone feel appreciated and connected.
IT Services and IT Consulting
Industry
Banja Luka, BiH
Location
Dejan Balaban
Way Seven, CCO
"Culturate has given us the perfect solution to a bunch of little issues that didn’t have time to become problems! Most of our employees work remotely and flexibly, especially those that have active family lives and time-consuming hobbies. We wanted to make sure they feel as involved as those that have the will and opportunity to come to the office on a more regular basis, and this is where Culturate came in! All features from Kudos to Location Scheduling are highly used and appreciated. If you have an SME, Culturate is what you need. Trust me."
WaySeven Technologies is a software services provider, working with a fully hybrid team since 2020. Their employees had the option of working remotely with flexible hours before – but the extreme measures caused by the pandemic were still a shock to the culture.
These days, the team is happily hybrid, and one of the ways they keep the culture alive is using Culturate in their day-to-day.
“I love how I can use the calendar portion to sync with my colleagues when I decide to work from the office! It’s just so much easier to see if I feel like coming in when there’s more of us so we can hang out, or choose a more quiet time when I can concentrate. We used to do this manually – writing in our shared chats – and the calendar view saves time every day”, say Ivana, one of the junior front-end developers.
A company like WaySeven found two distinct problems they had to deal with pre-Culturate: a lack of community and sharing, and the need to help their teams track their daily progress better.
The second problem, unfortunately, sent them down a rabbit hole of time-tracking solutions. They didn’t need that – their employees are trusted to know what they need to do and reach out when they need help or advice.
No, what they needed was a method or tool to easily see availability, active hours and opportunities when trying to plan a meeting or just wanting to chat.
The second thing they needed was a solution to the more cultural side of things – the social aspect of the company. As a whole, the company was always a tight-knit group, but new employees were not getting to experience the usual dynamics, and existing colleagues were uncertain about how to bridge the distance.
The solution, for them at least, came in the form of Culturate.
Apart from the calendar and similar features, an absolute favourite is the Kudos feature.
“You’ve seen a version of it on LinkedIn – usually, the social media channel reminds you of your coworkers as their milestones come up, so you can give them a public shout-out for what you consider their best quality,” says Maja, the WaySeven communications manager. “But what makes the Culturate Kudos so special is the fact that they don’t have to be public – in fact, they can be used like personalized positive feedback from one employee to another. Even better, the kudos themselves can be set up according to company values and brand image, which makes it a million times easier to keep up that same sense of community we were missing.”
Receiving a kudo from a fellow employee might not seem like a lot, but it does make a world of difference to be recognized for the value you bring. Added bonus: not only can you see which of your values are especially appreciated by your peers, but your understanding of what matters to the company can actually be rewarded based on the kudos you get!
Another feature that has brought back the best parts of the company culture is the Water Cooler, the perfect tool that lets you participate in the innovation pipeline and socialize at the same time. Since the mix is random, this amazing option (that can be switched off in case of crunch time) has brought back the magic of on-the-go conversations with coworkers that just happened to be close by.
Both these features and the other options provided by Culturate have already proved to be a boost to morale, the sense of community and the feeling of inclusion.
WaySeven Technologies continues to use Culturate as an integral part of their company culture, and they’re more than happy to talk about it – you can read their blog on the experience here.