It’s hard to ignore the current universal call to action: social distancing. As humanity weathers this unprecedented pandemic, keeping morale up has been a challenge for companies everywhere. At PureSpectrum, working from home has meant getting creative with team activities and testing the limits of Zoom.
At the beginning of the year, we put together a Fun Committee that consists of one representative from each department to plan a team-building event every week. Every Friday in our Westlake Village headquarters, we had something going on: pizza parties, trivia, video game bracket championships, puppy visits and making cards for hospitalized children.
“We had just moved into our new office, and it was time to start making it truly feel like a second home. We wanted people to be excited to come into the office,” Molly Strawn, Co-Chair of the Fun Committee and PureSpectrum’s Marketing Manager, said. “So we couldn’t just let the fun end with quarantine.”
This month, we started the PureSpectrum PureSport fitness challenge to encourage our team to exercise everyday and come out of this quarantine in top shape. The challenge is simple: 3 sets of 33 push ups, 3 sets of a 1 minute plank, and 30 minutes of cardio every day for the month of April. The prize? A $500 pot split among the champions.
“We’re all adjusting to a remote work scenario and trying to stay positive and connected,” Michael McCrary, PureSpectrum CEO and Founder, said. “The PureSport challenge gives the team a fun and motivating way to stay connected and encourages activity that also helps us destress and channel our energy in a positive way.”
A team Google Sheet is keeping all of us honest with names like “Connor ‘99 Problems Pushups’ Weiss,” “Stephen ‘The Plank’ Hughes” and “Travis ‘Full Send’ Miller.” We’ve even gotten creative with Zoom and hosted an 80’s-themed workout class, complete with pump up tracks and interesting outfits.
Throughout these events, our team has only gotten closer; checking in on one another, making sure everyone has everything they need, and ensuring they feel supported. With no solid answer as to when these new regulations will end across the country, we will continue to rally our team together and boost spirits even if it can only be through a screen.
Looking to play additional games with your team? PureSpectrum has also given these ones a virtual try:
- Hotseat. Everyone on our team had to answer 10 questions as fast as they could. The catch? At the end, we challenged the managers to a fire round where they needed to correctly remember what their employees answered during their speed round.
- Charades. Exactly like it sounds. It was fun to see everyone acting goofy, yelling wrong answers, and smiling.