This award goes to the HR or internal communications leader who reimagined how to maintain employee culture through Slack in the absence of a physical office. Despite their disparate locations, employees felt supported and engaged with leaders, peers and colleagues.
As the global head of internal communications for Wayfair, Kristin Geyer is receiving the Employee Culture Award for using Slack to maintain morale and keep teammates connected and engaged in the middle of the pandemic.
Wayfair lets customers browse more than 18 million home items across furnishings, decor, home improvement and housewares. As many people in the world continue to shelter in place, the online retailer is committed to helping everyone adapt their living spaces into home offices, classrooms and more. “Regardless of location, our team constantly goes above and beyond to create a positive experience for our customers,” Geyer says. “Everyone has come together to continue to support that mission during this time.”
With Geyer’s guidance, Wayfair’s office teams in Boston, Berlin and London have gone all-remote for the first time since the company’s creation. “With our teams working remotely at this scale, we’ve leaned on tools like Slack more than ever,” Geyer says. “We use Slack channels to share frequent reminders such as how to keep equipment up to date at home, the latest policy announcements from local and national officials, and helpful tips for staying safe, healthy and balanced.”
In addition to providing a space for multiple teammates to send files and messages, Slack channels are searchable and participants can create threads to organize discussions. “It’s been great to see the creative ways that teams have used Slack to stay closely aligned and maintain dialogue,” Geyer says. “Teams that held in-person status updates are now conducting those stand-ups in Slack channels. It’s a great way to make sure that there’s no sacrifice in transparency while everyone is in different locations.”
Geyer says that working in Slack channels does much more than simply boost productivity: It helps maintain a sense of community. For example, in a time of heightened civil and social unrest, Wayfair’s allyship channels, like #wayfair-allies and #allies-for-blm, have served as a safe space for employees to listen, learn and engage with one another to drive understanding and change. Other channels, such as #goodnews-wayfair and #global-supply-chain-spirit, have provided outlets for levity and spaces to celebrate one another’s resiliency and hard work.
Now a champion of distributed culture, Geyer will continue to use Slack to help grow and strengthen the global Wayfair colleague community.
