Blog Article

How We Stay Connected With a Distributed Workforce at Paystone

Our workforce at Paystone changed drastically once the pandemic reared its ugly head.

While working remotely is not a new concept, there was initial skepticism on how the shift would affect productivity.

But in making the shift to remote-first, we noticed that many remained productive – even more so than before.

Over the last few years, companies have begun to realize that work isn’t just about showing up physically, it’s about fully engaging, no matter where your team members and leaders are located.

While productivity is important, so is the reality of burn-out and how organizations are managing this to create a better work-life balance.

Paystone is a People First company and our strategy is location agnostic, which means we’re not attached to a location or city. With over 200 employees strong, our workforce is distributed across North America as well as internationally.

So how do we stay connected?

Connect and engage employees

Vision and Values

When a company's mission and values is felt throughout the organization it creates a sense of togetherness where everyone feels aligned and invested in the vision.

At Paystone, we’re all connected to our mission to help service-businesses grow.

Our values help guide us internally when making decisions, and play a big role in helping us select the right candidates to join our amazing team. They are:

  1. Think People First
  2. Solve Impactful Problems
  3. Build a Better Future

Celebrate your people when they have a win

A company community grows through the recognition of its employees’ achievements.

Through Lattice, our people success platform, we’ve created a culture of consistent recognition where staff and leaders can applaud and recognize each other on their outstanding work and successes. Supported by Slack, this creates in-the-moment shoutouts that everyone across the organization can see and take part in.

A company that eats together stays together

Food always brings people together.

We’ve taken a creative spin to the "in-office catered lunch days" by providing all staff credits in their company Door Dash account, so they can order food prior to a town hall meeting or other company wide event.

But that’s not all, to add a sense of community we support our clients by providing our staff a listing of all the restaurants that do business with us so we can give back and support them.

If Paystone staff orders their lunch from a Paystone client, then it's easy for them to leave an online review. Win win!

Community unity with our clients and businesses

We’ve created some cool ways for our staff to engage with our community.

Team members can shadow calls with our customers through our sales or support teams. And they can also check out our list of clients or businesses. If they're in the market for something they can buy or use a Paystone client's service and show their support by leaving them an awesome review.

Setting the team up for success

None of the above would be possible without the right communication and productivity tools in place to support team members and set them up for success in a remote environment.

At Paystone, we lean on tools such as Lattice to support leaders and team members in conversations around performance and career development.

To keep a pulse on our employee engagement we utilize Culture Amp for our quarterly surveys. All results are openly shared during town hall meetings and feedback is converted to action items to help leaders continuously improve their processes.

To help teams with efficiency and communication, we use collaboration systems such as Asana, Slack and Google Drive, just to name a few.

Support mental health

Time away when you need it

We recognize that everyone is different and so is the way we disconnect and need time off.

With our unlimited vacation policy, whether you’re in need of a long weekend, a fun trip away, or simply a personal mental health day, the choice is yours.

In-person events

Nothing can compare to the energy generated through in-person experiences when meeting, collaborating, and connecting with fellow team members person-to-person.

We make an effort to bring our teams together for small meet-ups and company-wide events. We also support employees in attending professional events, such as workshops and conferences together. This allows team members to bond over what they’re learning and bring back their knowledge and skills to share with those around them.

Recently we hosted our in-person summer events across all our major hubs, and brought our staff together for a day out at the beach. With lots of organized water and on-land activities, Montreal enjoyed a friendly boat race competition, while London, ON had loads of fun trying their skills on paddle boards, and Vancouver put their kayaking and volleyball skills to the test.

And of course, lets not forget all the cool swag!

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Our distributed workforce is one of our strengths

Having a distributed workforce has given us the ability to hire amazing people from different parts of the world, each one bringing with them new perspectives and ways of thinking that enriches our organization.

If you’re looking for a great remote-first opportunity check out our career page

Melissa Jaalaid
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Jaalaid

Melissa's recruitment experience began with a passion for people and connection. With over 10+ years in the industry, she offers a wealth of first hand experience hosting and engaging with stakeholders from a variety of institutional backgrounds. These experiences have allowed her to develop her communication & recruitment skills to help the right people connect.