Category: Remote work

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Employee experience Human Resources Remote work

Workaversary or Workiversary? Everything you need to know!

workiversary vs workaversary

In the contemporary professional world, celebrating milestones is not confined to birthdays and work anniversaries. Enter the realm of ‘workiversaries’, an increasingly popular way to commemorate the anniversary of your initiation into a workplace. But hang on a minute, is it ‘workiversary’ or ‘workaversary’? As it turns out, the popular vote goes to ‘workiversary,’ and here’s everything you need to know about this new tradition that is enhancing workplace cultures around the world.

The Correct Term: Workiversary

While the word ‘workiversary’ might still be absent from the formal dictionaries, its usage is gaining traction globally. From social media platforms to corporate hallways, the term is finding a steadfast place in the professional lexicon.

  • Google: When we refer to Google‘s vast database of search terms, ‘workiversary’ is searched approximately three times more than ‘workaversary.’
  • Instagram: A scan through Instagram hashtags reveals a similar trend with #workiversary boasting twice the popularity compared to #workaversary.
  • X (Twitter): The distinction is even starker on X, where #workiversary is used a whopping twenty times more than #workaversary.

But what is behind this growing fascination with celebrating work milestones, and why is ‘workiversary’ the correct term to use? Let’s delve deeper.

The Roots of Workiversary

The term ‘workiversary’ stems from a blend of the words ‘work’ and ‘anniversary’. This mash-up succinctly captures the essence of the celebration — marking the completion of another year at a workplace. While ‘workaversary’ is also formed from the same parent words, it somehow hasn’t caught on with the same fervor, probably because ‘workiversary’ rolls off the tongue a bit smoother and aligns well with the original word ‘anniversary’.

The Birth of Company-Specific Work Anniversaries

Taking the workiversary trend a notch higher, some companies have come up with a clever twist, amalgamating the organization’s name with ‘anniversary’. For instance, celebrating a ‘Googleniversary’ is now a thing in the vibrant corridors of Google. This personalized approach not only adds a fun element to the celebrations but also fosters a sense of belonging and unity among employees.

Looking for a way to automate work anniversary celebrations?

billy the birthday bot birthday work anniversary celebration message

We’ve got you covered! Our simple Slack/Teams app, Billy (the birthday bot), allows you to streamline the collection of birthdates and work anniversary dates, and automate celebrations by posting a fun and engaging message on the D-Day in the channel of your choice! Read more here about the benefits.

Try it now.

That’s it folks,

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Employee engagement Remote work

How to use Microsoft Teams to automate birthday celebrations

In today’s fast-paced world, finding efficient and creative ways to celebrate birthdays can be a challenge, especially when distance separates us. However, with the power of technology and the versatility of Microsoft Teams, you can automate and personalize virtual birthday celebrations like never before. In this article, we’ll explore how you can leverage Microsoft Teams apps to make remote birthday celebrations truly special. Let’s dive in!

Set up automated posts with Billy Birthday

To ensure no birthday goes unnoticed, integrate Billy Birthday with Microsoft Teams. Start by creating a dedicated birthday channel or chat within Teams. Then, leverage Billy Birthday’s app features to set up posts that notify team members, colleagues, or friends about the birthdays or work anniversaries. By automating reminders with Billy Birthday, you ensure that everyone has ample time to prepare and join the celebration with the perfect gift in hand.

Automate Virtual Surprises and Gifts

Even from a distance, you can surprise the birthday person with automated virtual gifts and surprises. Microsoft Teams offers various integrations and connectors that enable you to automate the delivery of e-cards, virtual gift cards, or even personalized video messages. Set up scheduled deliveries or trigger these surprises based on specific events, such as when the birthday person joins a virtual meeting or opens a Teams message. These thoughtful gestures make the birthday person feel cherished and bring joy to their special day.

Conclusion

Thanks to the power of Billy Birthday and the versatility of Microsoft Teams, remote birthday celebrations can be streamlined, personalized, and full of joy. By leveraging automated reminders, personalized messages, virtual surprises, you can create memorable experiences for the birthday person and everyone involved. Embrace the capabilities of Microsoft Teams and make each virtual birthday celebration a moment to cherish.

In this digital age, distance may physically separate us, but technology connects us in meaningful ways.

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Human Resources Remote work

Celebrating Employee Birthdays and Work Anniversaries in Microsoft Teams

Recognizing and celebrating employee milestones, such as birthdays and work anniversaries, is crucial for fostering a positive work culture and boosting team morale. With remote work becoming increasingly prevalent, it’s important to adapt to virtual environments and find innovative ways to celebrate these special occasions. In this article, we will explore creative ways to be celebrating employee birthdays and work anniversaries using Microsoft Teams in 2023.

  1. Create a dedicated channel
    Establish a specific channel in your Microsoft Teams workspace solely dedicated to celebrating employee milestones. This allows for easy organization and ensures everyone has access to relevant information.
  2. Collect employee information: Gather essential details such as birth dates and work anniversaries for all team members. Maintain an updated record to ensure accurate recognition.
  3. Virtual Birthday Celebrations:
    • Send personalized messages: Encourage team members to send personalized birthday messages via direct messages or within the designated celebration channel. This creates a sense of personal connection and shows that colleagues care.
    • Virtual parties and games: Organize virtual parties where team members can join a video call to celebrate the birthday. Incorporate fun activities like virtual charades to engage everyone and make the celebration memorable.
    • Digital gifts and e-cards: Encourage team members to send digital gifts or e-cards using Microsoft Teams’ integrated features or third-party apps. These small gestures can make employees feel valued and appreciated.
  4. Commemorating Work Anniversaries: Use the designated celebration channel or a dedicated Teams post to publicly recognize employees reaching work anniversaries. Highlight their contributions, accomplishments, and years of service. If you want ideas for good messages, check out our article about the best work anniversary messages.

Want to simplify this process ? Install Billy, the birthday bot for Microsoft teams

In the virtual work landscape of 2023, celebrating employee birthdays and work anniversaries in Microsoft Teams offers an excellent opportunity to strengthen team bonds and promote a positive work culture. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can ensure that your team members feel valued, appreciated, and connected, regardless of physical distance.

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Remote work

How to use Giphy in Slack

Utilising Slack, Teams or any other messaging software is now common for everyone. It’s not just reserved to startups or technology companies. Today we’ll take Slack as our main example. In order to master communication via Slack, you need to master the use of certain apps or extensions. The one I use everyday is Giphy, a GIF extension for Slack that makes it easy to search and publish GIF in channels. Why ? Because it’s either really funny, or illustrates perfectly what I want to say (better than a small emoji) or even because an image is sometimes worth a thousand words. That’s why we’ll see how to use Giphy in Slack.

1. Setting Up Giphy in Slack

First let’s see how to set up Giphy in your Slack workspace if you don’t have it yet. It’s a quick process, you need to visit Giphy page on Slack app directory (link here). Then click “Add to Slack”. 2 clicks later, you’re good to go! Giphy is now installed successfully.

Talking about Slack app, if you want to celebrate birthdays in Slack we have something for you and we just wrote an article about it: How to use birthday bot?

2. Using Giphy in Slack

Now that you’ve set up the extension, we’ll see how to use Giphy in Slack.

Note that you can send GIFs in any conversation using Giphy, either in public channels, private channels but also in direct messages.

Now how to search for a GIF ? Enter in the text prompt:
/giphy my search message
Then press enter, don’t worry the message won’t be posted like this. You can notice the “Only visible to you” mention.

ou’ll see a proposal of GIF and you’ll be offered 3 options: Send, Shuffle (to find another one), Cancel.

It’s time to play with the shuffle button until you see a GIF that you like.
Click send when you’re ready and that’s it. Your GIF is now posted for everyone to see it.

3. Best Practices for Using Giphy in Slack in a professional environment

Even though Giphy is mostly safe for work, I’d recommend a few best practises to make sure you’re acting in an appropriate manner in a professional environment.

First avoir offensive GIFs or images that can shock other people. Avoid of course the ones that are crude or sexually suggestive.

Make sure you don’t post too many GIFs or it can get overwhelming.

Those rules can seem basic but we’d better read them once in a while to make sure we’re not missing one.

Conclusion

We’ve seen how to use Giphy in Slack, from installation to usage, you’re now a pro!

Mastering the use of GIFs in Slack is important to make a point and to ease everyday communications. Also, it’s just fun, right ?! If this article was helpful, please drop a comment I’d be glad to read your mention.

Categories
Employee experience Remote work

How to Celebrate Your Birthday on Slack

Introduction

Slack has become one of the most popular communication platforms for teams, with its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other apps. One of the best features of Slack is its ability to bring people together, even when they are working remotely. Celebrating birthdays is an important part of any workplace culture, and Slack has made it easier than ever to do so. In this blog post, we will explore some of the ways you can celebrate your birthday on Slack.

Creating a Birthday Channel

One of the easiest ways to celebrate your birthday on Slack is to create a dedicated channel for the special events. This can be done by simply creating a new channel and naming it something like #celebrations. Once the channel is created, you can invite your colleagues to join in and share their wishes. You can also use this channel to post pictures of your celebration or any other birthday-related content.

Using a Slack Birthday Bot

Celebrating birthdays is not a built-in feature of Slack (see our other article about “does Slack notify birthdays“). You can use an app on Slack to celebrate your birthday. You can use Billy (The Birthday bot) for instance, simply install it in your workspace and you can set it up to post in the channel of your choice (the #celebrations one for instance). This way it will post the wishes reminder for you.

Virtual Celebrations

If you are working remotely, celebrating your birthday on Slack may be the best option. You can set up a virtual celebration by scheduling a video call with your colleagues and using a conferencing app like Zoom or Google Meet. You can also use Slack’s built-in video calling feature to connect with your colleagues and celebrate together. You can use this time to play games, share stories, or just catch up with each other.

Conclusion

Overall, there are many ways to celebrate your birthday on Slack, whether you are working in the office or remotely. Creating a dedicated channel, using Billy Birthday, and scheduling a virtual celebration are just a few of the ways you can bring your colleagues together to celebrate your special day. Celebrating your birthday on Slack is a great way to build team morale and strengthen workplace relationships.

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Remote work

Connecting with a Remote Team: A Practical Guide

Working with remote teams can present unique challenges, but it can also be a rewarding experience. With the right tools and strategies, connecting with remote teams is not only possible but highly beneficial. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to foster strong connections and collaborations with your remote team.

Establish Clear Expectations


When working with a remote team, it’s important to set clear expectations from the start. Make sure that everyone on the team is aware of their individual roles and responsibilities and what is expected of them. Make sure that everyone is held accountable for their performance by setting deadlines and goals that are achievable and measurable. This will help create an environment of trust between all members of the team and make it easier to work together smoothly.

Communication Is Key


Communication is key when it comes to connecting with a remote team. It’s important to have regular check-ins to ensure that everyone is on track and up-to-date on any new developments or changes in plans. Use video conferencing or chat platforms so that your team has an opportunity to connect face-to-face at least once a week. Setting up virtual office hours where everyone can come together for an hour or two each week can also help build camaraderie among your remote staff members. Make sure that everyone feels comfortable speaking up during these meetings so that all ideas are heard, shared, and discussed in an open forum.

Incentivize Collaboration


Encouraging collaboration between your remote staff members will help foster stronger connections within the group. Offer incentives for collaboration such as rewards for completing projects together or recognizing individuals who excel when working as part of a team. You could also consider offering bonuses for completing tasks ahead of schedule or creating collaborative learning opportunities where your staff can learn from one another while working on projects together. These types of incentives will help encourage strong collaboration within the group which can lead to improved results overall!

Special tip from us

The best effort / impact to boost communication and team cohesion is to install Billy Birthday Slack app. Posting celebration messages regularly has a huge impact on the teams.

Connecting with a remote team may pose some unique challenges but it doesn’t have to be intimidating or overwhelming! By establishing clear expectations upfront, implementing effective communication strategies, and incentivizing collaboration you’ll be able to create stronger connections within your remote team quickly and easily! With the right tools in place you’ll be able to optimize productivity while fostering strong relationships among all members of your team! For more details about managing a remote team, checkout our article about 3 tips for managing a remote team.

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Remote work

3 Tips for Managing a Remote Team

Managing a remote team can be a challenge. You have to find new ways to keep everyone on the same page, motivated, and productive. But don’t worry, we’re here to help. Here are three tips that the best remote companies are using to manage their teams.

  1. Create a clear vision and set of objectives.
    The first step to managing a remote team is to create a clear vision and set of objectives. What are you trying to achieve? What are your long-term goals? Once you have a direction, you can start putting together a plan. Then, share your vision and objectives with your team so everyone is on the same page.
  2. Keep communication open.
    One of the most important things you can do when managing a remote team is to keep communication open. Make sure everyone knows how to reach you and has your contact information. Set up regular check-ins, whether that’s daily, weekly, or monthly. And encourage your team to ask questions or bring up any concerns they have.
  3. Use the right tools.
    There are lots of great tools out there that can help you manage a remote team effectively. From project management tools like Asana or Trello to video conferencing tools like Zoom or Google Hangouts, there’s a tool for every need. Choose the ones that work best for you and your team and make sure everyone is using them consistently.
    You should also install tools to keep your team your team engaged such as Billy Birthday to wish birthdays and anniversaries on Slack. Or a tool to remind people to send Kudos to colleagues. You can checkout our article Top 5 slack apps for a remote workspace for more ideas.

Managing a remote team doesn’t have to be difficult. Creating a clear vision, keeping communication open, and using the right tools will help you manage your team effectively and achieve great things together!

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Remote work

Top 5 slack apps for a remote workspace

Though working remotely has become increasingly popular in recent years, it can still be a challenge to stay connected with coworkers and manage projects effectively. Fortunately, there are a number of apps that can help. Slack integrates with a variety of apps, making it a powerful tool for remote work. Here are the top 5 of the best Slack apps for a remote workspace:

  1. Donut
    Donut is a great way to stay connected with your remote team. The app randomly pairs employees together for virtual coffee chats, and also has options for group chats and scheduling.
    Link to Donut app
  2. Loom
    Loom is perfect for recording quick video messages or tutorials.
    Link to Loom app
  3. Office vibe
    Office vibe is a good way to stay on top of team morale, and allows managers to give and receive feedback anonymously.
    Link to Office Vibe app
  4. Zoom
    Zoom is a video conferencing app that can be used for online meetings, webinars, and screen sharing. The Slack integration allows users to start or join Zoom meetings with just a few clicks.
    Link to Zoom app
  5. Billy Birthday
    This app helps you keep track of birthdays and send automatic birthday messages to team members. It’s a great way to stay connected and celebrate special occasions. Billy Birthday is a must-have for celebrating birthdays remotely.
    Link to Billy Birthday app
  6. Bonus: Giphy
    This app lets you add gifs to your conversations, making them more fun and engaging. You can also search for specific gifs to add to your messages.
    Link to Giphy app

These are just a few of the many apps that can help make remote work easier and more efficient. With these five apps, you’ll be well on your way to maintaining a productive and connected remote workspace. By integrating these apps with Slack, users can customize their workspace to fit their needs and maximize productivity.

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Remote work

Why it’s important to celebrate employees’ birthdays

Looking to automate birthdays in slack? Check this out. We’ll talk about this at the end of this article.

Let’s start, here are the main reasons why you should celebrate employees’ birthdays:

1. It shows employees that they are valued.

There are a few key reasons why it is important to show employees that they are valued. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to be engaged in their work, which can lead to increased productivity and creativity, and improved performance. Additionally, feeling valued can make employees feel more satisfied with their jobs, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and lower turnover rates. Finally, when employees feel valued, they are more likely to be loyal to their employer and more likely to recommend the company to others.

2. It helps create a friendly and fun work environment.

A friendly and fun work environment is important for a number of reasons. First, it helps to create a positive and productive work environment. When employees feel good about coming to work, they are more likely to be productive and to enjoy their work. Second, a friendly and fun work environment can help to foster good relationships between employees. Good working relationships are important for effective communication and collaboration. Finally, a friendly and fun work environment can help to attract and retain talented employees, particularly millennials. When employees feel valued and happy in their work environment, they are less likely to look for new opportunities elsewhere. In recent years, there has been a growing body of research on the benefits of a friendly and fun work environment. A study by the University of Worcester found that a fun workplace can lead to increased creativity and productivity. The study found that workers who felt their workplace was fun were more likely to come up with new ideas, and that those ideas were more likely to be implemented.

3. It can boost morale and increase employee loyalty.

Happy employees are more productive employees. When employees are feeling good about their work and their company, they are more likely to put forth their best effort and be more engaged in their work. Additionally, high morale can lead to increased employee loyalty. When employees feel good about their company and their job, they are less likely to look for other opportunities elsewhere. Finally, boosting employee morale can also help to create a positive work environment. When employees are happy and feel like they are part of a positive work culture, they are more likely to stay with the company and help to create a positive work environment for others.

4. It can help improve retention rates.

high turnover can be expensive in terms of both the direct and indirect costs associated with recruiting and training new employees. In addition, high turnover rates can negatively impact morale among remaining employees and may create a feeling of instability within the organization. High turnover can also lead to a loss of institutional knowledge and a decrease in productivity. Finally, high turnover rates may signal to potential new hires that the organization is not a good place to work, making it more difficult to attract and retain high-quality employees. Improving employees’ retention rates, then, can have a number of positive impacts for an organization.

5. Strengthen relationships between your employees.

Good relationships between employees can help to build trust. Trust is important in any relationship, but it’s especially important in the workplace. When employees trust each other, they are more likely to be open and honest, which can lead to better communication and a more collaborative environment. When employees trust each other, they are more likely to cooperate and work together effectively. A lack of trust can have serious consequences for a workplace. It can lead to conflict, absenteeism, and even sabotage. Therefore, it is important to create an environment of trust, where employees feel valued and respected.

6. It’s a simple way to make a huge difference

Sending a birthday wish to someone costs nothing, but it can have a huge impact. Birthdays are a time to celebrate life and to reflect on the year that has passed. By sending a birthday wish, you are letting the person know that you are thinking of them and that you are interested in their life. It is a gesture of goodwill that can brighten someone’s day and make them feel special. A birthday wish doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive. A simple “happy birthday” message can suffice. but if you want to add a personal touch, there are many ways to do so. You could include a memory of a shared experience, or write a few lines about what the person means to you. You could even send a funny meme or gif. Whatever you do, the important thing is that your birthday wish comes from the heart.

Automating birthdays celebrations in slack

Have you ever forgotten a team mate’s birthday? With CelebrateBot.com, this will never happen again! It’s a 1-click, 30s install and it’s free to use! Click here to get more details.