When I was first hired at FSC Interactive, in 2014, I was beyond excited. Everything I had read and heard up to that point was that FSC Interactive was a great place to work and they ran exceptional campaigns.
Today, as I wrap up my 10th year at FSC, I still love working here and know we help our clients grow revenue for their businesses.
In 2020, like most of the country, we went fully remote. As an extravert, it was a hard move for me. I miss the office. I miss grabbing lunch randomly with someone I don’t often work with. I miss ending up on the back porch working in a group on the same project. I did not know, at the time, how we would rebuild the same culture online.
Now, five years later, I would never go back. We’ve created a similar space online. Better yet, our employee retention has increased.
Here are the pillars of our culture that bring success:
Technology
Since we are not paying for an office, we invest in our technology. I’m not saying we spend the equivalent of an office lease on technology, but it is a large investment that is well worth it. Does our Microsoft license come with Teams for instant messaging and video calls? Sure, but the team prefers Zoom and Slack.
Do we need 24/7 online tech support? Probably not. But Courant, our IT company, ensures no matter the issue, every employee can do what they need no matter where they live.
My goal is to foster effective communication via technology. Therefore, we prioritize using technology to keep the team connected and able to do their jobs easily without issue.
People Engagement
When we were in an office, we used to run fitness challenges. Now that we are fully remote, we continue to run fitness challenges but have expanded to mental health challenges, financial health challenges, and more. All challenges are optional. They usually come with a small financial benefit, like $100, if you complete the financial challenge. And there is always an opportunity to earn PTO. By making them optional, team members can pick and choose the challenge they are most interested in and skip the ones they care less about.
We also have two weekly time slots dedicated to people engagement: virtual coffee on Wednesday mornings and Social Hour on Thursday afternoons. Similar to our challenges, both are optional. If you choose to participate in virtual coffee, you are randomly paired with someone on the team to have coffee over Zoom for 15 to 30 minutes.
For Social Hour, team members can volunteer to run the hour. Those who want to can show up and hang out. Sometimes we play a game. Other times, someone will take us on a tour of a favorite destination via Google Earth. Whether we are crafting or gossiping about reality TV, we engage virtually.
Both are loosely structured and create casual opportunities for conversation outside the job. They create bonds and empathy across teams and locations.
In-person all-agency meetings one a year are crucial. For those, we usually start with a volunteer session. We have farmed, sorted Mardi Gras beads, and bagged oyster shells. The volunteer sessions are great for casual bonding and force a mix-up of the team. Most team members feel good about the impact, and we get to support a non-profit in our hometown, New Orleans.
Post volunteer sessions, we typically take part in a strategy day and end with a fun event like a cooking class or evening out.
Systems of Managing the Person and the Output
Our systems for managing a person and their output involve multiple people and processes, which is imperative for success. Dumping all of this on one person, typically the manager, was unsuccessful for FSC Interactive. Instead, we created layers with checks and balances.
First, every team member has weekly one-on-ones with their manager. Like all our meetings, the camera is on unless someone is eating. Weekly check-ins create a great system for immediate feedback and adjustments.
Next, by nature of our business, monthly client reports are sent to all clients by the 15th of the month at the latest. Those reports give insight into each team member’s individual contributions to each client and are reviewed by their Account Manager. They highlight work done and changes made, included in the client report insights.
Our HR Manager does a separate quarterly check-in and yearly goal-creation session. Our HR Manager is set up to inspire and motivate the team members to meet those goals and strive for growth.
Lastly, Account Managers run regularly scheduled stand-ups for clients over a certain billing threshold, ensuring team communication and project management for each client who needs the extra level of care.
All of these layers create accountability and empower our team to do the best work possible.
RTO – Not for FSC Interactive
Every quarter, we see more and more headlines about RTO. My perspective…they can have it. While running a remote business has its challenges, like paying unemployment taxes to multiple states, remote work works for FSC Interactive.
If you’d like to work with FSC Interactive on a project, give us a call or fill out the form in our footer.