Hello hiring machines!

Welcome back to the SportsGrad Talent Newsletter, your bite-sized guide to attract and retain elite operators.

Every fortnight, we share insights from our community to help you hire better candidates who stick around for longer.

This week the SportsGrad Community told us about:

Over the past few years, remote working has become a familiar experience for many. While there's a concern about losing team engagement without the office environment, remote work has the potential to be a productivity powerhouse. Delving into the experiences of the SportsGrad Community, we've discovered four essential strategies to effectively maintain team engagement while working remotely.

1. Have structured weekly meetings

Full-Time, 2y exp - “We have locked in 15-30 minute virtual weekly team meetings - Monday AM - focused on priorities and any blockers, Thursday PM - achievements and any assistance you might need”

Full-Time, 1y exp - “My manager would schedule all meetings online from Monday - Thurs. Then have Friday has 'focus day'. We communicate any issues etc via Teams and do a video call if I need to explain something that I need to show her for some assistance”

Full-Time, 3y exp - “If you were ever WFH for an extended period of time, we would have scheduled check ins with our manager at the end of the day every two days or so”

2. Have clear working methods and communication

Full-Time, 3y exp - “We have clear communication strategies within the team with Teams, Calls, Email etc. We also use workflow management & shared platforms like Monday to enable everyone to see where workflow & projects are at”

Full Time, 5y exp -”We utilise a live weekly WIP/movements doc that includes structured office and WFH days for all team members, weekly team meeting, weekly 1:1's, any client meetings or internal processes required for the week/month. We had the flexibility to be able to start/finish at times that suited each of us each day, provided we have our WIP doc up to date”

Full-Time, recently hired - “There’s employees who work remotely from the other capital cities. MS Teams is the collaboration tool used to touch base with them. Its advanced features enable it to be used not just for meetings but also for some day to day work to be done through other apps that are integrated into it”

Full-Time, 4y exp - “Projects and regular processes were tracked live, this gave us a chance for items to be shared across the team to ensure we all met our priorities without being overloaded or wondering where something was at”

3. Arrange pre-set days from home

Full-Time, recently hired - “We all had our set days off or WFH (mine was Wednesday, someone else Tuesday, another Thursday etc) which made it easy to know how to collaborate with the rest of the team”support with anything”

Full-Time, 1y exp - “Those who are within distance of an office have anchor days to be in the office (Tuesday & Thursday).

Full-Time, recently hired - “Every department has a dedicated day in the week when they work from the Melbourne office”

4. Host consistent team building activities

Full-Time, 3y exp - ”We also have a fortnightly meeting where work isn’t the focus - we may chat topics of interest or share what’s happening in our life more broadly”

Full-Time, 4y exp “We have department off sites twice a year where the whole department comes together for strategy, connection & team building - our overall department also has three sub teams of 3-4 people geographically clustered who also get together twice more a year face to face”

✍️ Ryan’s Note: The key theme I found from this deep dive was the importance of having super clear ways of working and communication. Having agreed times where the team meets, places where documents are kept and where information is stored is key. This all comes down to systems and building trust within the team. So putting a system in place where you allow flexibilities if certain conditions are met allows for ‘give and take’ between you and your team, Ie. start and finish times can be flex IF work is up to date.

Keep reading for some more insights into our community and how you can get involved.

Let’s get it!

Ryan Walker 💛

Co-Founder

Meet the Community 💛

Get a taste of our Community, check out their stories below 👇🏻

• [Podcast]: Shayla Clarke, Audience Growth & Engagement Coordinator, Richmond FC

• [Blog]: Gen Horton, Ticketing Executive, Sail GP

• [Blog]: Dan Morris, Account Manager, Gemba

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1. Perth based member with over 2 years experience, currently working in Community & grassroots experience.

2. Melbourne based member, 5 years of experience in events, looking for opportunities in events management, diversity & inclusion and relationship & stakeholder management.

3. Sydney based member, over 2 years of experience in media and content and looking for casual & freelance videography opportunities.

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