oji EU GmbH is a Medical Technology Organisation based in Brandenburg, Germany.
Greta Silvana speaks to us about her experience as a member of a fully remote team.
Hey Greta! Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you guys got started using Teemyco?
I’m Greta, the head of marketing at oji Europe GmbH. The company was founded in 2020 with a mission to save the live entertainment industry after it was first hit by Covid-19 outbreaks and following lockdowns. The company’s base is in Nauen, near Berlin, Germany. Having said that, our Team is based everywhere. Lisbon, Portugal, Madrid, Spain, Dubai, MEA, Vienna, Austria, all over Germany and many more locations.
We meet once every two months. Every single day we meet in our Teemyco office and we LOVE it. Just popping into our offices, talking, seeing each other and chatting about ideas together. Previously we just used Google Meet and so our meetings always needed to be planned first.
How has the pandemic affected your ability to interact with your team and manage the business? Is there anything you miss about the physical office?
I personally have never worked in a physical office! I began working during the pandemic. My other colleagues have mentioned though, that they don’t miss their office life too much since we see each other virtually quite a lot. Before we began to use Teemyco, they had noted that it was hard to build work friendships, as there wasn’t a chance to chit-chat and banter. But now we have to force ourselves not to chat too much!
What kinds of benefits does remote work add to your lives as a group?
Most importantly, we love our own coffees! It is also great to not always wear jeans and shoes, and being able to get up and have a relaxed morning instead of a hassle to get to work on time. The flexibility with regard to work time is amazing.
Our CEO thinks that employees should schedule their days however they prefer to work, startinging/ending later, or being an early bird and leaving early.
Also, having the option to work in peace and get into focus is something we enjoy with Teemyco, you have the freedom to make a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed. I guess the one thing that we do miss is coffee breaks where you can physically make each other a coffee, or make a birthday cake to share.
How has using a virtual office shaped how you interact with your team-members and outside stakeholders?
It’s more easy going, and saves us a lot of time as we just jump into our office and can have a big meeting with many people. When we were limited to phones and Google Meet it could be annoying and time consuming. We haven’t had the chance to invite a lot of stakeholders to our virtual office quite yet, as we have been in a very busy product development phase. But soon we will start to have a lot of presentations — I’m really looking forward to inviting guests into our lovely office!
How do you build relationships and culture with your teammates when working remotely? Is this important to you guys?
It is really important! Just today my colleague and I thought of our physical well being and might start a little morning stretch in our Monday start-the-week-right-call!
We all love to decorate our offices by the way. I think the team would like to see more animals (as we all love them). It would also be great if we could insert our own little pictures, like for example the device our company is producing. We’d love to have that in our virtual office!
My team also thinks physical get-togethers are still important, so we also meet every second month in Berlin for two days. During this time we work together, cook together and just have a good time as a group.
What is the best hack you have found for working online? TEEMYCO !! Seriously, we love it and I am very happy that our CEO made us all download it. Working together real time in documents is also a good thing I guess.
Do you maintain regularly scheduled meetings and culture traditions remotely?
We have weekly and daily meetings which we use Teemcyo for. If it’s someone’s birthday we decorate the office with the birthday cake design which is really cute. As we are still super young, our culture is not very traditional yet, but we are doing our best to create that within our team. We now own all the same (analogue) calendar/notebook with a little oji stamp and our names. That’s cool, too!
What features of Teemyco do you find the most useful now? What kinds of features would you like to see in the future?
I like that you can share your screen while the others can still see you! Also the little flying emojis bring fun. I think a calendar would be nice. Or a little calendar in the coffee kitchen where you could check each other’s birthdays, important dates and things like that.
Do you see “The Future of Work” changing and becoming more and more online? What do you think will be the big changes in your industry?
I think I might not be the right person to talk about change, as I only know working like this. But it gives me so much more time and freedom, I really think an online office makes it even easier. Especially with having the ability to socialize through it. Digital organization is so much easier than manual also I think!
Finally, can you tell us about one big change that has come about in your working life since you started using Teemyco?
Having the ability to be around each other now has given us more productivity, creativity and fun while working. The little bit of joy you get when someone randomly talks to you while you’re working is very good for the whole positive energy of the team. Also, just working on your own but hearing the little noises from your colleagues using their computer is very nice. I love that you can choose to work alone or just “next to each other”. So you never have to feel alone while working. You can share happiness and sometimes some frustration — that’s cool and healthy!!
Thanks for speaking to us Greta!
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