Even though we're a 100%-remote company, we do a few activities both offline and online. Let's describe them!
Once per quarter, more or less, we fly everyone in and we meet for a day or two of get-together.
In the Martian Days, we don't do client work, and we spend quality time sharing the numbers of the company, doing AMA sessions, workshops, keynotes, brainstormings and a few leisure activities like football matches, dinners and more!
Needless to say, the company pays for the flights, meals and accommodation. If you pay for any taxi or meal, please send a photo of the receipt to administration@marsbased.com and you will get reimbursed in your next payroll, under the concept of expense allowance.
In Winter, we wrap our Martian Day with a Winter dinner and a good party.
Also, during the travel time, on the day before the Martian Day, you will do a best effort to work on the client projects, but don't overdo it. We understand that it might not be possible so whatever amount of time you will put into it, it'll be fine.
We call Zerg Rush to our online hackathons, honouring one of our favourite games ever: Starcraft.
They started as a tool to force us to work on company improvements when the company had only 4-5 employees. Later on, they turned into a motivating tool by allowing us to defocus from the client projects and work with different colleagues on different things.
As of 2021, the Zerg Rushes change slightly. Every year, MarsBased defines a budget in number of days (2021 budget is 4 days), and the team is invited to make proposals on what to do with that budget. Proposals can be presented during a Martian Day or any time during the year. They are discussed and voted (if needed) by the rest of the team members.
Zerg Rush days can be dedicated to training sessions, pair programming, live coding, contributing to open source, developing something for the company or even attending an event. Obviously, it needs to be related to the company's activity.
The days can be scheduled together or however the team decides. For example, one year we could schedule all the days together and do a Zerg Week, and another keep them separate and do smaller Zerg Rushes more frequently.
Proposals requiring a budget in euros (such as flights to/from the conference, tickets, housing, etc.) have to be discussed internally and we'll decide case by case.
Participation is completely optional. People not wanting to participate will continue working on their client projects.
Once a year, we do a company retreat. A few years back, our very own Oriol came up with this great idea and we let him organise it.
The idea is to go somewhere for a couple of working days (fly in and Martian Day on Thursday, and leisure time on Friday) and then the more adventurous can enjoy a weekend away, too, if they want.
So far, we've done the following:
- 2022: Asturias.
- 2019: Menorca.
- 2018: Dublin.
- 2017: Tenerife.
In 2020, we had to cancel the retreat, as well as all of our in-person meetings and get-togethers, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We went back to meeting in person in April 2022. Too long, but we wanted to play it safe!
Like in the Martian Days, the company pays for the flights, meals and accommodation for the two working days. For those that decide to stay for the weekend, hotel expenses, transport and meals of team activities are covered as well. Again, if you pay for any taxi or meal, please send a photo of the receipt to administration@marsbased.com and you will get reimbursed in your next payroll, under the concept of expense allowance.
Also, during the travel time, on the day before the Martian Retreat, you will do a best effort to work on the client projects, but don't overdo it. We understand that it might not be possible so whatever amount of time you will put into it, it'll be fine.
On Fridays, Basecamp might ask you a couple of questions, depending on which project you're assigned to. There's only one that is mandatory for everyone, which is the highlights of the week.
Reporting on how has your week been, both professionally and on a personal level, helps to overcome the feeling of loneliness of the remote worker. We have seen that those reports, and opening up about certain issues, helps to bond deeper with the rest of the team.
Some weeks, you'll share more technical stuff, while on others you will share the pictures of your holidays, notify us of a big achievement/change in your life, share a personal passion you have we didn't know about or just vent about something that you just can't keep inside any longer.
The development team meets online every Tuesday around lunchtime to discuss tech.
You will find more information about this practice on this blog post: Going for Martian Tapas With our Distributed Development Team.
Every Friday, we open a window for casual chatter. You will see on Slack a message announcing a virtual meeting on Google Meet at 10:30am.
In this platform (we're using Gather.town at the time of this writing), you're always invited to join a sort of virtual water cooler for 30 minutes of break.
We like to celebrate certain milestones, like someone's Martian anniversary, their actual birthdays, the release of a big project or someone new joining the team. If there's nothing to celebrate, we will meet for an open agenda of online watercooler randomness.
If you join, signal it with an emoji reaction to the Slack message so we know there's someone in there!
Being a small company operating remotely means that we interact less frequently face-to-face than what most of us would like.
We used to spice up Fridays by playing our Spotify contest we describe on this blog post: A Team Bonding Activity for Remote Teams Using Spotify. Now, we just add songs to a monthly playlist because after five years, we sort of outgrew the contest and we wanted to be more chill about it.
Check Basecamp for the links to the playlists or ask around on the #random channel.
A few people in the company have engaged in a reading challenge. At the beginning of the year, we set a number of books we want to read and we share it on GoodReads.
There's no winner and no rules, just the pleasure of reading.
Likewise, our good Pablo, spearheads a drawing contest every year with initiatives such as Inktober. Again, this is something not organised by the company and therefore not mandatory, but join us for the fun!
Everyone is welcome to suggest new initiatives like this one, with just one rule: you have to be in control and make it happen!
Last, but not least, we've got a club on Strava! If you want to join it, click here: MarsBased Strava club.
Have you got other ideas? A few of these were brought up by employees and now they're an integral part of our culture. Feel free to suggest good ideas anytime!