A Look Inside: Arkestro’s Productivity Boosting Employee Offsite
Working from home has many upsides. It eliminates a lot of the traditional aspects of going to work in an office, like commuting and dressing in business attire. It can provide more independence, in many cases increase productivity, and allow us to have more flexibility between our work and personal lives.
Arkestro was founded in 2017 and since then, working from home has been all we know. We have small pocket offices in NYC and San Francisco but 90+ percent of the company is remote.
This has worked tremendously well as it allows us to be a truly borderless team that can hire talent anywhere in the country. Working from home and having a team that resides in alternate states and sometimes traveling throughout other countries also means that employees bring many different perspectives and cultures to the table, something we value greatly at Arkestro.
Soaring to New Heights in Denver
We recently had the opportunity to bring most of our team together for our annual company offsite, known internally as Arkestro All Hands 2023. This year we created the theme “Soaring to New Heights,” as we gathered in the mile high city of Denver, Colorado. The week was packed with group brainstorming sessions, retrospection on past accomplishments and areas for improvement, planning, and a few after-meeting activities for some much-needed team and relationship building.
We felt it was necessary to meet in person for a few reasons. Firstly, some face-to-face time with a team you’re used to communicating with via Slack or Zoom can provide a much-needed morale boost. While in Denver, the Arkestro All Hands was largely focused on getting work done, establishing our goals and values, and getting inspired for the rest of 2023 and beyond.
Tapping Into Our Creative Side
While working online, day in, day out is what we do, sometimes this can stump creativity. An offsite can be a great opportunity to spark new ideas and to give our employees that extra little push they need to stay productive and enthusiastic.
We often get so caught up in the day-to-day and are laser-focused on our immediate to-do list, that it’s difficult to take a step back and refocus on our larger goals.
At the offsite, we gave employees the opportunity to let loose during several fun activities – after all we need to have a little fun in between work.
We came, we ate, we conquered! Dinner at Coohills
After our first day of collaborative group working sessions and discussions, we enjoyed dinner at Coohills Restaurant and Bar, which has a focus on local, regional, and farm-fresh ingredients.
Here employees worked on getting to know each other through an interactive crossword puzzle, our CEO, Neil Lustig welcomed us to Denver, and we were joined by one of our investors from Construct Capital, Dayna Grayson.
A Bit of Healthy Competition in the Mountains
The Arkestro team loves a little healthy competition, so naturally, some outdoor activities were in order! Employees had the choice of either a trail hike, ziplining through the forest or playing board games.
We ended the outdoor event with an axe-throwing competition that could be enjoyed by all. It was a great excuse to get outside, get fresh air, and build friendships.
Hygiene Kits for Save the World
For the offsite, we partnered with Clean the World to make 300 hygiene kits with encouraging messages, which will be distributed to St. Francis Center, a local Denver men’s shelter.
MIT Supply Chain Game
During our second day, the entire company played the MIT Sloan School of Business Supply Chain Game. Working together across functions allowed us to bring different perspectives to the game and gain a greater understanding of decision making just as our customers would experience. And wouldn’t you know it, the team with our CFO as a member won!
Getting to Know Our Teammates
Many departments took the time to connect and host meetings to plan for the remainder of 2023 and build some internal team bonds. At Avanti Food & Beverage, the Arkestro Product and Customer Success teams enjoyed dinner and a rooftop movie together.
The marketing & BDR team focused on their barriers to success and ways to support each other throughout the rest of the year. Others attended a Rockies baseball game and explored Denver’s local museums and art exhibits like Meow Wolf.
Until Next Time!
Denver was an amazing city to host our 2023 offsite and employees went home with countless memories made. A HUGE shoutout to our event and HR team for pulling together such an incredibly thoughtful week. We are looking forward to the next one!
Curious about joining the Arkestro team? We are hiring! Visit our careers page to learn more.
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