Working with couriers to deliver office culture to remote workers

This article appeared originally on Hofy’s website on 15/03/2022

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This month marks two years of a world gone remote, catalysed by the COVID-19 crisis. And yet, even two years in, many remote and hybrid companies are still grappling with the challenge of cultivating a strong company culture in the absence of face-to-face interactions.

In a recent survey of 2,000 UK tech organisations by jobs marketplace Hackajob, 50% of employers admitted to finding it more difficult to build and maintain culture when remote vs office-based.‍

The role of work perks

Work perks (free coffee, on-site gyms, team lunches etc.) have always been key to boosting employee morale and cultivating a sense of belonging. When companies worked predominantly in offices, it was logistically simple for them to offer these sorts of perks to their employees.

But is it really that much more complex for companies to deliver the same perks employees once enjoyed in the office, to their homes? We say no.

Office managers have always relied on courier services (like Gophr) for tasks like getting important documents signed ASAP, assisting with office moves, reuniting workers with lost keys etc. They can also help to deliver perks and treats to dispersed teams.

Here are a few real life examples of how remote companies use Gophr to deliver perks to their remote teams.

Delivering an ergonomic workspace

Your team members spend on average 40 hours per week sitting at their desks. This means that, regardless of where your teams work, they need a proper, ergonomic home office set-up delivered to prevent musculoskeletal injury and promote employee comfort and wellbeing.

Gophr works with Hofy to deliver everything from single laptops, to full home office set-ups to home workers across London.

Being a remote company ourselves, we know how important it is to get the remote onboarding experience right. So we help you create a brilliant first impression by providing tracking links, so employees don’t miss a delivery, and prioritising speedy, on-time delivery to cater for immediate starters.

‍Delivering team lunches

Brainlabs is a smart digital marketing agency. Before the pandemic, their most popular staff perk was lunch catered by in-house chefs. 

When the lockdown forced Brainlabs to close their office, their office manager Poppy got in touch with us. She needed a courier who could deliver fresh meals, on the day they were made, from Brainlabs’ Kings Cross HQ to remote staff across London, 

Gophr made two shipments per week to 80 workers across London to help Brainlabs support staff wellbeing with nutritious, free lunches and maintain their most popular office perk remotely.

 

Delivering special occasions

Through our partnership with Miel Bakery, we’ve helped companies deliver cookies and cakes to remote workers across London to mark special occasions.

Thanks to our partnership with The Lobster Collective, we’ve helped companies host virtual dinner parties by delivering full dinner party sets.

For our own Christmas party, we delivered a selection of wine to all employees and hired a wine connoisseur for a virtual wine tasting.

 

‍Advice for choosing a courier to deliver perks

When delivering physical perks to your remote workers, prioritise finding a partner that offers same-day delivery. Not only does this provide you with flexibility, but ensures you can deliver an exceptional employee experience, even if you’ve left your deliveries to the last minute.

Here’s a few considerations when choosing a delivery partner to ensure your deliveries run smoothly.

1. Ensure your delivery partner uses tracking links and offers live chat support for a great employee experience.
2. If you need to deliver sensitive documents or packages, source DBS-checked couriers.
3. Ensure the partner has decent insurance level cover, even if you only intend to deliver low-value packages.
4. If you need to deliver multiple parcels, choose multi-drops to consolidate them all into one journey. This is both better for the recipients, and the planet.