Creating a team culture in 2024 that works for everyone can be tricky, especially when most of your team works remotely, like Elementary Digital (ED). Colleagues are spread throughout the UK, meeting in person only when it makes sense for collaboration or client-facing purposes.
We’re not alone. In a recent Forbes article, over half (63%) of workers said they work remotely all or some of the time. Most (78%) said it improves work-life balance, and over half said they completed work quicker because of fewer distractions. For almost half (47%), it improved their wellbeing. At ED, remote working suits us for all these reasons and more.
Even so, how do you create a decent company culture when you don’t interact in person day-to-day? With no office cooler chat, team lunches or after-work drinks, how do you get to know each other? Because, let’s face it, office banter that starts with: ‘You’re on mute again, Andy’ doesn’t quite cut it.
It’s where an event like ED Fest comes in…
ED Fest ‘24: non-nonsense fun for everyone
With four generations now in the workplace, socialising, not ‘drinks’, is the way forward. Don’t get me wrong; many of us still enjoy after-work drinks throughout the year. But for the big one, our summer social, we wanted to host an event everyone could enjoy. That’s where the idea for ED Fest was born, an overnight festival that gets people together without pressure to be anything but themselves
“As a company, we like to keep things simple, doing what works, not what we feel we have to. It’s a bit cliched to say we ‘listen’. But listening and responding to our clients and teams’ actual needs, and not what we think they need, means we don’t force our idea of culture on anyone. Authentic culture should celebrate a company’s unique characters and not feel contrived.”
Andy Holland, MD
How Ed Fest ‘24 went down
We held ED Fest ‘24 in Kettlewell Camping’s private field. Kettlewell in Skipton, North Yorkshire, is the southern gateway to the Yorkshire Dales. As you can imagine, the scenery is pretty spectacular, and fortunately (unlike last year’s event, which absolutely poured it down), the weather was sunny and dry for the most part.
Pitching up
We invited our entire team, as well as partners and collaborators. People came from as close as Mirfield and as far away as Brighton. Some pitched up to stay overnight; for others, camping was never part of their plan. Either way, being outdoors in natural surroundings helped remind us why we’re a climate-positive workforce. Having team members spread throughout the UK works well when collaborating remotely and serving our clients, but having everyone in one place was essential for team-building.
Lunchtime chat
A short stroll into Kettlewell brought us to The Bluebell Inn, where we swapped stories over a hearty pub lunch. The conversation flowed; there’s a lot to catch up on when you don’t meet often in person, and amazingly, there was little to no chat about our latest projects. It was the first time some of our team had met each other. Developer Max Butterworth had only joined us the week before, and many of our partners were new to each other and the team. So, we talked about travel, AI, music and sport amongst other things.
Attending EdFest was a fantastic experience, especially as a new team member. It gave me a great opportunity to connect with everyone in person, which was invaluable. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and am looking forward to the next one, which I hear will be even bigger and better!
Max Butterworth, Web Developer
Team building games
Back at the campsite, most of the team stayed around to play a series of Taskmaster-style team-building games hosted by Technical Lead Liam Firth and me. The skills required ranged from tea bag throwing to who could make themselves the smallest. Essentially, it’s a lot of daft fun that gets everyone out of their heads while away from their desks. ED Fest ‘24 was (at the risk of sounding corporate) a ‘safe space’ to let loose and get silly without risking embarrassment. We were all in it together.
Food, songs and firepit
Later into the evening, when the pub lunch had settled, we set about cooking and serving the remaining team members blue cheese burgers, halloumi and chips. Live music eased us nicely into the dusk, and a roaring firepit helped us continue into the night. While work was pretty far from our minds, it crossed them long enough to capture this sweet image using miniature flashing lightsabres.
