Supporting #TeamThinkific during COVID-19
As our world continues to adapt to changing conditions and #TeamThinkific has been working fully remotely for over a month now, we wanted to share some more information on what we’re doing to face these changes as a team.
How has the pandemic affected Thinkific as a company?
Thinkific, as an online learning platform, is uniquely positioned to help organizations transition and take their businesses online. We’ve long seen the impact of online courses and as the world adapts to the current crisis, this is also being recognized by more and more people. As a result, we’ve seen a higher interest in Thinkific and we are grateful for the chance to help people pivot and adapt their businesses to thrive in these rapidly-changing times. Learn more about the support Thinkific is offering during the pandemic by clicking here.
Thinkific’s leadership team has always operated with financial prudence. We know that it’s common for many startups to rely on venture capital to operate, however, Thinkific operates profitably which means we can work without lingering concerns of a short runway or high cash burn rate. While we’ve grown quickly as a company (doubling over the past year!), we have always been conscious of doing this sustainably and in a way that provides our team members with the stability and security they need.
Are you still hiring? How are you onboarding new team members?
Yes, #TeamThinkific is still growing and we are looking to fill positions across many teams. We currently have roles posted for our engineering, success, marketing, sales, and recruitment teams — check out our Careers page to learn more about these opportunities (or apply to future openings!).
One area we consistently hear great feedback on is our onboarding process at Thinkific! Each new team member at Thinkific goes through a two-week onboarding process, and the great news is that many of our onboarding processes were already accessible online even before our current switch to working remotely. We conduct regular check-ins as you start your time with Thinkific, set up meet-and-greets so that you can get acquainted with team members across different departments, and even gather our newest team members for virtual lunch sessions.
At Thinkific, we have a Bring Your Own Device policy which allows our team members to work with whichever system they prefer and are most comfortable with. Need a new computer or an upgrade to your current system? We provide a hardware bonus to cover this (and it can be used every 3 years)! We also work to make sure you’re set up for success at home, too. Whether you need a monitor, laptop stand, keyboard, mouse, or even a desk, we’ll work to ensure you have what you need to work comfortably.
What if I’m a parent? What flexibility are you offering your team?
Our highest priority at Thinkific is ensuring that our team is well supported, and that’s no different now. As we’ve made the transition to working remotely, we know that our team will have to do some adapting to their new work environments. This may mean sharing workspaces with roommates, partners, or children!
While we’ve always offered a flexible work environment with our open time off policy and guilt-free work from home days, this is now more important than ever for our team. We recognize that working remotely comes with adjustments and whether it’s shifting their work hours (we have both early birds and night owls on our team), taking breaks throughout the day, reducing the number of hours worked in a day, or accommodating parenting duties, we’re encouraging our team to work however is best for them. One impact that we’ve seen as a result of this is an increase in communication across our team — we’re over-communicating to keep each other updated on what we’re working on, when we’ll be offline, and sharing what we need to feel supported each day.
How else are you helping your team?
To ensure that our team is remaining supported as we continue to work through the pandemic, we’re making sure to provide opportunities for team members to stay connected and to take care of their well-being.
Every Wednesday morning, #TeamThinkific gets together for our team-wide huddle, where team members have a chance to catch up, tell some dad jokes, and share updates on what’s happening across the company. In our current situation, these meetings take place on Zoom rather than in-person. Our team has spent time together through activities like office board game nights, soccer games, outings to comedy shows, and regular team events. While maintaining physical distance means that we aren’t able to be together in person, our team has found creative ways to hang out! We’ve hosted virtual happy hours, distributed karaoke sessions, online game nights, and even held a Thinkific Coffee House that saw many team members showing off their creative talents.
With this transition to physical distancing, we know that once-normal activities like grocery shopping have now changed too and that this is a challenging time for many small local businesses. One way that we’ve tried to help is by partnering with Fresh Prep, a Vancouver-based meal kit service that offers sustainably produced and locally sourced ingredients, to provide meal credits to our team. We’ve seen many photos of these meal creations shared on Slack — from scallop linguine to gnocchi to chicken masala — and our team members have picked up new skills in the kitchen!
As a team, we recognize that this can be a challenging time for many people. Thinkific is proud to provide comprehensive benefits in order to help our team members take care of each other, including $2000 coverage for mental health professionals through our extended benefits plan. We also host regular guided meditation sessions and hold biweekly pulse checks with every member of our team. We’re encouraging team members to take care of themselves by taking regular breaks and proactively reaching out to ensure they have the support they need.
The suggestions and input we’ve received from our team during this time of change have been key to how we’re navigating COVID-19. As we move forward, we’ll continue to find new ways to better support our team, iterate on what we’re already doing, and ensure that we can succeed together.
