This is a guest post written by Sony G. Tharakan, a Senior HR Executive at DCKAP.
A positive and engaging culture makes any company a great place to work. The culture within an organization plays a significant role in determining how individuals with diverse backgrounds collaborate effectively.
Zircly is a product of DCKAP, and at DCKAP we prioritize cultivating and sustaining a vibrant and constructive culture – one that fosters a sense of community, rather than merely a corporate or organizational identity. From an HR perspective, this has helped us attract and retain top talent.
Who is Sony?
I am, Sony G. Tharakan DCKAP’s Onboarding and Engagement specialist. I worked in DCKAP in the early 2010s and rejoined DCKAP in 2022.
I am a people person, and my role at DCKAP keeps me doing more of what I love.
A little bit about DCKAP
At DCKAP we take pride in our culture. DCKAP is a fully distributed organization, with people from different parts of the world working together towards our shared goal.
We believe that our culture is the invisible cord that binds us all together, and culture is at the core of everything we do. Zircly has become our go-to tool helping us overcome the limitation of time zones and countries, and connect over shared interests, intellectual explorations, experiments and so much more.
In the workplace, especially in a distributed working arrangement, there is no denying that employees who feel a sense of connection to the community, the culture, and its values are more likely to be engaged in what they do.
How DCKAP Uses Zircly
DCKAP’s Zircly is the ultimate Community Platform that takes care of a huge chunk of all engagement efforts. It has simplified communication and team building, especially across teams. Some of the most important ways Zircly helps us include:
⭐ Sharing Ideas: Being able to share their thoughts, opinions, exciting industry trends, and more has helped our employees build a stronger community.
⭐ Celebrating Each Other: Acknowledging and celebrating personal milestones, appreciations, anniversaries, and accomplishments are key to help build a sense of community, and a sense of being seen. Zircly provides a platform where people can celebrate people, and just as importantly, themselves.
⭐ Crucial Communications: On the Zircly we share important announcements, welcome posts for new hires, conduct polls, and keep everyone in the loop about upcoming events. We have observed that all these help to elevate member morale and motivation levels.
⭐ Collaboration: Zircly works like a private Facebook that fosters inter-departmental collaboration, breaking down silos and improving communication. It encourages networking, and knowledge-sharing and fosters a sense of belonging within the workplace sans all the inappropriate comments, behavior, and sometimes lack of professionalism a public social media platform would bring in.
⭐ Connection: With the Zircly our members have a safe and private space to engage with their work buddies. We have people sharing travel plans, pictures, vlogs, book reviews, tech gadget recommendations, financial advice, and even food, restaurant, and film reviews on our Zircly! (Thanks to a UPS Router recommendation posted by one of our community members, I became aware of its existence and got one for myself – it goes a long way in making my WFH seamless!) Goes without saying, that the community module doubles as a place for people to connect over shared interests, irrespective of age, location, and gender.
⭐ Challenges & Contests: On Zircly we also run challenges and contests. We recently organized a walking challenge and a writing competition for the community where the post with the highest number of likes and comments emerged as the winner! Seeing the contestants extend their support to each other through likes and comments was truly heartening. Also, the community members supporting and validating their peers creates a sense of self-worth and support, which in turn contributes to more engagement.
⭐ Games: Zircly also has an inbuild Secret Santa Program, that lets everyone join in on the fun despite the distance. The Secret Santa Program is automated, and allows Santas and Little Elves to communicate without giving away their identities, keeping the fun going. Zircly also has a Gifting Limit that helps us set a limit on the gift and lets each player add items to their unique wishlist. This is our 3rd year playing, and it only gets better every year.
The Bottom Line
Adding a Zircly to our community-building tool kit has done us a great deal of good; we are proud to have an enhanced community culture and improved member satisfaction with Zircly.