Culture and benefits at Gecko Engage (Gecko Labs)

Gecko life now is very different from Gecko life at the start of 2020. But like our namesake, we adapt and thrive! Until March, we were all mostly based in our colourful New Town office, used to seeing one another every day, sharing stories, solving problems and creating great things together. We had our lovely treats and perks such as the coolest gadgets, best furniture, free breakfast, fortnightly lunches, reflexology or massage, ping-pong leagues, Sprint burritos, drinks galore, cakes, treats left, right and centre... And we were social, so social. Come Friday, after the working week was done, you’d always find at least some of us at the local ‘public house’ next door, discussing weekend plans. Then the dreaded "C" word (coronavirus) began to come a bit too close for our liking so we made the decision to move to a temporary fully remote set-up in order to protect the wellbeing of our Geckos. Now we're all working from home and although we miss the face-to-face human connection, we're thriving! Our usual Gecko traditions and rituals swapped out with virtual alternatives; Company Stand-Ups are now completely virtual; the Friday pub is now also virtual; as is our (virtual) lunchroom; birthday cakes are now birthday cake vouchers; numerous Slack channels replace daily topics such as #ratemyplate or #fit; and, our mental health Coach also takes all of her sessions virtually too. We've also started doing some new things such as; having randomised virtual coffees each week (something we'd not explored before but is really successful); quiz or games nights; teaching online classes such as HIIT, yoga or meditation. We're even recruiting virtually now! We've learned so much during these past months and we'll admit we are still learning and experimenting in this new world of work.