Shoelace has a big focus (and associated budget) related to keeping Shoelace team members engaged outside of a strictly work capacity! With a team spread out across the world, we have created a number of opportunities for the teammates to get to know each other and bond outside of the duties of their day to day tasks.

Here are a few:

• Quarterly Fun Budget: Shoelace has a dedicated budget each quarter that employees can request money from to host events for their colleagues! These events can be in person (in locations where multiple team members live/are visiting) or virtual. The goal of this budget is to allow employees to gather and bond in a non-work environment (this budget is purely for fun and unrelated to our jobs). We’ve done virtual escape rooms, virtual movies, axe throwing, etc!
• Monthly Fun Meeting: As you have read we have Weekly All Hands meetings once a week. One of the meetings each month (the meeting on the 3rd Monday) is an hour long and dedicated to games to engage us all as a team. You get $20 to spend on your meal during/around the time of the meeting, and we do things like: trivia, scavenger hunts, speed games, etc. They are always chaotic and always a silly but fun time for the team to bond!
• Other: We have lots of other opportunities where we have fun together while at work, too many to list out without you saying “ok ok ok we get it.” But one of the benefits of a small team is we have lots of opportunities to create a working/bonding environment that you want. If you have an idea, we’d love to hear it. But here are some of the other fun things we do so you can start brainstorming what you’d like to see:
  • Clubs (we’ve had all kinds, but the stickiest one has been Health & Fitness)
  • Ongoing Virtual Games (right now it’s a game called Word Murder)
  • Opportunities to recognize your colleagues for their efforts to help them win money to donate
  • Inner Team Socials
  • Weekly “Controversial” Polls (Is a hotdog really a sandwich?)
  • And more!