Working from home (WFH) is a new reality for many of us and with several collective weeks of working virtually under our belt, our employees — affectionately referred to as ZEOs — are coming up with creative approaches to working from home. ZEOs are putting their stipend to good use, purchasing office materials to help them work more comfortable effectively from home. And despite being confined within the four corners of our workspaces, Zoom calls have remained constant and Slack use is at an all time high! Whether they’ve been at it for a while or new to the WFH game, here’s how ZEOs are staying more connected now than ever.
ZEO Live: All-Hands Home Edition
The team made some quick moves and we held our first-ever virtual company-wide “all hands” meeting, just a day after the WFH directive and it went off without a technical glitch! One by one our executive team popped on screen to give their updates and shared glimpses of their home-life including: rotating office schedules with spouses, maintaining study-abroad programs with a 15-hour time difference, a home-office that doubles as an orchestra studio and the perks of having chickens at home! Kyle Christensen, our VP of Marketing and “ZEO Live” host for the day doubled as a DJ, inserting sound effects like applause and air horns as we moved through our agenda.
Everyday at noon, several employees are taking ten minutes out of their day to come together for some much needed mindfulness. Here’s what ZEO, Akanksha Kaul, has to say about why she started this daily exercise for her and her colleagues:
“I learned that along with multiple other changes, we need to work on increasing our focus so we all feel “in the zone,” and meditation can help us do just that. It’s an exercise for our brains to increase concentration and calm the chatter in our minds. I think we can all agree, we need this now more than ever.”
Virtual Hangout Anyone?
Whether it’s a quick hello to chat about the day, showing off their collection of top-tier Zoom backgrounds, or virtual hangouts to say cheers to the end of another day, ZEOs are making the best of social distancing by keeping connected online. Wardrobe feeling drab? Simply accessorize or put on your favorite costume and resume meetings with your colleagues. Family life happening all around you? No problem. Put up a virtual background and it will show you sitting in the cockpit of a race car! Or simply gather 75+ of your fellow ZEOs to close out on the week together.
A New Level of Transparency
We like to think of our CEO, Tien as a highly visible CEO so it was pretty hilarious when he decided to have some fun during his morning executive team meeting by taking the call as the Invisible Man. Creativity at its best! Tien also recently shared some words of encouragement with all ZEOs — he’s incredibly proud of the way Zuora has quickly come together to adjust to our new reality. He also left us all with an important piece of advice to remember:
“…if I can leave you with one takeaway, it’s that nothing that’s happening right now affects our core strategy or the future of the Subscription Economy.”
You’re Hired!
We just wrapped up our first week of virtual on-boarding and here’s what one our newest ZEOs had to say:
“Although it was odd (at first) getting dressed knowing I’d be taking calls from the comfort of my couch, I can say the ZEO Success and IT teams have made my on-boarding and first week of work feel like a natural transition into life at Zuora. My laptop and welcome package were delivered to my front door, daily Zoom calls were set up to give us the opportunity to learn about different parts of the business, and meet and greets with colleagues from across the globe were arranged. I’ve actually had an easier time on-boarding virtually than I’ve had at any other job. My favorite part so far? My first team lunch! Although, the menu could’ve been better…”