I work at Alyce, a corporate gifting platform that puts recipients first. By day, I'm the Content & SEO Manager, where I help marketing and sales professionals discover the magic of personal gifting with our ever-expanding range of educational guides and articles.

By night, I am a proud dad to my three-year-old son, listening to business podcasts, and visiting a beach twice a year — it’s a must if you live in Phoenix. 

Alyce is based in Boston, MA, and is scaling fast to keep up with demand. Its workforce is distributed all over the world with a 10-person marketing team.

How big is it?

‍160 employees‍

Where are your teammates located?‍

We're located primarily in the United States, with many excellent members living worldwide.

The entire team blends async and synchronous communication to work across several timezones seamlessly and stay engaged.‍

What does your team do? What are you responsible for?‍

Alyce improves sales, marketing, customer, and employee campaigns with personal gifting. Our team members build and continuously improve our approach to use AI, integrations, and strategic guidance to make it intuitive and easy to accept and distribute gifts that will enhance customer campaigns.

We host numerous virtual and live events on the marketing side and curate helpful content to help sales and marketing leaders delight customers and grow sales.

I'm responsible for the website and helping to make its content more discoverable among our audiences.

Empathy and autonomy are two essential components of a cohesive remote culture.

Being intentional about practicing empathy with remote team members across the organization helps strengthen the emotional connection beyond work and tasks.

Building autonomy within one's role helps everyone work faster and when people are most apt to produce their best work. Some team members are night owls, and others are early risers; giving them the flexibility to get the work done on their terms is a must for working remotely.

Our marketing team meets virtually a few times a week for a casual check-in. We connect and share what's going on around work besides the work itself. Across the organization, we have a lively Slack workspace with many fun channels highlighting one's hobbies and interests. At Alyce, our 5-to-9 is crucial — we make sure it's not lost in the mix.

The company has a flexible work environment backed by a generous benefits package with plenty of WFH perks. Everyone is strongly encouraged to take time off anytime they need. In addition, the leadership team hosts regular all-hands and Q&A sessions that invite questions and feedback.

These efforts help everyone stay connected and committed to the goals and mission of the company. Plus, it's fun to celebrate our wins along the way!

Calendars can be deceiving so be aware of everyone's workload. It's best to chat with them to see if they have space for it or if you should plan a task later.

Accept the fact that Zoom calls can be exhausting. Set aside days for deep focus so your team can apply themselves fully and not just between calls. And if desired, pick up the phone and talk there.

While I'm a bit newer to Alyce, I've seen that everyone has many interests outside of work. For instance, there's an endless stream of photos of kids and pets shared in our Slack.

Before Alyce, I've participated in team trivia and virtual games like Hangman and Pictionary. I felt those were quite enjoyable, but variety matters here.

The team at Alyce is super creative and a lively bunch. We've done everything from team trivia, coffee breaks, and cocktails. I think everyone is always willing to try new virtual team games as long as they're easy and fun.

I have to say that almost all of our meetings begin with ice breakers where we share our 5-to-9 interests. Everyone shares highlights from their lives to strengthen connections with each other.

Our people! Slack tends to be the central nervous system of our company, but everyone uniquely adds their flavor to our culture. We also encourage team members to share their POVs on Twitter and LinkedIn, which has helped us develop more awareness and understanding of our backgrounds across the organization.

New hires receive a thoughtful onboarding plan that encourages face time with many different leaders across the company to get fully immersed and connected.

Listen. Listen to your team and the ongoing discussions around working remotely. Many people pivoted to remote work involuntarily, but some best practices have emerged to help people and companies work better.

On the podcasting front, I enjoy listening to Work Life with Adam Grant, where he dives deep into the trends and psychology of modern work.

Twitter is also a great source of inspiration. Candid, practical advice (and even hot takes) can help you learn from others who have thrived from remote work. Carlos Silva (@cesilvam) is a fan of remote work and shares so many helpful insights.