Employees that are passionate about their work are often passionate about other interests, too: Maybe that star sales leader is also an avid cyclist, or that junior software engineer spends their weekends studying to become a sommelier.
Historically, some organizations may have written off outside interests as a distraction, but many companies today are embracing employees’ three-dimensional lives and encouraging their teams to share their interests at work.
This shift doesn’t just reflect a desire to retain restless workers: Outside passions also open the door to fresh perspectives, which can be crucial for solving business challenges, rethinking outdated practices and finding fresh opportunities.
The Post-it Note, for example, may never have been invented if a 3M scientist hadn’t spent his time outside the lab singing in a church choir. He was looking for a bookmark that would stick to the pages of his hymnal without damaging the pages — and eventually stumbled on an idea for a hit product.
Sara Blakely, the founder of billion-dollar shapewear company Spanx, has credited her background in standup comedy for helping her handle rejection and connect with customers through humor.
The benefits of diversity, in other words, also extend to people’s hobbies, pursuits and passion projects.
Built In New York caught up with employees at Ro and Braze to hear about how their companies support their many interests — from touring with a string quartet to chatting with coworkers about reality TV — and how this support has led to more creativity and productivity at work.
Ro is a patient-driven telehealth company that aims to provide its customers with personalized, high-quality healthcare.
How does Ro encourage team members to bring or engage with their passions at work?
Ro has always been a workplace that encourages people to bring their whole selves to work and celebrate each other’s passions. At the company level, we have so many special-interest Slack channels where we can share our passions: #ro-pets is particularly lively, although I’m partial to #bachnation, where we dissect the current season of The Bachelorette. Through our ERGs, Ro brings in authors, speakers and performers and offers workshops to celebrate our diversity.
On the brand team, we set aside dedicated time to share inspiration and celebrate our accomplishments outside of work. I’ve learned so much about my team through these sessions. I love when someone surprises you with their favorite artist or their passion for philosophy.
How does creating space for team members to share and engage with their passions help build culture and team camaraderie?
At Ro, empathy is vital, both for the people we serve and each other. Sharing our passions helps us create a full picture of our colleagues, understand what makes them tick and build empathy with one another. That’s the key to building high-functioning teams and organizations. Sharing has also helped form a team that supports one another. I love to see my colleagues rooting for each other’s passion projects, whether that means attending someone’s concerts, cheering them on at the NYC marathon or supporting their small business.
Sharing our passions helps us create a full picture of our colleagues, understand what makes them tick and build empathy with one another.”
For the brand team at Ro, sharing our interests and passions goes even further. Knitting, singing, cats, Pennsylvania Amish art, macro shots from Requiem for a Dream — inspiration for the next great creative idea can come from anywhere. Creating an environment that encourages team members to share their passions isn’t just great for culture; it’s good for business.
Braze is a customer engagement platform that helps businesses communicate with their customers in more personalized and targeted ways.
How does Braze encourage team members to bring their passions to work?
Braze is a large organization — 1,500-plus employees — and we have many ways for team members to engage with their passions at work.
In addition to ERGs focused on individual identities, Braze also hosts companywide “Braze Passions” sessions during which any employee can lead a show-and-tell-style video call showcasing what they’re passionate about. One of the early ones I attended was a cooking workshop led by a product manager who had worked as a professional chef for many years. He led us around his kitchen and discussed knives, chopping techniques for onions — that I still use! — and other tidbits.
On the engineering team, we have regular lunch-and-learn presentations where one or two engineers delve into a topic they are interested in.
We also have countless interest-based Slack channels, including #chess, #soccer, #brazenpuns — in which we share many, many dad jokes — #appcat for cat pictures and so many more.
Tell us about a time when you’ve engaged with or shared your passion in the workplace. What was special or unique about this experience for you?
I am a professional cellist and previously spent 18 years working as the cellist of the Chiara String Quartet.
Since joining Braze, I have continued to tour and perform. I have also performed a short solo on each of the “Braze Got Talent” shows as part of our annual companywide kickoff.
The company values my cello career enough to support my touring and performing, as well as my teaching at Greenwood Music Camp. For five weeks each summer, I work part-time from Western Massachusetts while teaching highly-motivated young musicians from all around the world.
The company values my cello career enough to support my touring and performing, as well as my teaching at Greenwood Music Camp.”
How does creating space for team members to share and engage with their passions help build culture and team camaraderie?
Simply put, Braze employees are not only allowed but encouraged to explore and express their identities and passions, which is a crucial part of finding brilliant solutions to the problems we are trying to solve. Many of my best ideas stem from looking at the world differently than I might from a standard software-engineering perspective.
