Fostering connections at remote companies

Shim Markette, Chief People Officer of Second Nature, emphasizes the importance of intentionally nurturing human connections in her June 2023 interview.

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In June, people leader Shimrit (Shim) Paley Markette, the Chief People Officer of Second Nature.sat down with Jason Lavender, the Co-Founder and CEO of Electives. In her People Developing People interview, Shim shared her expertise and valuable insights on developing people, building strong communities and embracing the power of remote work.

During this segment, Shim emphasizes the importance of intentionally nurturing human connections.

Read the transcript:

Shim: At Second Nature we are fully remote. We don't actually have an office space. There are some things that Second Nature does that I really really love – that I think are kind of amazing. First, every Monday we have a weekly kickoff that our CEO Thad leads. It's the way that we start off our week. We start with music. Then each of the business leads goes over some high level metrics so everyone knows how the business is trending.

Shim: And then we do this great thing that I love called the core values breakout. We have six core values. Somebody from within the company chooses one element from one of our core values and asks a question about it. Then we go into these small small group breakouts and, when we come back, a couple people report out. And that's how we start every single week.

Shim: Other things we do—we're a big cameras-on group, so really making sure that people can interact online. Zoom isn't perfect, but you can still really get to know somebody on Zoom. You see their families. You see their animals. You know how they're feeling. You know what the weather is outside. Making sure that people have the opportunity to interact and then last thing that I love that Second Nature does as a remote-first org is we do bring the whole company together twice a year.

Shimn: We do two All-Hands meetings. Those two events are the most expensive things we do as a company, but we believe that they have the highest impact. It's two days of just pure collaboration, of team building, reinforcing our vision our strategy and making sure that every six months we have that in-person interaction to foster the next six months.

Read Shim's full interview here

About Shimrit Paley Markette

Shim Markette is the Chief People Officer at Second Nature, a fully remote company whose SaaS technology is redefining professional property management. With her passion for developing people and creating inclusive work environments, Shim leads the charge in fostering growth mindsets, building strong communities and embracing the power of remote work. She has extensive experience and expertise in recruiting, performance management, people strategy, people analytics, employee development, remote-first work, DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging) and company culture development.

Before her role at Second Nature, Shim served as the SVP of People Operations at EverQuote, where she played a pivotal role in shaping and driving the company's people initiatives. With her extensive experience and dedication to empowering employees, Shim continues to inspire and drive positive change, making a significant impact in people leadership.

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