Ever worked for a company where you really don’t know anyone and just felt like a number? At Maveris we love creating opportunities where team members are able to engage with those outside of their normal work groups. These cross-team engagements provide an opportunity for team members to learn more about each other and the work they perform at Maveris. Check out a few examples of how we facilitate these engagements below!
Virtual Events
As a dispersed company, it is important for Maveris to create opportunities for team members to get to know one another and to interact on something other than work. One type of opportunity we have utilized is a virtual holiday party (learn more about Maveristmas and Maveristmas – The SQL) to replace a traditional in-person celebration. When many companies were simply writing off any type of celebration due to COVID-19, Maveris leaned into the opportunity and held holiday spirit competitions that allowed for everyone to let their guard down and smile more. In this same vein, and to celebrate the 2019 Summer Olympic Games, Maveris hosted a virtual Maveris Olympics to encourage everyone to follow the Olympics and support Team USA. This was a team event that fostered relationships amongst team members throughout the company.
Virtual Lunches
One of the team-building activities that stuck from Maveristmas (see link above) was a monthly virtual lunch. On the last Friday of each month, we simply reserve a time slot and encourage everyone available to join in. We use this as an opportunity to introduce new team members and share any company news. After that short introduction, the communication flows freely in whatever direction the team takes it.
Slack
Maveris has found Slack to be an extremely effective method of communication. Yes, we have your normal work team channels, but we also have channels that were created organically out of team members finding commonalities around their hobbies. Currently, we have channels tailored to cooking/food, woodworking, cars, fitness, sports, gaming, karaoke, and more! Within our #random channel (Who doesn’t need a place to post anything you want?), one of our team members facilitates a “🤔 Midweek Question 🤔! ” post. The topic of the questions is completely random (See what I did there?) and has ranged from your favorite weird food combinations to a smell that reminds you of your childhood to your walk-up song if you were a professional baseball player.
Cyber Challenges
Throughout the year, Maveris team members participate in cyber challenges offered by industry in a competitive or team manner. These challenges allow team members to meet, get to know, and collaborate with those they do not work with on a day-to-day basis. As part of this cross-company engagement, there is both a leveling-up of skills and an opportunity to create new relationships. Some of the individual challenges team members have participated in include CyberQuests, SANS Holiday Hack Challenge, and GeoGuesser. You may have also seen our team, dolphinriders (an inside joke that goes back to our first Maveristmas), at Deloitte Hacky Holidays CTF, DEF CON Red Team Village CTF, or Hack The Box Business CTF.
As part of the Maveris Olympics discussed above, we created a Maveris Digital Marathon OSINT CTF. Initially created for the event, it was later released to the community to provide a fun way to learn both a little about the Olympics and different forms and techniques for OSINT.
While none of these are huge initiatives or new ideas, that really isn’t the point. Our desire is to repeatedly make small decisions that cumulatively have a significant impact on the well-being of our team members.
That is our commitment.
Want to know how Maveris team members feel about the company? Check out our semi-annual survey results!
Interested in joining the Maveris team? Check out our careers page to see what new opportunities may be waiting for you, and be sure to visit our website and LinkedIn page for more information and updates!