Inspired Testing meets remote team building challenge head-on

Inspired Experiences 2023 Collage.

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The globalisation of tech talent has opened many doors to organisations and individuals alike. Companies now have access to talent outside the traditional country borders, while talented individuals can slot in remotely from anywhere in the world. These dispersed teams raise an interesting challenge to those tasked with creating unity within their organisations. International software testing company Inspired Testing faced this challenge head-on by celebrating its employees through a combination of custom virtual and in-person events. With team members spread around the globe, the focus was on providing everyone with a memorable experience no matter where they are.

Inspired Testing pulled out all the stops to make this a memorable series of events, with a focus on creating a range of custom experiences. The team could choose between an online cooking lesson with ingredients delivered to their doorstep and an online murder mystery game. Those who live close to Inspired Testing’s four offices in London, Edinburgh, Johannesburg and Cape Town also had the option to attend face-to-face events in the form of escape rooms. The Cape Town event and online mystery game was hosted by Survivor South Africa winner Dino Paulo’s Hint Hunt.

“We wanted to celebrate the uniqueness of our people, so the team designed three extraordinary custom experiences according to personality, preference and location,” notes Karin van Blerk, Marketing Manager at Inspired Testing. “The global teams were pulled together on a granular level to create a personal and memorable experience for everyone, while feeling connected with their team members.”

The chosen dishes for the online cooking experience reflect Inspired Testing’s position as a global company. South African team members choosing the online cooking experience were led to create a sumptuous Vitality-approved healthy pumpkin risotto, while their UK colleagues were treated to an authentic Greek experience preparing chicken souvlaki, presented by Irini Tzortzoglou, 2019 MasterChef winner.

In-person events in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Edinburgh and London had team members don their thinking caps to solve clues in various escape rooms. “These in-person events allowed everyone to interact face-to-face and get to know their team members better. The loss of personal contact is a challenge to many in our remote-first world, and it is important for our people’s well-being to give them these in-person opportunities,” says Karin.

With team members scattered across the globe in Vietnam, the US, Argentina and Mauritius, creating an event that still allowed them to interact with their colleagues was a challenge. An online detective game that requires teamwork to solve allowed our global team to interact and get to know their colleagues better.

The adoption of remote-first in the tech environment has opened the channels between organisations and talent located around the world. It’s well-known that dispersed remote teams pose a challenge to creating a sense of cohesion within an organisation. Inspired Testing embraces this challenge by making use of the many innovative solutions available in the tech space in serving a dynamic and diverse team culture.