How Hot Dish Advertising Built a Stronger Remote Work Culture
Hot Dish Advertising first participated in FBR’s employee engagement survey as part of the Franchising at WORK study. They received a basic scorecard showing their benchmark score in eight key areas of the survey.
The following year, they resurveyed their employees, and opted to receive the full detailed results in order to do a deep dive into the data and gain the opportunity to see open comments from employees.
The leadership team, led by Dawn Kane and Jennifer Campbell, reviewed the results of the survey and went through all the open comments to identify any sensitive issues they needed to address before sharing the data with the staff.
The (anonymous) comments revealed that one person was clearly very unhappy. As they discussed it, one of he leadership team members owned it and shared that they hadn’t felt comfortable bringing the issue up earlier. The team then shared the results with the entire staff and followed up with a meeting to discuss them.
Meet the Brand: Hot Dish Advertising
Hot Dish Advertising is a full-service marketing agency that specializes in franchise advertising and brand development. Known for its expertise in helping franchise systems grow, Hot Dish blends strategic thinking with creative execution to attract both consumers and potential franchisees.
The agency offers services like brand strategy, digital marketing, media planning, and franchise recruitment campaigns. With a focus on measurable results, Hot Dish has built a strong reputation in the franchising world for delivering campaigns that not only look great, but drive real growth.
What Changed: Year One
Improved Worker Accommodations
With the shift to remote work, Hot Dish supplied employees with larger screens, stand up desks, laptop stands, and considered additional one-off requests that would make people more comfortable at home.
Increased Feedback
Creation of a kudos Slack channel to show appreciation and give shout outs. Each quarter they randomly select one giver and one recipient of a kudos to win an Amex gift card.
What Changed: Year Two
Encouraged Healthy Work Boundaries
Because the team is still working remotely, leaders make a concerted effort to encourage people to take a break from the computer, walk around the block, and shut down for the day at 5:00 p.m. to reduce burnout.
Focus on Culture
Creation of non-leadership committees focused on team wellness and connection. Hot Dish established a “Fun Committee” to plan monthly events during work hours to socialize virtually. Some of the events include lunchtime trivia (lunch is delivered), social hour at the end of quarterly meetings as a fun wrap-up to the day, and monthly summer happy hours. There’s also a team health committee that plans optional wellness events, including the Hot Dish Hike Club on Saturdays.
Created Opportunities to Connect
More in-person touch points. They created more opportunities to connect and engage with each other remotely.
The Result
Leadership said the tone of the organization now feels like people are more committed and accountable to each other.
Additionally, all employees were working remotely. They were asked if they wanted to return to the office, but ultimately arrived at a decision to continue remote work.
Interested in getting results like these for your own system? Franchise Business Review helps franchise companies at all phases of growth understand your employee satisfaction and identify areas to improve. Schedule a demo today to see our data in action.
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The Franchisor’s Guide to Employee Wellness
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- The 5 pillars of employee wellness
- Practical strategies for developing an effective workplace wellness program
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