We’re fond of describing our team as our “secret sauce”—and with some of the best minds in insurance, data, and technology making magic every day to create a better commercial insurance experience, we proudly stand behind that claim. And while collaboration is tightly interwoven into our company culture, as a fully-virtual office with professionals across the country, nothing can replace a few days of meeting in person for bonding, planning, and interactive fellowship.
That’s exactly what we did this May when our team members flew to New York City from every corner of the country for Joyn’s first meet-up of 2022. While many of our team members have their insurance roots in downtown New York, it was a first time visit for a few of them. And whether they knew their way around the NYC streets like a native or not, it was an exciting and memorable time for all and proved a useful session to continue moving the company forward.
We had a few clearly-defined objectives to accomplish while we were in each other’s presence instead of occupying boxes on a Teams video meeting: maximize our time together, get some bonding time in, spend some time outdoors, and cover topics that are better suited for an in-person interactive session.
Whether in an office environment or fully virtual, bonding time is always invaluable. Through icebreaker games, puzzle contests, and a scavenger hunt through the Financial District, we spurred a tremendous amount of laughs and conversation. Over roughly 10,000 steps, the scavenger hunt allowed our team to continue getting to know each other better while mixing some culture with business. And on a break during the hunt, the team shared lunch, providing more intimate time together.
From a business perspective, we focused on two key topics: our inaugural employee survey and the submission journey. With the survey recently completed, we wanted to share the results with the team, most notably that we were Certified™ by Great Place to Work®. This prestigious award is based entirely on what current team members say about their experience working at Joyn. It is truly humbling and fulfilling that in our inaugural survey, 100% of our team members said Joyn is a great place to work—an accomplishment that we now must work to sustain. We acknowledged all of the great things we have together at Joyn, but also the areas where we need to invest and move to the next level. We ended the discussion with the launch of a new, yet-to-be-named employee advocate group to help us focus in on prioritizing feedback areas, solicit input, and make recommendations.
The submission journey session continued a topic that we spent a lot of time on in the early days of building Joyn. In those early days, we used these sessions as a way to make decisions about the process and ensure the entire team was aligned. We hadn’t walked through a submission as a team in quite some time, and now that our volumes are increasing 40%+ per month, it was important to revisit the process to be sure we understood any pain points, particularly as feedback and process optimization are core elements of the Joyn experience. We sincerely believe that the only way to get better is to understand where you are and to reach our 10x vision, being honest and focused on continuous improvement is critical to our success. With the entire team interactive in the journey review, you open yourself up to different ideas, viewpoints and suggestions. Keeping our submission journey at the cutting edge of the industry is a company imperative, so the time was certainly well spent!
We finished the day with a visit to the One World Observatory to take in the city sights, and having dinner together as a company was the proverbial icing on the cake. By the time we departed, new bonds had been formed, new opportunities to improve the process were discovered, and a new culture advocate group had been launched. With year two soon to be under our belts, it’s amazing to look back at how far we’ve come and exciting to see where we are headed.
Building a company is hard. Forming a highly productive team is challenging. But celebrating in the opportunity to be doing both is simply invigorating. We set out to change the industry for the better, to solve the pain points that have always persisted, and to create a joyful insurance experience. Seeing all of those elements of our mission taking place in real time lets us know we are succeeding.
Our team is standing by for your submissions, but in the meantime, here are a few of our scavenger hunt clues. Can you solve them?
America’s tallest building until 1869
I am the third of my line
My surroundings are many a plot
Please don’t throw away my shot
and
The best free ride in town
I wait for no one as they chase me down
Lady Liberty keeps me company
Even a photograph doesn’t cost a penny
