In the fast-paced world of educational technology, Lexia Learning has been a trailblazer in personalized learning solutions for schools. They specialize in digital textbooks with robust reporting capabilities and have been dedicated to helping students read for over 40 years. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Lexia decided to diversify its workforce and shift to a remote-first environment. This shift presented a big challenge: maintaining the strong company culture and keeping employees connected. That’s where CoffeePals came in.

About the Company

Lexia Learning’s vision is simple: a world where every child can achieve literacy. With over four decades of experience, Lexia has grown a lot in the past ten years, now boasting a diverse team spread across various locations.

Challenges

Before they started using CoffeePals, Lexia Learning faced a few challenges with their remote-first setup:

• Maintaining Company Culture: Moving from a physical office to remote work made it hard to keep the strong company culture that had been built over years.
• Keeping Employees Connected: With the company growing and the team spread out, it was tough to make sure everyone felt connected to others in the organization.
• Onboarding Process: Teaching new hires about the company culture remotely added another layer of complexity.

Core Objectives

Lexia Learning had clear goals for improving their remote work environment with CoffeePals:

• Foster Spontaneous Interactions: Create chances for employees to have casual conversations like they would in an office.
• Support New Hires: Help new employees meet and connect with colleagues, making their integration smoother.
• Enhance Company Culture: Keep the company culture strong by encouraging personal connections.
• Seamless Matching Process: Make sure the platform was easy to use and created valuable connections without much hassle.

A New Era of Connectivity

With CoffeePals, Lexia Learning tackled their employee engagement challenges head-on, bringing in a new era of connectivity. Here’s how:

• Random Connections: CoffeePals’ random matching feature let employees meet colleagues they might not have interacted with otherwise, building a sense of community.
• User-Friendly Platform: The platform was easy to use, making it simple for employees to participate, with biweekly one-on-one meetings becoming a regular thing for building connections.
• Great for New Hires: New employees found CoffeePals especially helpful for getting to know their colleagues and understanding the company culture.
• Positive Impact on Culture: By helping employees connect on a personal level, CoffeePals made the company feel more friendly and enjoyable.

Measuring Success

Lexia Learning saw overall improvements in the organization because of CoffeePals:

• Engagement and Satisfaction: The random, casual conversations increased overall employee engagement and satisfaction. Michael shared, “CoffeePals helps me appreciate my colleagues at Lexia. Business relationships tend to be very transactional, and getting the chance to have these random meet-ups helps restore humanity in the workplace.”
• Productivity and Collaboration: Improved personal connections made employees more comfortable collaborating and reaching out to colleagues, boosting productivity. Michael recounted, “I was matched with an engineer who worked at a company that merged with ours. During an interesting discussion about our processes, he shared what he liked about our methods in the context of his past experiences, which gave me a new appreciation for our own processes.”

Implementing CoffeePals Successfully

In our conversation with Michael, we asked him to share tips for a successful CoffeePals implementation.

1. Encourage New Hires: Make it easier for new hires to get involved by having them automatically included in the CoffeePals matching pool, with the option to opt-out if they prefer. This gives them an immediate chance to meet colleagues outside their team and gain a broader understanding of Lexia’s culture.
2. Share Testimonials in Town Halls or Newsletters: Encourage participants to share their experiences from CoffeePals matches during town halls or in newsletters. These stories can be surprising and inspirational, motivating others to join the program.
3. Adjust Match Frequency as Needed: If weekly connections feel too frequent, it’s easy to switch to bi-weekly or monthly matches. This flexibility can make the program more manageable and increase participation.
4. Create Multiple Matching Pools: To foster better collaboration, consider creating specific pools for different departments or groups. For example, matching members across the Quality Assurance and Development teams can enhance their working relationships. Similarly, matching members of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or teams working together on large projects can help build stronger connections.

Conclusion

For Lexia Learning, integrating CoffeePals has been a game-changer for navigating remote work challenges. The platform’s ability to create spontaneous, meaningful connections has supported new hires, diversified the workforce, and strengthened the company’s culture. As a remote-first business, Lexia Learning highly recommends incorporating CoffeePals to enhance employee engagement and make senior leadership more approachable. By doing so, they’ve created a more enjoyable and connected workplace, ensuring the continued success and growth of their mission.

Research has shown that teams who share strong connections are more likely to benefit from improved productivity and loyalty, and a decrease in absenteeism and turnover rates. To see how much your company can save using CoffeePals, use our ROI Calculator or Add CoffeePals to a Team to experience firsthand its awesome benefits!