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Slacking off: Our top three messenger channels

By Equinox

Like many tech companies, we use Slack to keep our teams connected and on the same page. It’s perfect for home working when you have a quick question but don’t need a proper phone call.

While Slack is a fantastic tool to help keep the business moving, we also like to have some fun with it. Our light-hearted channels help create connections and cultivate close, professional relationships whether we’re at home or in the office.

We’ve looked at some of the most fun Slack channels we use daily and rounded up our top three.

#pets-of-equinox

We’ve got dogs, we’ve got cats, and we’ve even got rats.

This could be our most popular channel. Our team loves to share pictures and videos of our beloved critters, so we devoted a channel especially to admiring our furry, scaled, and feathered friends. We have recently seen Teddy, Claire’s dog enjoying a day on the beach. Teddy joins Claire in the office once a week where he likes to dart around the office and distract everyone as much as possible.

Another regular feature on #pets-of-equinox is Toast, one of Alannah’s rats. Although he doesn’t come to the office, he is well known for his appearances on Slack where he is often found posing for the camera like the supermodel he is.

Our most regular office visitor, Jerry the cat, is probably the most-posted furry friend you’ll find on Slack. Jerry is a part of the furniture and even features in our marketing materials (just look for the ginger cat with a jetpack). Loitering outside the office until he’s let in, he likes to roam the office in search of treats and attention and can at times be found sleeping on the job in a vacant desk chair.

Pets of Equinox

 

#cheers

We think that positive feedback is very important. As one of our company values is being supportive, taking the time to celebrate when one of our team has done a good job is a regular occurrence for us. When someone has been particularly helpful or had a big achievement, anyone can tag them in a post on the #cheers channel to show off in front of the whole company how well they have done.

It’s heart-warming to see our team celebrating one another’s achievements. Each month, the person that receives the most mentions on the #cheers channel gets a voucher prize to reward their efforts.

Recently, Kieran got a cheers from Trad for helping out with some correspondence. Wilf and Jenny received a cheers from Claire for a quick turnaround on an urgent development task. Liz sent a cheers to James and Olivia for working hard to give the team the option to add our pronouns to our Slack profile and email signature.

Example cheers

#album-club

Music is a major talking point in our office. We have very diverse tastes, with country fans working alongside pop enthusiasts and classical aficionados. But whatever our taste is, when we want to share some great music, we go to the #album-club on Slack and share a link.

You can find all sorts on the channel, including Welsh psychedelic tracks and modern RnB. We also arrange meet-ups for gigs and report back from concerts with our favourite tracks. Having a collaborative, open space to discuss our musical and artistic interests is a welcome and refreshing break on a quiet afternoon in the office. There is always something new to discover.

Album club

 

We do occasionally get some work done (I promise), but it’s nice to have some light-hearted ways to interact. Maintaining a strong company community can be hard when people come to the office at different times, and little touches like these fun Slack channels are one of the many little tools we use to sustain a fun, supportive environment.

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