That’s a wrap on Ascent! Our annual virtual conference was a massive success this year, and we hope you enjoyed taking a closer look into the future of work as much as we did.
Whether you missed Ascent or want to revisit the insights shared in each session, you can watch the full recordings on demand below.
Distributed Work in 2022 and Beyond: What’s Next for Global Employment Platforms
The lottery of where you were born once determined the number of career opportunities available to you—but with global employment and distributed work, that’s thankfully no longer the case.
To kick off Ascent this year, Oyster CEO and co-founder Tony Jamous dove into why distributed work is better for businesses, people, and the planet.
While the path toward democratizing the workplace can be bumpy, blazing the trail isn’t impossible. Tony also discussed some of the challenges of elevating global talent for 2022 and beyond, and how global employment platforms (GEPs) like Oyster can help companies navigate and narrow the gap between access and opportunity.
Later, our VP of Product Marketing Gregg Miller joined Tony for a live Q&A to answer pressing questions about global employment platforms, remote company culture, and distributed work. From people-centricity to common pitfalls, Tony shares his insights on the future of work and how Oyster’s Direct+ infrastructure can help companies become fully distributed.
Curious about what Tony had to say? Watch the full keynote below.
Strategies for Building Thriving Teams Across Cultures, Timezones, and Markets
Successful distributed teams don’t just happen by accident. Thriving, distributed company cultures require intentionality as well as forward-thinking approaches to communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.
As a leader within a distributed company, how can you empower and nurture your teams across different cultures, time zones, and markets while smoothing friction at the same time?
For our first panel, a supergroup of distributed team leaders—Ally Fekaiki from Juno, Brandon Sammut from Zapier, Lona Alia from SafetyWing, and Mark Frein from Oyster—joined Stacey Slater, Oyster’s Global Talent Operations Manager, to discuss what thriving looks like in a distributed environment.
Watch the full recording to learn how to overcome communication roadblocks, encourage transparency and trust, and build an inclusive workplace culture.
Tackling Imposter Syndrome, Stress, and Burnout in Remote Teams
As employers, we want our teams to feel happy, supported, and engaged daily—yet both remote and in-person employees consistently report high levels of isolation, burnout, stress, and anxiety as well as poor work-life balance and unmanageable workloads.
This is why supporting employee well-being and stress management is essential in the workplace, especially when it comes to preventing burnout and work-related anxiety for distributed teams.
In this session, our Head of Workplace Design, Rhys Black, sat down with Scott Shute, former Head of Mindfulness and Compassion Programs at LinkedIn, to chat about why mental health in the workplace is critically important. Together they looked into the many reasons why distributed teams face challenges around imposter syndrome, stress, and burnout, and shared different ways to recognize stress even when communication is primarily asynchronous or virtual.
Hear their conversation on how to offer mental health support in a remote environment, and learn about different techniques and policies that could better support your distributed team.
How to Evaluate Global Talent that Doesn't Fit the Mold
To address talent shortages, ambitious growth demands, and critical skill gaps, many companies are turning to global recruitment to reach talent worldwide. But engaging global talent in an equitable way requires hiring managers to fairly evaluate candidates from a variety of experience levels and cultural backgrounds—which means overcoming hiring biases and rigid criteria that may disadvantage candidates.
In this session moderated by Oyster’s Senior Director of Global Recruiting, Eryn Marshall, Niya co-founder Cameron Brown, Jobs for Humanity founder Roy Baladi, and Tyler Parson of Chili Piper discussed how to effectively evaluate global talent that doesn’t fit the mold—candidates with unconventional career journeys, displaced refugees, neurodivergent candidates, and more.
These People leaders took a close look at the biases and challenges candidates from emerging markets might experience in a North American or European-centric hiring environment, and vouched for hiring for “culture add” rather than “culture fit.”
Watch the full recording to learn how you can make the global hiring process more flexible, inclusive, and accessible.
From ESG to Impact: Making a Difference on a Global Scale
The pandemic catalyzed a dramatic shift in how companies operate and also how they think about their purpose and impact, from the environmental benefits of remote work to the diversity that comes from being globally distributed.
ESG, an acronym for “environmental, social, and governance” that originated in the investor community, is now used to describe a host of internal impact initiatives. When a company aligns its business model with impact, that impact can scale as the company grows—something that companies of all sizes should consider and strive for.
In this session, Oyster co-founder Jack Mardack moderated a powerful panel discussion between impact leaders Xavier Langlois of Beamery, Frances Edmonds of HP Canada, and top HR innovator Karen Craggs-Milne. The three panelists shared their views on the new impactful world of work, along with stories of the work they’re doing at their own companies.
Watch the full recording to hear why and how companies align their business models with impact.
Creating a Successful Distributed Company Culture from Scratch
Poor company culture can impact productivity and overall morale—but in a remote environment, you can’t rely on the water cooler or spontaneous happy hours to bring people together. So what does a high-performing, collaborative culture look like in a distributed work environment, and how can leaders and People Ops professionals cultivate one from scratch?
Joined by Lisa Paredes from Oyster’s Product Marketing team, panelists Heather Doshay of Signal Fire, Cara Brennan Allamano of Lattice, and Kim Rohrer of Oyster discussed how work culture has evolved since the start of the pandemic. They explained the different foundations, types, and challenges of strong distributed cultures.
Watch below to learn the ways you can scale remote company culture, create culture-focused onboarding, and help distributed teams feel more engaged and connected, wherever they are.
Does Your DEIB Strategy Support Your Distributed Team?
Your organization may have strong strategic goals around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging—but do these goals actually support your distributed team?
As your team grows and expands in more locations, so should considerations around your DEIB strategy. Evolving your company’s inclusion efforts to reflect and support growing diversity within your organization is essential for ensuring employee wellbeing and engagement.
In our final session for Ascent, Oyster’s Head of Employee Experience, Kim Rohrer, made her second appearance on stage moderating the conversation between Erin L. Thomas of UpWork, Avantha Arachichi of A-Frame Brands, and Aubrey Blanche of The MathPath. Together these inspiring women leaders talked about what demographics are overlooked, what metrics to use to measure success, what pitfalls to avoid, and what aspects of your DEIB strategy need the most attention.
Watch the full recording below to see how you can evolve your DEIB strategy and create a culture of belonging on your distributed team.
Thanks for attending Ascent and hearing from our incredible speakers. See you next year!
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, engage, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. Oyster lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world—with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
