Year In Review by Courtney Herbert and Kylie Johnston
I think we can all agree that 2021 was another unexpected year, but that didn’t stop us from doing epic Shift!
Awards
How could we leave this year behind without highlighting some of the awesome awards Shift has won in 2021? Starting this year off strong we brought home the Detroit Free Press Top Places to Work “Top Managers” and “Work Life Flexibility” awards. We then went out with a bang by winning Crain’s Best and Brightest. Shift is so proud to be a company that has been highlighted for all our hard work and we couldn’t have done it without our amazing employees!
Health and Wellness
Staying healthy has been a top priority for everyone over the past two years! Shift was thrilled to partner with CycleBar Bloomfield and The Barre Code Birmingham to provide group workout classes. We work together and sweat together. We also offered guided meditation through ZenStop for employees to take some time out of their day to practice mindfulness.
Book Club
Our book club was bound to thrive this year! The group read a variety of books, including thrillers, historical fiction and more. The club is a great way for folks from all office locations, including the field, to connect and chat about the book of the month. (Stay tuned for an upcoming blog all about book club from the book club director himself!)
Trivia Nights
Our EVOLVE Diversity Committee hosted two opportunities to participate in educational and exciting trivia! The trivia events were hosted in February for Black History Month and June for Pride Month. Employees formed teams and put their knowledge to the test on both topics.
March Madness
Our annual March Madness bracket wasn’t just for basketball fans this year! In addition to the bracket for the NCAA tournament, we also participated in a companywide Mario Kart Madness tournament. Employees were able to compete against one another on their gaming devices by day and root for their favorite college basketball teams by night.
Kickball Tournament
What better way to kick off our first companywide in-person event since working remotely than our annual kickball tournament! We hosted our HQ based employees at Poppleton Park in Birmingham where the stakes were high as teams competed to claim bragging rights. There were also food trucks, refreshments and some exciting giveaways prizes for those who preferred watching from the sidelines.
Women in Leadership Panel
Our EVOLVE Diversity Committee and Employee Relations team hosted a panel of female employees across a variety of departments at Shift. The conversation addressed compelling topics such as navigating difficult conversations in the workplace, mastering work-life balance, and seeking mentorship from those you respect. Here’s to our amazing women in workplace at Shift – may we know them, may we be them and may we raise them.
Halloween Celebrations
Things got a little bit scary in October with Halloween team outings. One team really raised the bar with their Sports movie theme costumes. Analytics didn’t surprise us one bit with their dedication to this holiday. Decked out in sports theme attire from movies like Happy Gilmore, Air bud, The Sandlot and Slapshot they really got into the spirit for their Top Golf celebration. The real question is what will they come up with next year?
Field Open House
Our Field Consulting and Training department invited other team members to an open house in October to get a taste of what the teams do day in and day out! Field employees shared about their daily schedules, whether they are remote or in dealer, what challenges they may endure and what growth can look like from an entry-level role to a tenured Field Consultant.
Holiday Philanthropy
For the 2021 holiday season, Shift Digital supported the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This hospital holds a near and dear place in our hearts at Shift as they provided care for one of our very own employees who is now in remission after five years! Employees were able to donate “poke prizes”, which patients earned after getting “poked” at the hospital from receiving shots or having their blood drawn.
Dealer Support Rockstar Award Show
Not a rockstar like Mick Jagger! Our Dealer Support department hosted their fourth annual rockstar award show to end the year with a bang. This is our largest department at Shift and we were able to recognize nearly 100 employees for their accomplishments throughout the year. Congrats!
Lunch and Learns
This year our Evolve pillar “Professional Development” had launched its new Lunch and Learn series. Over the past few months, we had the chance to take a deeper look at Shifts Culture and Perks and what that looks like as a company when working remotely. We also built a one sheeter from scratch with Nina Lavelanet-Lewnau in InDesign and navigated through some of the program’s basics. We look forward to 2022 and all the lunch and learn topics to come!
PNC Bank Partnership
Adding a workplace banking benefit with PNC in 2021 just made “cents”! PNC Bank hosted a variety of financial literacy seminars throughout the year on topics, including budgeting, retirement plans, credit scores, mortgages and more.
Fertility Benefit
What better way to Shift into 2022 than with a new health care benefit? The ER team announced the BCBS fertility benefit for all medical plans. This will help cover various assisted reproduction technology procedures including Vitro Fertilization (IVF). There will also be a $ 25,000-lifetime benefit maximum for fertility services.
Wow! What an amazing year 2021 has been at Shift. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2022.