We met with Sacha Woodcock, Director of People in the Austin, Texas headquarters. Sacha has been with Episode 6 a little over a year now, and her role is all things People related. She supports E6 employees and leaders in different areas including coaching, learning and development, performance management, and anything else that comes up in the People wheelhouse. Sacha’s goal is to maintain E6’s people-first values, so that everyone feels engaged and supported in their role. We talked with her about the importance of cultural awareness year-round and during the holidays for the diverse, global team that makes up E6.
E6 has employees in 18 different countries across the globe and that makes us truly unique, especially for our size. This provides an opportunity for employees to interact with people from different cultures that they may not be exposed to on a daily basis, which is such a fantastic part of working at E6. It also provides a lot of learning moments along with various ways to collaborate with teams around the globe. We really encourage our team members to ask questions and to suggest solutions when a problem arises. E6ers are curious, entrepreneurial, problem-solvers, and continuous learners.
We celebrate different holidays around the globe. In Japan, there's a tradition of gift giving during winter, so we usually share gifts at their end of year party. In celebration of Diwali for our team in India, we gave employees small gifts and sent them each a message to show our appreciation. This year, at our headquarters office in Austin, we shared small bags of coins to wish everyone good luck for the Lunar New Year.
E6 celebrates most of these holidays worldwide, generally at the end of the year when we offer a week of paid time off between Christmas and New Year’s Day. That week is for our teams to rest and recharge. We also recognize that folks might celebrate a different holiday later or business needs might require them to work, ensuring that everyone can take advantage of that week off during Christmas time or early in the new year.
It’s important to maintain a local pulse on things. Since our People team is in the United States and Japan, we collaborate with our E6 leaders in each region to ensure that we share consistent messaging and that we’re aware of cultural events in that location. The People team rely on their feedback to help inform our decisions and plan work related events. We want to make sure that everyone feels represented.
We strive to plan bimonthly events across regions and in Austin, and we try to switch it up with different activities. Most recently, the Austin office had a painting event which was a new way for us to socialize and get creative together. We encourage volunteering as a team once a year and had a group of E6ers volunteer at the Central Texas Food Bank in November. We also hold a Friendsgiving potluck dinner each year right before Thanksgiving. I love this event because it’s exciting to see what people bring! And of course, it’s nice to see everyone from across the US come together face-to-face for our end of year party to celebrate our successes as a team.
Everyone comes together during our global team meetings. Our CEO, John Mitchell, will touch base on important accomplishments and goals, and then we have an open forum for everyone to participate in the conversation and ask questions. We have virtual events too, like our weekly virtual coffee chat in the morning and the Tech team does a virtual happy hour. Twice a year the People team plans a virtual game show for each region. It’s nice to take a break and connect with the E6ers in different locations and have some fun.
People come first because they are the company, they are what keeps It running. We support flexible working arrangements, like hybrid or remote, because we want to encourage a work-life balance. The People Team provides support so that each person has the necessary tools to succeed and engage with our company goals and culture. I am passionate about ensuring our people have the ability to grow and develop in their role and beyond.
Eagerness to learn and grow are qualities you will find in most all of our team members. The distinctive culture at E6 is shaped by its employees who thrive on challenges with an enthusiasm for problem solving. A strong sense of collaboration and being a team player are valuable to us because they create an environment where everyone’s unique strengths contribute to our collective success.