They say that “It takes 21 days to form a habit and 90 days to make it a permanent lifestyle”. I have been working for RareJob Philippines as a Quality Assurance Specialist for more than 6 years. My role requires me to conduct staff performance evaluations, facilitate feedback sessions, onboarding sessions, and monthly calibrations to ensure that the services provided by our department are at par with the standards set by the company.

Apart from my usual tasks, I am usually a part of a committee within our department. One of the challenges I encountered since the pandemic started was sustaining communication. We can all agree that it has been our habit to interact with our friends and colleagues because it’s natural for humans to seek physical connection.

Fortunately, I was invited to be one of the guest speakers for RareJob’s 13th Anniversary and was given an opportunity to share our department traditions, how we continue some of them, and how we created new ones. I also learned how other departments continue their traditions and I was able to gain new ideas from them.

I remember during our work-from-office setup, we had our weekly 30-minute work break. We call it “FriYay!” It’s one of our department’s traditions where we all pause and connect with our colleagues. Every week, a team is in charge of the department’s merienda — we had sandwiches, Pinoy kakanin, and even make-your-own pancakes.

We also had our Year-Starter Activities where we dine out, get together, play games, and win prizes. The most memorable was the one held in a Korean barbecue restaurant. I vividly remembered competing for Rock-Paper-Scissors and won all the 5-peso coins.

And of course, we had our Department Building where we spent a day with our colleagues, had friendly competitions, and preserved camaraderie. The most memorable was the one at an ecological park where all of us did the mud crawl. It was tiring but fun.

We’ve been accustomed to these events that enabled us to interact with each other. However, we were all forced to adjust to the condition. Amidst the situation, we found ways to continue what we started, but this time, virtually.

We started having our Virtual Year-Starter Activities. We still get to play games and win prizes, and we also get a chance to reflect on what we accomplished from the previous half, and what we want to achieve for the next half.

We also started having Virtual Department Building. To make it more fun, we thought of setting up a theme each year. This year, we had Virtual Peryahan. I was also a part of the committee for this event. We strategized everything from the program flow to budgeting. We facilitated perya games such as B-I-N-G-O, Color Game, Virtual Background Pasiklaban, and of course, Virtual Pageant.

Keeping department traditions is very challenging with the current situation. However, if you have a department committee that continuously contributes to creating new ideas, surely you will maintain your department culture and solidarity.