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Beyond Covid-19: The ‘new’ experience of work

Disruption as a positive catalyst for change

Since the World Health Organisation declared a pandemic on March 11th, our working lives, home lives, workplaces and business operations have dramatically altered. Businesses have adapted at pace – decentralising teams, setting up remote working, and implementing IT on the run to support the masses who’ve turned living rooms into hot desks.

Throughout this unprecedented period, businesses on the whole have shown remarkable resilience, agility and capabilities beyond what could ever have been imagined. Work is still being conducted, productivity has in many cases improved, and people working remotely have begun to appreciate a greater work life balance.

Eight months on, as we start to emerge from the greatest disruption the world has ever seen, leaders are faced with new challenges and opportunities.

Our leadership team at the Big Red Group have begun to discuss and plan for what the ‘new’ experience of work might look like beyond the pandemic. As such, we’ve developed and launched a white paper (on November 11th 2020) – The ‘new’ experience of work, taking in the latest research, trends and insights from industry leaders.

This paper seeks to answer some of the tough questions that we, and many other leadership teams, are grappling with – what will workplaces look like beyond Covid?

Will people want to return to the office? Do we need an office? How do we continue to cultivate culture and build teams when not physically together? How do we remain connected to our people? And, how do we induct new people into the business without a physical office location?

There are many challenges to navigate and factors to consider – business type, capabilities, resources, technologies and upskilling to name just a few. There is never going to be a ‘one size fits all’ solution. But by sharing, questioning and understanding the environment and the options, businesses can start to plan and shape their ‘new’ experience of work.

Through utilising the research and findings, we’ve started to design our future workplace. We’ve established a Six point experience of work framework as our foundation for planning, encompassing leadership, development, collaboration, culture, innovation andconnection.

We hope that by sharing our journey, imparting knowledge and collaborating across industry, we can all find better ways. As we’ve learned through undertaking this work, just because something has always been done a certain way, it doesn’t mean it’s the right way.

Right now, we have an opportunity to reimagine the way we work. We have a small window of time to reset, reshape and champion a ‘new’ way of working.

It’s time to turn disruption into innovation.

Download the white paper now.

#TheNewExperienceOfWork #MakeEveryMomentCount #GreatPlacesToWork #WorkplaceCulture #WorkplaceInnovation #WorkLifeBalance #Future #RedBalloon

Experience @ Work program

Big Red Group launches new HR initiative Experience @ Work

The Experience @ Work initiative is built for a new home-based way of working, connecting the Big Red Group team with each other and Big Red Group suppliers

With 2020 fundamentally changing how workplaces interact and come together, the Big Red Group faced a challenge: preserve and enhance our valuable peer-to-peer culture we fostered in our office for a socially distanced team. In July 2020, the Big Red Group launched Experience @ Work, a brand-new workplace initiative that allows our now socially distant team members to connect meaningfully with each other, and our small business partners nationally, by shifting the way they experience life.

Each member of the Big Red Group team now has a dedicated session each month, where mixed teams will be organised to take part in the experiences offered by Adrenaline, Lime & Tonic & RedBalloon, allowing teams to meet and engage with Big Red Group’s network of Supply Partners to better understand the impact they have in their roles, alongside a new way for internal teams to connect, replacing what we once took for granted.

“Experience @ Work is a great opportunity for the Big Red Group to continue to lead, in this case how workplace culture will evolve as it adapts to the next normal. We have a significant added benefit of connecting our team members with the Experience Partners they work to grow each day,” said David Anderson, CEO of Big Red Group.

This month, our teams engaged with some of our Experience Partners across Australia, taking part in a range of indoor and outdoor experiences including rock climbing, whale watching, pottery classes, sausage making, BBQ school and a harbour cruise, with more to come next month. Big Red Group has seen nearly 100 experiences completed by the team in July, connecting with multiple Experience Partners across NSW, with more experiences booked in through August and September.

Team building activities and events

Planning effective team building activities and events

Experiences @ Work

Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people,” Steve Jobs.

In this ten-part series we suggest ways to ‘shift people’s experience of work’. #6 looked at how to say thank you to employees and external business stakeholders in a way that is meaningful and lasting. In this seventh post we look at the power of team events and activities in creating a work culture that your people can enjoy and feel motivated by.

The team that plays together, stays together. It’s a cliche saying but it holds true, especially in the workplace. Team building events and activities can sometimes signal a collective shudder from employees who begin to picture gym-class trust exercises and awkward scenes from The Office. But if that’s the response, then you need to rethink not only the what but also the why you should invest in team building.

Team building activities are crucial to company culture

Team building and team activities are a powerful way of creating and reinforcing your company culture, and it doesn’t have to be that hard. Experiences are a powerful way to create a connection between your people and to your brand. While the majority of the workforce is working remotely, it’s more important now than ever to make sure you are implementing effective team building activities to bring people together.

The benefits of team building are well documented; both in research and anecdotally. These types of activities have been shown to do everything from improve productivity to increasing motivation levels and even encouraging creativity in the workplace. Once they see themselves as a team, people gain a sense of group empowerment. But that trust in each other must be constantly nurtured and encouraged in order to prosper.

Team-building activities are a great tool to harness the collective strength of your employees and also improve their engagement levels both inside and outside the workplace. Escape rooms, fun runs, cooking classes, social nights, team trivia, bubble soccer – the choices are endless, and it’s key that your employees have a say on which team-building exercises excite them the most. You have shared goals in the workplace, so why not have them for external exercises as well?

Tips for creating a memorable, and effective, team building activity

BE ORIGINAL
We’ve all been part of the contrived board-room team building afternoon, compete with a tray of Arnott’s Family Assorted and a bowl of Minties. Be original and thoughtful in your planning – choose an activity that will inspire teamwork, bonding and problem solving, and the results will pay for themselves.
GET OUT OF THE OFFICE
The best team building activities are the ones that don’t feel like a day at the office. A change of scenery can help inspire new ideas, shifted attitudes and a sense of fun that might not be possible inside the corporate context and four walls.
OR STAY IN. THE OFFICE
You can always bring the experience to you, with a number of pop up options like cupcake decorating and cocktail masterclasses. The fact is, team building doesn’t have to be hard work.
GO ONLINE
If you need to implement team building activities without actually being able to meet up in real life, go virtual. It’s crucial that you don’t let team-building activities disappear completely just because people are working remotely, so check out the online and at home team activity options and make sure you’re making space and time for your team to feel connected.

An important part of being an employer of choice is surprising and delighting your team – and you can achieve this, while reinforcing your company culture, through experiences. This will shift the way people experience life at work and create powerful folklore and storytelling about your brand.

What better way to get people sharing images of your workplace than to give them something really worth bragging about?

Big Red Group launches RedBalloon for Business brand

NEWS: RedBalloon for Business brand launches

Big Red Group will expand the existing REDii direct business brand to bring unique recognition strategies to business clients

Sydney, AUSTRALIA – 15 APRIL 2020

The Big Red Group has today announced the launch of RedBalloon for Business, a new offering aimed at better supporting existing SME business clients of Big Red Group recognition and employee insights platform, REDii.

The new offering will allow business clients to implement a ready-built recognition platform, allowing their teams to reward one another with ‘RB credits’ that can be used to secure a wide range of experiences and gifts.

“Right now, businesses need to have a robust strategy for keeping their teams engaged and focused, all while maximising the use of limited resources. RedBalloon for Business will offer businesses a method of recognising outstanding contributions all while helping Australian businesses.” said Naomi Simson, founder of RedBalloon.

Purpose-built to help businesses outsource complex technology and operating costs, the Red Balloon for business platform also includes access to the new Experiences At Home range, designed to deliver engaging experiences virtually and remotely, which launched to consumer markets last week.

The launch of RedBalloon for Business furthers Big Red Group’s strategy to deliver new revenue opportunities to their 3,000-plus supplier network of Australian businesses. Existing REDii clients will automatically gain access to the new RedBalloon for Business offering upon launch, with newly onboarded REDii Partners to also come online over the coming weeks.

Commenting on the launch of RedBalloon for Business, Big Red Group CEO David Anderson stated, “We play a crucial role in supporting both our clients and our suppliers during challenging times. I’m excited to showcase how effectively we’re able to implement changes that help both parties succeed.”

RedBalloon for Business’ new range of SME-focused solutions for workplace recognition can be found at RedBalloon for Business.

Big Red Group acquires Lime & Tonic

Sydney, AUSTRALIA – 4 SEPTEMBER 2019

The Big Red Group has announced the acquisition of Lime & Tonic, joining RedBalloon, Adrenaline and IfOnly as a new experience marketplace brand, making BRG the largest pure-play aggregator of experiences in Australia.

The purchase of events and experiences brand Lime&Tonic follows the launch of IfOnly in June this year, and the group’s acquisition of Adrenaline in November 2018.

BRG serves an experience every 49 seconds in Australia and has the vision to serve an experience every second by 2025. This latest acquisition is another step towards achieving that goal.

Co-Founder Naomi Simson said, “Gourmet dining and pamper experiences is what Lime&Tonic is known for, and we know from our other brands that this is one of the fastest-growing segments in the experience economy.”

“The Lime&Tonic brand will allow the group to serve customers with a broader range of experiences. It is all about accessing amazing experiences and curating on behalf of our customers.

“BRG has invested greatly in leading-edge technology, and data insights which are elevated further by our use of marketing AI technology to ensure customers are served the right experience in the right place at the right time.”

BRG Group CEO and Co-Founder, David Anderson, said BRG is rolling out a multi-brand strategy that will enable a central supply group to serve different customer needs via different experience brands.

“Every aspect of Australian retail is facing increased competition from global players and this is no different for experiences. To compete in the experience economy Australian brands must be of a size that allows for the capital investment for growth, and working together is one way to achieve this.

“It is also becoming increasingly difficult for smaller businesses to navigate digital channels as large global players have deeper pockets to invest in technology, machine learning and big data. Key digital channels such as Facebook and Google have become increasingly expensive and it is proving challenging for the best marketers to keep up with shifting algorithms, rules and customer expectations.

“What I do know is that customers seek out experts and curation when it comes to experiences – and Lime&Tonic adds a wonderful dimension to complement the range of experiences we offer today.

“We are thrilled to welcome Lime&Tonic and its customers to BRG. The catalogue of unique gourmet experiences and bespoke events is an ideal fit for our other brands and will serve our customers more of what they want,” Mr Anderson said.

“We have a big vision for the next five years, both domestically and globally, and we’re excited to support Australian businesses along the way.”

Lime&Tonic will sit alongside experience marketplace brands RedBalloon, Adrenaline and IfOnly, as well as the BRG enterprise offering REDii and Marketics, the exclusive distributor of Albert AI marketing technology in Australia and New Zealand.

About Big Red Group:
The Big Red Group (BRG) is Australia’s largest provider of travel and engagement experiences for consumer and business clients, through leading experience brands RedBalloon, Adrenaline, Lime&Tonic, and REDii. Founded in 2017 by CEO David Anderson and RedBalloon Founder, Naomi Simson, The Big Red Group the BRG are experts in providing unique experiences to all audiences, confidently shifting the way people experience life.

Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, BRG controls a national network of experience professionals working with small business suppliers and clients to deliver an experience somewhere on Earth every second.

Media contacts: James Murray, Corporate Communications Executive
james.murray@thebigredgroup.com.au

Big Red Group acquires Adrenaline

Sydney, AUSTRALIA – 12 NOVEMBER 2018

Big Red Group has today announced that Adrenaline.com.au joins RedBalloon as a subsidiary of the Big Red Group (BRG), the largest pure-play aggregator of experiences in Australia*, and considered the third-largest globally.

The BRG is poised to further broaden the appeal of experiences to new audiences by actively seeking to acquire new marketplace brands with a vision to scale domestically and propel the business into international markets.

During FY19 the BRG will serve an experience every minute across Australia and New Zealand through its various subsidiary brands.

Big Red Group co-founder and spokesperson, Naomi Simson, says the acquisition cements the Group’s commitment to customers on both sides of the marketplace, specifically thousands of experience supply partners.

“The acquisition of the Adrenaline business in Australia complements our existing assets; RedBalloon, known for experience gifting and Redii.com, delivering experiences in the B2B reward and recognition space. This deal brings a new adventure-focused audience to the BRG,” Ms Simson said.

“We see momentum and demand building for experiences that serve different purposes for our customers – from gifting to team events, bucket lists, travel and the ‘things to do’ market.

“With a multi-brand strategy, we can expand our range to appeal to different audiences with different experience needs.

“We work with approximately 3000, mostly small business, experience supply partners across Australia and New Zealand. As experience aggregators, the BRG offers its partners another distribution channel, delivering repeat customers, brand reach and world-class technology as part of our shared service portfolio.”

Simson said this is the Group’s first acquisition, however, there are a number of other local and international brands the BRG is eyeing to join its stable of online experience retailers.

“Our job is to make sure each customer is being served appropriately, while also growing the business for our partners and deepening our engagement in the experience category,” Ms Simson said.

“We’re committed to staying at the leading edge of technology and have invested greatly in infrastructure to build a globally scalable platform. An investment justified by the economies of scale achieved in serving different audiences from the one system.”

Adrenaline has moved into the BRG Head Office in Sydney, under the guidance of Julia Wilson as transitional GM, who will also oversee the BRG Marketics (Albert A.I.) business vertical within BRG.

The Adrenaline and RedBalloon brands will continue to operate separately, but will both leverage Big Red Group’s technology resources and infrastructure stacks built to improve efficiency internally, including access to their now 2,000-plus Supply Partner network. Marketing teams will also operate separately, as both brands work differently to drive growth in a developing market. Both businesses have seen a shift towards mobile engagement and increasing demand for personalisation.

Media contacts: James Murray, Corporate Communications Executive
james.murray@thebigredgroup.com.au