How to Experience Christmas as a Remote Company

As soon as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” plays everywhere, you know it’s that time of the year again. Lights start sparkling in our cities and homes. It’s time to share and enjoy this beautiful time with your loved ones, but also with colleagues and friends at work.

When you are a fully distributed company, though, it’s a bit more challenging to experience the festive spirit with your teammates. How can you get the same feeling when most of your interactions happen through computer screens? Is it still possible to share excitement despite being unable to gather?

We asked ourselves, and we came up with some ideas to experience Christmas despite being thousands of kilometers away from each other.

A Different Kind of Christmas Dinner

Many companies invite their employees to a Christmas dinner. Everyone shares a nice meal while having a relaxed conversation with their teammates before the holidays. As a fully distributed team, you could think there’s no way to implement this tradition, but we did find a way.

*2017 Mobile Jazz Christmas Dinner @ Barcelona*

Before COVID-19, we split into several groups based on the areas we lived and for those who lived miles away, we invited them to share the dinner with their partners. In exchange, the only thing we asked was to share a picture in our weekly meeting, where we share learning experiences and things that excite us.

In 2020 and 2021, we opted to use this formula for everyone, prioritizing our team’s safety during the pandemic. The outcome has been tremendous and we all loved sharing our Christmas moments, despite not being able to meet.

Raising €16,795 in Five Years for Charity

Another tradition we love is our Santa Cause event. It was born four years ago to replace Secret Santa and with the aim to do something more meaningful.

Every year, we encourage our team members to donate and support organizations and charities that mean something to them. We can contribute as much as we like to multiple causes, and Mobile Jazz will match each member’s contribution.

It has always been a success, and everyone loved participating, but we were astonished when we looked at the final numbers for this year’s edition. In total, we were able to raise €4,524.32 for 13 different organizations and charities, adding to the sum of €16,795 raised over the past five years.

Especially worth mentioning is our contribution to tackling climate change. The biggest piece, €1,173,56 of the total amount raised, went to Plant 4 The Planet, to support reforestation projects around the world.

Stay Positive!

Despite having to work remotely, either because you’re a fully distributed company or because the pandemic forced you to work remotely, there’s always an innovative way to make the best out of the situation. And that is what Mobile Jazz is all about. Constant innovation and reinventing ourselves.