At Zemax, our employees are the heart of our business. During these times of quarantine and limited in-person social interaction, we have been thinking of new and creative ways to interact with each other and continue to maintain positivity and build rapport within our team.

Virtual events and fun, friendly competition

For the month of August and September, we created the “Zemax Olympics” to infuse fun, virtual events that we can do as a team from the safety and comfort of our homes. These virtual events span the globe, and include painting classes, movie nights, BINGO, Family Feud, cooking classes, weekly riddles, trivia competitions, and even a virtual Mariner's game day viewing party!

Here are some details and a few photos from our events so far:

Virtual painting classes - Zemax employees participated in virtual painting classes from their homes. The pictures above are actually painted by some of our team members. Job well done!

Photo contests - Each week there is a photo theme. Employees take and submit pictures, and then we vote on the top 3.

An image from the ““From a different angle of view” challenge:  

Sharing individual interests - Another weekly activity is a team member sharing his or her collection or interests with the public. Some interests have included Scuba Diving and a YouTuber about cats. 

Team exercise classes – The Shanghai office members have been doing boxing for fun.

London to Paris Challenge – Our London office found a fun way to get employees outdoors and moving. London to Paris is 284 miles, so they challenged team members to walk 20 miles during the week (or 2.89 miles a day) and upload pictures from their walk. One team member included a picture of her dog, who was a little more interested in pets than walking:

Prizes and team-building galore

What’s a little friendly competition without a few prizes? We’ve made sure to sweeten the deal by offering prizes for the games, such as trivia, BINGO and Family Feud. But the best part: employees have been enjoying collaborating and spending time together, as well as getting to know each other better. 

These are extraordinary times, and it’s more important than ever to come together as a team and build each other up.