‘With remote working, flexibility and trust are at the core of our business model’

You’re Head of People. Could you tell us a little about what that title means and what your work entails?

Yes! As Head of People, my role encompasses the full employee, or as we call them, Rocketeer, life-cycle. My team are responsible for employer branding, learning and development, as well as recruitment, retention and engagement.

All team members at KaFe Rocks and Time2Play are fully-remote. When was this decision made?

We have been a remote-first company since we were founded, almost four years ago. We are very fortunate to have a beautiful office space called the Oasis – we even have a swimming pool! So our Rocketeers, who are based in Malta, have the option to go into the office if they would like to. We also encourage people who are based in other locations to come and visit our office space if they want to.

In what ways do you think fully-remote working is beneficial to the employees and the company itself?

Remote working helps us to find the very best talent across the world, without being restricted and confined to locations where we have physical offices. Flexibility and trust are at the core of our business model and therefore, as long as we get the results, the hours that people choose to work are not so important to us.

As of 2022, all employees are entitled to unlimited vacation time. What exactly does this mean and what effect do you think it will have?

I have received many questions about this! Unlimited vacation means exactly what it says on the box! We want to give our Rocketeers the freedom to take vacation as and when they would like. We have used HR software to track vacation before and will continue to do so as in this way, we can keep track of who is out of the office and when. By encouraging our people to maintain a healthier work/life balance, we hope this will continue to promote employee well-being and boost morale, as well as improve happiness levels and productivity at work. The People team and I will be working closely with our managers to support them, as we continue the transition to this model.

Employees will also have access to unlimited mental health support. What does this entail and how does it work?

Employee well-being is and will continue to be the real focus for most businesses this year and beyond and we wanted to highlight just how important this is to KaFe Rocks and Time2Play.com. As a remote company, there are potentially less touch-points for people to physically interact with their colleagues. Not to mention that we all know just how hard the last 18 months have been. Based on these points, we wanted to showcase that it is okay to have a not-so-okay day! Therefore, we have partnered with a fantastic company, The Richmond Foundation, which is based in Malta, to offer our Rocketeers 24/7 mental health support, by means of email, chat or in therapy or emotional support sessions over the phone or even face-to-face.

Tell us a more about the companies KafeRocks and Time2Play and their company culture

The culture in KaFeRocks and Time2Play.com is open, honest, passionate and built on trust and accountability. By feeling our best, we can produce our best work and this is a really fundamental mindset to us as a business.

In your view, how does the future look for remote-working and the employee benefits we’ve discussed?

I think that we will continue to see businesses moving to more of a remote, or at least, a hybrid working model. When it comes to KaFe Rocks and Time2Play.com, we will continue to push the boundaries where benefits and employee well-being are concerned. We are all really excited for 2022 and to see how these new benefits help to drive high performance and employee engagement.