COFFEE, CARDS, + CULTURE: A Day in the Life of TECHNE
Our favorite office pastime is playing Hearts.
Our studio is a place where we have the ability to be ourselves. We established a culture that allows us to speak up, share our honest opinions and feel like we’re working towards not only bettering the firm, but ourselves. Our culture directly influences the work we love and enthusiastic relationships we have with our clients.
But First, Coffee. No. Seriously, Coffee!
While a bit cliché (ok, a lot cliché), every day begins with coffee. How integral is coffee to the beginning of our day? The office handbook has an entire chapter providing instructions on how to brew the perfect, ridicule-free pot of coffee. If you happen to be the first to arrive and “forget” to brew a pot while sipping your coffee house latte, it’s guaranteed that you will never forget again.
After we brew our coffee, we quickly consult with our National Day Calendar usually. Then we start our music playlist (which you can also listen to!). What is the perfect National Donut Day or World Emoji Day playlist? We can tell you. Speakers located throughout the office keep the mood light and provide the white noise necessary for the intense focus required for our work. We love to have fun and poke fun at each other. When someone chooses the wrong National Chop Suey Day playlist (and we all know its System of the Down), a side-hand comment and the not so subtle shift to headphones will clearly indicate it’s time to hang the shame curtains and pick a new playlist.
Hearts is Our Game of Choice
Our mornings are filled with collaborating, problem solving, and dreaming of working at one large mega desk (think Dwight Schrute). Around twelve o’clock noon, we break for lunch. Lunch orders are debated and negotiated on. Those that made trips to the grocery store earlier in the week fill furiously chop and prep their food in the communal kitchen. Lunch is a time to refresh, catch up, and trash talk our way through a few hands of cards.
Hearts is our game of choice, typically a four-person game, we adjusted the rules to fit the number of people which often requires two decks when 8 or more players are involved. There is no feeling worse than hearing “second queen”, as the second queen of spades is played and realizing the 5 of clubs on the table is the high card and it’s yours.
TECHNE is a Family
TECHNE works hard to support the culture we’ve created, and we continue to look for ways to strengthen our work and personal relationships. Whether it’s a weekly standing happy hour, Friday lunch, weekend TECHNE trips, cookouts in our courtyard or simply providing space for everyone’s voice, we are forever grateful for this crazy, lovable family that is TECHNE.
If you’re in the neighborhood and it’s lunch time, brush up on your dealing (YouTube is a good place to start) and join us for a round of hearts . We’d be happy to teach you the TECHNE way to play.
Want to learn more about who we are and our company culture? Click here to see pictures of us having fun, our favorite pizza place and our beer recommendation.