Nearly Friday

One Thursday every month it’s Nearly Friday at William Cook Europe

At William Cook Europe (WCE) in Bjæverskov, Denmark, a remark made by an employee at a local town hall evolved into a social event—ensuring communication, networking, and stronger connectivity amongst colleagues at WCE.

The brainstorming process

Every quarter, the executive team hosts on-site town halls at WCE. In one session about becoming the best place to work, one of our colleagues asked if that meant we could have a bar on Fridays. It was food for thought. This was not the first indicator that people needed to come together and wanted to connect.

So, a small team of people from various departments of WCE came together to brainstorm. Obviously, alcohol was a no-go, and the timing of the idea would need to be adjusted. Fridays wouldn’t work, since that’s the day with the fewest colleagues on-site. The venue would need to be accessible and easy to drop by even for a few minutes. Lastly, we had to develop these events with additional focus on saving costs. We used these guidelines as the parameters for brainstorming.

We wanted to create a place to bring people together, where all employees could meet and allow relationships outside of our daily work activities to blossom, ensuring our colleagues feel connected to their workplace and their coworkers. In our minds, there was little question about the necessity of such an event. It was felt by everybody after COVID-19 that we needed time together to talk, laugh, and connect outside of work again.

Deciding the details

The day was easily chosen. We knew it had to be on the day when most people find themselves on-site, so Thursday it was. Then there was the timing. Choosing 2:00-5:00 pm enabled dayshift and nightshift operators to attend, along with office-based colleagues.

If you know the Danes, hygge, or the quality of coziness, goes hand in hand with a little bite to eat and something to drink, so snacks were a must. Ole from the canteen assured us that he could do it for next to nothing, so he was immediately “hired” and came up with another amazing idea.

While the original plan had been to host these events in the canteen, Ole suggested we use the farm, a small farmhouse with an adjacent stable and barn located right next to the WCE facility. WCE purchased the farm years ago and has kept the house for meeting rooms and the barn and stable primarily for storage. With the new idea in place, the stables were cleared, everything in them was sold, and the Facilities team did a massive job cleaning and upscaling the location with flooring where needed and building and installing a pallet bar and pallet furniture.

So now, we had a framework. Every third Thursday of the month it would be Nearly Friday at WCE. Colleagues were welcome to attend and spend as much or little time as they wanted to there.

Mingling, chatting, and connecting

Before the first Nearly Friday we were nervous. Would it work? Would our colleagues attend the event? Was this what our coworkers really wanted?

The day finally arrived. Luckily, the Danish summer was at its best, with sunshine and cotton clouds floating in a blue June sky. Ole had stocked the bar with sodas, beers, rosés, and red wines, all non-alcoholic, and fired up the barbecue.

At 2:00 pm, people started to arrive. Inside and outside it was buzzing. Take a look at some photos from Nearly Friday below.

For three hours on June 16, colleagues from across all of Cook Denmark’s departments spent the afternoon together, played games, connected, and enjoyed themselves in a completely different setting than usual.

Nearly Friday was an instant success, so much so that our grill master Ole almost ran out of sausages. From day one, people called it a “tradition”!

The second event was just as much of a success on August 18. Since then, more people have already volunteered as hosts for the upcoming Nearly Fridays. This was something everyone needed.

If you ever plan to visit WCE, and you are here when it’s the third Thursday of the month, drop by our Nearly Friday. It’s a great way to connect.

Check out the video below from the second Nearly Friday.

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