How to Use UpBeing With Your Retail Team

A great retail team is fun, dynamic, and operates with a strong sense of urgency and collaboration. 

But retailers often face high levels of stress due to long hours, unpredictable schedules, and the demands of dealing with customers. This can lead to burnout, irritability, reduced job performance, and a sense of detachment from work. 

Retail teams are also big, with many moving parts. This can lead some members of a team to feel undervalued and unsupported by their leaders and co-workers. Lack of recognition can lead to decreased morale and job satisfaction. Having effective emotional support and a sense of belonging in the workplace aren’t just nice-to-haves for retail teams, they’re need-to-haves.

UpBeing Communities create visibility, without vulnerability, empowering your team to show up as their whole selves and ensure that each and every member of your team feels valued, no matter what gets thrown your way.

UpBeing is completely free and it only takes a few minutes to set your team up. Here's how you can get started:

What are UpBeing Communities?

Cohesion and connection are crucial in a retail environment, where teamwork is essential for smooth operations. 

UpBeing Communities are a psychologically safe space for you to feel seen by and more connected to the people you work alongside day after day. When you join an UpBeing Community, your check-in data anonymously becomes part of your community orb: a visual representation of your community’s wellbeing. 

Think of them like a Messaging, Facebook or Reddit group; you do not need permission from administrators or your organization to create a community. 

How to use UpBeing Communities:

‍Create an UpBeing Community for your workplace using this form. We’ll let you know when your community is live – it shouldn’t take more than a day or two. You don't need to be a manager or a team leader to create a community.

Once your community is live, share it with your team through Slack, Teams, email, or however you communicate with each other!

For leaders:

1. Join the community in the UpBeing mobile app.
2. Post your community orb on a webpage in the break room. It will update in real time as your team checks in throughout the day. That way, when your team comes in for shifts they immediately get a feel for how the team is feeling today. 
3. Bring UpBeing into your daily check-ins. UpBeing is built to create introspection and bring mental health to the forefront of the workplace in a safe and simple way.
   1. At the beginning of shifts, take a moment for your team to do a check-in and reflect on how they’re feeling before they start their day.
   2. Use the community orb to reflect on how your team, as a whole, is feeling. 
   3. Ask your team what they need from one another today so that they can all show up as their best self.
4. Use UpBeing to enhance mentorship and training. It’s always hard stepping into a new team and a new environment. UpBeing can improve support during training by creating stronger bonds and emotional visibility between mentors and mentees.
5. Be an emotionally visible leader for your team. Studies show time and time again that leaders who are emotionally honest with their teams make those around them feel more psychologically secure and comfortable bringing their full selves to work. 

For employees:

1. Join the community in the UpBeing mobile app.
2. Add your closest work friend to your inner orbit. Having people you trust in your orbit helps bring you up on the hard days by reminding you that you’re not alone, and helps you celebrate together on the good days.‍
3. Add someone from your personal life to your inner orbit. We bring life into work, but we also bring work into life. Being connected with your support network is an important aspect of your wellbeing before, during, and after work.‍
4. Use UpBeing for shared emotional context, continuously. Oftentimes, we feel alone in our stress, we feel like we’re the only ones who are tired, stressed, or overextended  – but most of the time, we’re not. UpBeing is a constant reminder that however you’re feeling: you’re not in this alone. 

UpBeing Communities are built to benefit individuals. On days when you’re feeling down, Communities help you see that you’re not alone. On days when you’re feeling up, Communities help you share your joy. 

On any given day, they help you and your team feel more connected to each other in a psychologically safe and anonymous way. 

FAQs

1. What is psychological safety?

Psychological safety is “a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.” To learn more about psychological safety, check out this article from the Harvard Business Review. 

2. Will everyone on my team be able to see how I’m feeling? 

Nope! When you join an UpBeing community with your team, you’ll be able to see an orb that represents how your team is feeling as a whole – each individual member of your team remains completely anonymous. Only people you directly invite to your inner orbit will be able to see how you are feeling on an individual level. 

3. Can my manager see how I’m feeling? 

Nope! UpBeing Communities are designed to benefit individual and collective wellbeing, with your privacy top of mind. While your manager might choose to use UpBeing as part of stand-ups, one-on-ones, and otherwise: their access to community data is no different than anyone else’s. Remember: it’s visibility without vulnerability.

4. Do I have to pay to set up an UpBeing Community for my team? 

Nope! UpBeing Communities are free to create and free to join as part of the core UpBeing mobile app experience. If you want to go deeper in understanding your team or your organization, you can check out our Enterprise Solutions. 

5. Can I belong to more than one community? 

Absolutely! You can join and create as many UpBeing Communities as you want. Communities are built to help you understand how your wellbeing is related to people, places, and things you associate with.