Employee well-being encompasses many aspects: how they connect, network, and find new people defines their social wellness and plays a big role in how they approach work and life. Naturally, as we celebrated Agoda’s global and virtual well-being festival in October, social well-being was a prominent theme .
One of the ways Agodans stay connected is through connected life groups. It’s an easy way to meet like-minded Agodans who share the same passion and energy for a skill, cause, or interest they believe in.
In fact, all Agodans are encouraged to initiate and lead resource groups to celebrate the individual experiences that make our community great, ranging from sports and interests to culture and identity.
Listen to two Life Group leads, from the Go Active BUD group in Budapest and Football group in Bangkok, about how their participation in life groups has enhanced their Agoda experience:
Connect a name with a face
Krisztina Tyukodi, Social Media Advisor, Budapest
“I founded the Go Active BUD group to connect and network with fellow Agodans in Budapest.
The Go Active BUD group organizes several types of activities, some can be done solo like the monthly Walk to Win competition, while others require group participation like the City Investigation Game.
The number of participants vary for every activity. When we have fewer people, we have more time to talk and to get to know each other better. When many people join in, we just have a lot of fun!
I’ve got to know a lot of colleagues via Life Group activities and can now connect names with faces. We typically do not work together so we used to only say “Hi” or smile at each other in office.
But now, we have a connection and end up talking to each other for a while.
For me, participating in Life Group activities has already been of great help as my colleagues now know who I am when I ping them. I also know whom to reach out to if I need any assistance.
For example, I met Karim Draa, French Team Manager, during one of the Life Group activities. This helped us get to know each other better which in turn fostered a stronger relationship at work. Both of us work on promoting engagement activities in the office but in different capacities.
He is responsible for the ‘engagement champions’ and promoting programs on a Team Managerial level whereas I help organize local activities and the Life Group programs.
Consequently, we now work together quite often to promote activities in the office.”
Friends on every floor
Nakkapat Boonsri, Development Manager, Bangkok
“In the five years that I’ve been with the football group, I’ve had the chance to meet countless Agodan footballers, sometimes as opponents, sometimes as teammates. Our goal for the Football Life Group is to bring Agodan footballers together and build ONE Agoda team.
When we play, we shuffle people, so everyone has a new teammate every time. By mixing people together, we break down barriers between departments and nationalities.
Every floor that I go to in our Bangkok office, I’ll meet an Agoda footballer on that floor. I meet Payut Maythamongkolkate regularly on the field; as an opponent, he is a skilful player but when we are on the same team, our footwork on the field complements one another.
This off-work collaboration also strengthened our office work teamwork and recently, we’ve worked together on the GoToTravel campaign by the Japanese government. I’ve also met Wutcharin Thatan from Partner Services while playing football.
He’s a great player and through him I’ve learnt a lot about the Agoda Growth Program that I wouldn’t have known much about under normal circumstances.”
Find your life group
We recommend that you find your own Life Group – offline or online — around your interests and connect with them often. Your social well-being during this time is more important than ever.
