If you’ve ever heard your parents say something like,”My son works for the internet,” or “My daughter owns some kind of computer company,” then you know the struggle. Many parents have a difficult time understanding the professions of their grown children, especially when they are in the tech industry. This can also be compounded by the novelty of remote work, which sometimes prompts questions like, “Just what is it that you do all day?” or “When are you going to get a real job?”
The team at Yoast decided to be proactive about the problem of families not understanding their work by hosting an event called “Bring Your Parents to Work Day.” Yoast employs a team of nearly 50 people, with 40 employees working in a central office located in Wijchen, Netherlands, and 10 working remotely. The family event brought 42 parents to the office.
“It’s just awesome to have everyone’s ‘home’ team understand what we do and relate to it,” CEO Joost de Valk said.
Yoast Community Manager Taco Verdonschot brought his father to work today. His photo below shows all of the parents attending a presentation from Joost and Marieke de Valk about WordPress, open source, and Yoast’s products.
Today is 'Bring your parents to work day' at @yoast.
Intended result: our parents finally understand what we really do! #byptwd pic.twitter.com/WuhHlGhyeX— Taco Verdo (@TacoVerdo) April 14, 2017
“Most parents didn’t know too much about WordPress and/or open source,” Verdonschot said. “They told the parents about our mission to make the web a better place for everyone and to make SEO available for everyone.”
After the presentation Verdonschot said employees showed their parents around the office and Joost took them in small groups across the street to a second office the company will be opening soon.
“We ended the Bring Your Parents to Work Day with drinks and snacks (home-made by my colleague Chris),” Verdonschot said. “Personally, I really liked meeting my colleagues’ parents. Some of them just look so much like their mom/dad! I really think that the presentation gave our parents a better understanding of what we do at Yoast, and how much we’re loving what we do.”
The “Bring Your Parents to Work” event has been gaining popularity in the past two years. Many large companies participated in 2016, including LinkedIn, Dogfish Head Brewery, HubSpot, ASOS, and British Airways. Verdonschot hasn’t confirmed with the directors yet, but based on the success of today’s event, he expects Yoast will make this an annual event.
“For me personally, I really like that my parents have visited the office and met my colleagues, because the world I work in now feels less strange for them,” Verdonschot said.
Get off my lawn.