How Risers Work Hard, and Play (Euchre) Hard

I’m amazed every day by the energizing spirit and vibe felt the moment you enter our office. Being one of Ad Age’s Best Places to Work isn’t something that happens overnight. Our outstanding culture and Risers’ passion for everything we do is evident.

While much of what embodies our culture can be seen when walking through our barn door entrance, it takes a closer look to see what really makes Rise a standout workplace. If you take a peek in our cafe, there’s a good chance you will see some Risers playing cards at one of the tables. While it might seem like a casual pick-up game, they are actually playing a high-intensity scheduled matchup as part of our Euchre League.

What is Euchre?

Euchre is a classic trick-based card game with its roots in the Midwest. Despite the game still being unfamiliar to most, a quarter of Risers (that’s over 50 people!) have become masters at it through our league. It’s become a staple and highlight of life at Rise for so many. With its popularity rising at our office, the league has grown from being a small aspect of our agency to an embodiment of what it really means to be a Riser. Every aspect of the league—from the algorithm that creates the teams to the real-time analytics—is founded in Rise values.

Building the Right Team

The game itself is played with teams of two, so the first thing we needed to do to get the league up and running was establish partnerships that would be in place for the entire season. The logical solution was to create an algorithm that created teams that paired Risers up with others on different teams internally who also complemented their skill levels. After all, an analytical-data driven approach seemed like the only option.

Risers team up around the table for some friendly competition.

Next, we wanted to build a system that would create a weekly opponent matchup schedule where each team would always play someone new. We believe in running this league on a suite of tools just as we do our clients.

Informing and Optimizing

We didn’t just stop with our opponent matchup. At Rise, we see the need for a real-time, unified view of performance for our clients. That’s why we applied the same approach to euchre, creating real-time insights for Risers to check their scores and performance in order to spot trends and areas to optimize their strategy.

Because our league is still in relative infancy, enhancements and revisions are continuously being made. Similar to how we always strive to reach the optimal customer experience for our clients, we’ll continue optimizing for the euchre-playing Riser.

To read more about what it’s like to work at Rise, Find out from one of these Risers. Interested in becoming a Riser? Visit our careers page.

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