World Cup arrives at offices with exchange of stickers

In the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, Victoria Teodoro, 25, receives an alert on the office messaging app. “It even sends a chill down my spine, because it’s the weekend,” she says.

The statement, however, immediately makes her smile: it is a colleague at Zukerman Auctions, where she is a legal assistant, asking about a sticker from the World Cup album.

They are part of a growing group across the country. With just over two months to go before the World Cup in Qatar, workers have been using coffee time or the end of lunch to change that little thing repeated in the corridors of their offices.

“The group started with the buzz about the album at the time of having coffee. Now, there is even an internal chat, and whoever meets a goal wins a sticker pack”, says André Zalcman, operations manager at the auction house.

Zalcman says that trading stickers between employees is a way to socialize teams after two years of working from home.

Commercial assistant Vinicius Oliveira, 29, agrees. “I joined Zukerman during the pandemic. I spent a year just talking on the computer. I’m getting to know more people because of the album”, says Oliveira, who has been collecting albums since the 2002 World Cup.

For Cássio Brandão, head of government affairs at Google, collectors want to help each other and exchange experiences, which is why they recognize themselves in all spaces, including professionals.

“I have all the Copa albums since 1994. This year, I bought them to have the experience with my 3-year-old son. Other fathers and mothers, even pressured by their children, end up asking and offering the stickers in the offices as well. in front of the computer an envelope with the exchange card”, he says.

Zukerman’s legal assistant Marcela Curpievsky, 35, admits that she uses her two daughters as an excuse for the two Copa albums that are almost complete. In one of them, the hardcover, only three stickers are missing. “I don’t even know how much I spent. Last time, I bought the 78 packages the bank had.”

“She’s the leader of the group. Everyone looks to her to trade,” says Zalcman.

Nathalie Bizzocchi, 32, a customer service analyst at the company, is also putting together the album with her 5-year-old son, but is in no hurry.

“Each time I go to the newsstand, I spend R$70 on figurines. When I get home at night, I sit down with him to glue together. Some of the repeated ones he takes to school to change, and I bring others to the company”, he says. Natalie.

As the Copa album was released less than a month ago by Panini, most professionals say the exchange is one to one — except for the specials.

“It’s different with shiny ones, it has to be at least two regular ones or another shiny one,” says Thomas Gromik, account manager at Google.

“For now, with everyone starting and a lot of album to fill, change one sticker for another. But when you get to the last ones to complete, you exchange up to 30 stickers for 1 common”, says Brandão.

Sthéfani Ribeiro, head of people and culture at 3778, says that professionals are not just exchanging stickers in the office, but other points of affinity.

“You create connection and trust in the team. It gives an environment of psychological safety and that, at the end of the day, makes the team develop projects faster, because they know they can count on that person”, he says.

Not even those who are home office are left out. “Usually I send a list of the repeated ones and having enough things to exchange, we find a way, preferably by arranging a meeting”, says Gromik.

According to the people management specialist, two other positive points of this connection are new ideas and mental health.

“As long as these interactions don’t interfere with the results, it’s not a problem in the organization.”