Aramark’s employee choir is thriving in a post-pandemic hybrid world, and yes, they have groupies

On Wednesdays at 4 p.m., one of the conference rooms at Aramark’s headquarters is occupied by a regular meeting, including employees from across departments. Participants from other Aramark locations, as well as any Philadelphia-area people working remotely, join the weekly gathering via Microsoft Teams, their faces in boxes on a large screen at the front of the conference room.

It looks like any other corporate meeting, until you notice that one person is holding a violin, another is seated in front of an electric keyboard, and there’s sheet music scattered across the conference table.

After a few minutes of discussion, the group breaks into song.

This meeting is for InTune, Aramark’s all-employee choir. With about three dozen members, the musical group puts on performances for company events.

InTune was born in late 2019, when Aramark’s chief compliance officer, Tamsin Fast, put up an internal ad asking musically inclined employees to attend a meeting.

“Music is part of my life, and it occurred to me that it would be great to get together people who also really enjoy music,” said Fast, a violinist who plays in a community orchestra outside of work.

She was pleased when 30 people showed up at the first meeting in Philadelphia. They spanned departments and included a mix of vocalists and instrumentalists.

“I’ve met people across the company that I know wouldn’t otherwise have really met, which has been amazing,” Fast said. “Other people have seen that, too, and I think that’s what attracts them to join our group.”

On a recent Wednesday in June, rehearsal included employees from IT, human resources, compliance, benefits, uniform services, safety, legal, and communications; a smattering of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass in person and on Teams.

Aramark has a couple other special interest groups available to employees, such as a running club and ToastMARKers, Aramark’s own chapter of the public speaking club Toastmasters International.

“Our culture has always allowed for things like this,” said Debbie Albert, Aramark’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, adding that the company “really encourages everyone to bring their whole selves to work.”

Not only have the InTune members created “an incredible bond among themselves,” but they’ve been a morale booster across the global company, Albert said. “No one watches one of those videos or hears them sing in person without feeling uplifted.”

Within its first few months, InTune performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” for a Veterans Day event at Aramark headquarters, and “Winter Wonderland” for a holiday-themed town hall. The musicians started to see a following form within their company.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic brought a pause to their in-person rehearsals. Just a few months old, InTune could have faded out as the remote-work arrangement for many employees stretched on for months.

Instead, they got creative. Once they figured out a way to practice over video call, the group continued rehearsing and planning performances. Because they now had to meet online, regardless of geographic location, they expanded the group to include non-Philadelphia-based colleagues.

“Thinking back to that time when we were all isolating, it was nice knowing that every Wednesday we would get together,” Fast said.

Once they’d tackled the logistics of singing on video, they began working on their next project: an InTune video of “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers.

“Music is the universal language. We wanted to kind of like encapsulate how we were feeling and let others know that we were thinking of them,” Fast said. “I still get kind of teary when I go back and look at the video.”

Fast had recruited Greg Lennox, senior director for internal communications, who became a key figure in helping InTune bring its performances to a virtual workplace. A self-described “enthusiastic, but mediocre singer,” Lennox also contributed his video editing skills.

“The ability to be creative in different ways and have that shared creative outlet has been really rewarding,” said Lennox, who is now located in Florida, “and has been a relief, certainly, during a time when we needed joy.”

The group resumed weekly in-person rehearsals in October 2021 but kept the hybrid element so non-Philadelphia members could stay engaged. They continue to make music videos to celebrate or observe events like Pride Month in June or Mental Health Awareness Month in May, often by request of Aramark’s employee resource groups.

“I get to sing and make music on company time with coworkers, which is pretty cool, but more than that, there’s a sense of real enrichment that comes from brightening other people’s day, and that’s our fellow employees,” Lennox said. “We have a lot of self-described InTune groupies.”

Now that Aramark employees have largely settled into a post-pandemic routine and Philadelphia-based employees are generally back in the office, InTune is focused on making sure people who were added during the pandemic stay connected and engaged.

It helps that the group meets during the workday. Fast said that was an intentional choice so people wouldn’t have to choose between InTune and commitments outside of work. She said she’s never heard of a manager balking at the use of company time for choir practice.

“It wouldn’t even occur to us to not have this group use time in the office to do this together,” said Albert, the corporate affairs leader. Discussing her support for InTune, she remarked that she really ought to join the group, given her longtime love for singing.

The musicians are currently preparing for an August performance of “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy, by request of Aramark’s women’s employee resource group, Empower, whose members will be invited to sing with the choir.

During a late-June rehearsal, as members were still learning their parts, the musical group discussed the arrangement and which instruments they needed for accompaniment. One singer asked if someone could make a learning video for members who don’t know how to read sheet music, and Lennox offered to make that happen. The aim was clear: to include as many people as possible in the August performance.

“It’s not just a fun activity for this group of people,” said Lennox. “It’s actually something that makes the workplace better.”