XXS grid collection or similar

I’m looking for a super compact way of displaying a collection of items, ideally something similar to what is on the glide community page.

Basically I need to show staff members that are available to work on a given day. I have a custom collection for each date, and then on each date I currently have just a text field with the available staff names. I’d prefer to have a collection (or similar) of staff, either with their name (or initial) below the image OR the name could display when hovered.

The best I can achieve is an XS grid collection with image size XS, but it still takes up too much space, a lot of which is padding to allow space for actions etc. Anyone been able to achieve something like this or have ideas?

Is it just for visual purposes?
For example, you’d want each item in a collection to be selectable, so you need some padding to make it easier to select by using your finger.

Will there be some text around the collections? (like the screenshot?)
If so, You could try using a 1:2 container with text on the left column and the collection on the right.
It will remove some of the padding.

It’s not necessary that it be selectable in this case.

Both ways are close but not quite what I’m after.

Cheers