Breakthrough Cultures: How Weave Focuses on ‘People, Not Employees’
Creating and scaling a good culture that nourishes employees is critical to the long-term success of an organization. Yet, clarifying what exactly a good culture embodies is difficult to articulate. We recently found ample opportunity to better understand what good culture is beyond our own ideas at 15Five.
Ahead of the new year, Glassdoor released its Best Places to Work 2020 awards. While we were elated to see 15Five recognized as the third Best Place to Work for small and medium businesses, we were even more thrilled to see five of our customers recognized for their amazing cultures, including:
• HubSpot (#1 Best Place to Work for large businesses)
• Life.Church (#1 Best Place to Work for small and medium businesses)
• Skupos
• South Carolina Federal Credit Union
• Weave
We asked a few of our amazing customers what they’re doing right to support excellent cultures each of their people, and how they see 15Five fitting into this journey. In our “Breakthrough Cultures” series, we’re sharing what they’ve taught us.
We’re kicking things off with Madi Bullock and Rachel Beckstead from Weave, a software company out of Utah that provides integrated hardware and software solutions for more optimized communication across the customer journey.
How would you describe the culture at Weave?
Madi: Weave was founded on three core values: being hungry, creative, and caring. As a late-stage start-up, these values are still inherent in how our team operates and the characteristics we look for in people we hire today.
Our CEO, Brandon Rodman, coined the term “People, not employees.” It’s on a billboard off the freeway in the tech corridor here in Utah—that’s how important it is to both Brandon and our entire executive team to promote and ensure the cultural value that people come first. It’s no wonder Weave has been awarded 2019 and 2020 Glassdoor Best Places to Work, Inc. Best Workplaces 2019, Fortune Best Workplaces, Business Insider 30 Best Companies to Work For, and more.
How does Weave support that culture?
Madi: The benefits at Weave speak to our culture of putting people first, such as unlimited PTO, working remotely when feasible, and enabling autonomy for a greater work/life balance. Most recently, Weave unveiled its newest perk: free, in-house executive life coaching supported by a staff of full-time coaches.
Our parental leave policy is second to none in the state of Utah. Mothers get 12 weeks of paid time off, fathers get six weeks of paid time off, and all new parents receive a years’ worth of free Honest Company diapers, six weeks of meal deliveries twice a week, six weeks of house cleanings, and of course, baby swag.
When an employee has a work anniversary, they’re gifted a pair of Allbirds on year one. Year-two, employees receive a Patagonia jacket. Year three is a pair of skis/a snowboard or an iPad, and year four and on, employees receive $2,000 toward a family vacation (bonus: if the employee plans ahead to do service on the trip, they receive an extra $1,000 toward the vacation so long as they report back to their team on the project they were part of). Once an employee has been at Weave for five years or more, the employee is granted a four-week paid sabbatical.
How is Weave helping employees be and become their best selves?
Madi: In the last year, Weave has made significant hires so that our rapidly growing team can do so at scale. These key hires include VP of Marketing, Kortney Osborne; VP of Business Development, Tim Hansen; VP of Customer Success, Rick Hansen; and Chief People Officer, Angie Balfour.
As our team has grown, we have built models to expand—this enables team members to focus on their discipline without having to wear multiple hats, and in turn helps them become experts in their field with autonomy and tools to be successful. Manager trainings and review processes foster a psychologically safe workplace, and newly introduced peer bonuses encourage teamwork and celebrating others’ wins (each employee has a set amount of money they can use to bonus a coworker).
How does 15Five help Weave uphold its culture?
Rachel: 15Five allows me to give our product and engineering teams and leadership visibility into my team’s quarterly efforts and progress.
It also helps me to be thoughtful about my efforts each week and have meaningful, detailed conversations with my manager.
Focusing on people drives performance
As 15Five CEO, David Hassell explained in an interview with The Ladders, “We believe that when you create an environment that supports people in being and becoming their best selves, then performance is the natural byproduct. And we call it Best-Self Management.”
This is exactly what Weave is doing by scaling a people-first, breakthrough culture, where the value of each individual in the organization is recognized and celebrated in ways that allow a person to develop professionally and personally, which in turn is driving Weave’s success.
Mike Siemasz is the Senior Customer Marketing Manager at 15Five, continuous performance management software that includes weekly check-ins, OKR tracking, peer recognition, 1-on-1s, and 360° reviews. When Mike isn’t finding ways to increase customer advocacy, you can find him spending time with his family or working on his novel.
