5 Ways to Retain Company Culture as You Grow

Ask anyone looking for a job in the tech industry and they’ll likely tell you they want to work for a company with a strong culture. But what exactly does that mean? While some people think culture is free snacks and parking with a happy hour and a dog-friendly environment, those are just cool perks that many growing companies offer to their employees. But culture is not just about a stocked fridge.

Working with some of the top tech companies over the years, CyberCoders has learned that culture is about investing in an individual and making them part of a team helping to grow the company. It’s about values and vision and showing you believe in and support them.

As companies expand and scale, it can be challenging to maintain that core culture and stay true to the original mission. That’s something CyberCoders has worked diligently to achieve in its recent years of growth.

In fact, CyberCoders has grown 60% over the past few years and has expanded its four office locations, yet it continues to maintain the unique culture that first brought Chuck Cooke to the company.

Cooke, now Director of Recruiting at the Irvine headquarters, came onboard in 2009 and says while its evolved and grown, the company’s unique culture remains something that sets it apart.

“One of the most impressive things is our ability to continue to evolve, we always want culture to be something that’s super attractive here and I think we’re kind of known for it in our industry."

Cooke says he’s proud of the way the leadership in the company has meshed culture with performance and balanced fun and success. Howard Braithwaite, Director of Recruiting in the Los Angeles office, agrees. In his 5 years there, he’s seen the company grow from 60 sales associates to close to 350 but says that certain things about the culture haven’t changed. Here’s what goes into making CyberCoders’ culture a success story for the company and its employees, and our advice on successfully retaining company culture.

 

1. Cultivate Openness

“We’re very open and transparent”, says Braithwaite, which means “you can look up and see what anybody else in the company is doing; how well they’re performing, what they’re achieving, and people like that because it allows them to challenge themselves and compete healthily amongst their peers.” Having that kind of open culture gives people an aspiration for success, which all agree is part of the secret sauce.

 

2. Recognize Achievements and Success

Aspiration for success means recognizing achievements and CyberCoders does that in many ways. For starters, there are the company-wide events such as quarterly luncheons and holiday parties. Team members from all over the company are brought together to celebrate successes, some via video, which Braithwaite says, is vital. “It could be somebody’s first success, or a major milestone. Everybody’s in it together and everybody celebrates achievements.”

On a smaller scale, successes are noted either one-on-one with a manager or team, or office-wide with everyone congratulating the individual. Cooke believes this is huge, because the more you do that, the more excited people are, which then becomes contagious.

 

3. Hire the Right People

Hiring the right people is a large part of the company’s unique culture. If you put people with the same demeanor, positive attitude and mindset together, they are going to gravitate and want to form friendships and create a positive team where they’ll not only want to do well for themselves, but be happy to see others succeed as well, says Braithwaite.

“Hire great people who are super motivated,” says Cooke, and surround those people with great info, amazing technology and tools and create a ton of different rewards for people to achieve. This, he says, fosters an environment where people are self-driven and can achieve their goals.

“We have so many different categories and contests and prizes, whether it’s their first day on the job or they’re here for 10 years. It allows people to come in and compete in a small pond and compete and develop skills as they go along.”

 

4. Set Goals and Objectives

Since the culture is all about the people, it’s vital to help employees succeed with clear, achievable goals and objectives, as well as resources, like the latest technology, to do the job. Braithwaite credits outlining achievable goals as one way to motivate people and help them succeed, while it’s clear that company-wide competition and rewards for achievement go a long way in providing motivation. Since sales requires competition, offering both team and individual prizes like parties, time off, and team lunches can help foster an environment where people can succeed. If people are successful, they’re learning and advancing their career.

 

5. Work to Maintain Culture

In any company, a leadership team with a clear vision is essential to setting and maintaining the company culture. As companies scale, it can be difficult to maintain the traits that make it unique, but the CyberCoders leadership team has placed a premium on keeping that culture intact. When there’s an environment that fosters communication and provides tools for employees to grow and be more effective, that unique spirit is kept alive in every member of the team.

“There’s a clear understanding among leadership to keep it fun while having a high level of success,” explains Cooke, and he points to referrals to back that up. Current employees often refer friends and others because they’re excited at work, feel valued, motivated and inspired. “When you have referrals, it means you’re doing something right.