“I want to build a company my kids and grandkids can be proud of.” We often quote this line from HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan as a reminder of the company we aspire to be. A company that’s inclusive and empowers people to grow better.
This week has been a testament to our progress on that aspiration: Thanks to employee feedback on review platform Comparably, HubSpot was recognized as a top place to work in the following categories:
It’s humbling to be included in this series of awards, and to know that we’re headed in the right direction. Here’s a closer look at these recognitions and the culture programming, values, and initiatives that contribute to these recognitions.
Best Companies for Women
“Teaching and pushing the importance of diversity, inclusion, and the uplift of women is one of THE most positive outlooks of HubSpot. We're all under one working roof together, we need to elevate each other.” HubSpot Comparably Review
Beyond programming for our internal community through the employee resource group Women@HubSpot, we also host external events throughout HubSpot’s global communities focused on accelerating and empowering women to advance in their careers.
For example, one continued initiative we run at HubSpot is the Women Who Lead event series. Women Who Lead started at the end of 2018 as a result of the disappointing statistics released about women of color in leadership in the McKinsey 2018 Women in the Workplace survey. The event aims to discuss how companies can close the gap on the underrepresentation of women of color in leadership. This year alone, 1,000+ women across industries in the Boston community have joined us at HubSpot to hear female panelists talk about how businesses can support and advance the careers of women of color. The event series has been such a success that it was recognized as the most innovative initiative to advance women of color in the workplace by the Boston Women’s Workforce Council.
Last night we held our final event in the series for 2019. The theme was "Creating Space to Share our Stories & Own our Narrative", and we were humbled to be joined by Vanessa De Luca former Editor in Chief at Essence Magazine and Editor in Chief of ZORA, a Medium publication dedicated to the stories, opinions and experiences of women of color. Follow us on HubSpot Life to watch for future Women Who Lead event sign ups coming in 2020.
Best Companies for Diversity
“HubSpot has actually helped me to be a better person. There's a strong focus on Diversity & Inclusion, and I've learned so much about different perspectives, and how to make sure everyone feels safe, included, and valued.” HubSpot Comparably Review
It’s one thing to talk about hiring candidates from diverse backgrounds. But, to really walk the walk on creating a diverse workplace, companies need to build inclusion and belonging into their strategy to not only attract diverse talent, but help them grow.
View HubSpot’s Diversity & Inclusion webpage to learn more about our global diversity programming. One example of how we’re working to create a culture of belonging is through the individual trainings and e-learnings our Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DI&B) team, in partnership with our Learning and Development (L&D) team, have put together to educate managers and individual contributors on everything from psychological safety and unconscious bias to understanding privilege and mitigating interview bias. Most recently, the team launched internal Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging Microlearnings on our e-learning platform Learn@HubSpot to have bite-size, easily digestible diversity and inclusion content that anyone, anywhere can access, especially in light of our commitment to growing HubSpot’s remote workforce.
HubSpot’s Diversity & Inclusion Program Manager, Melissa Obleada commented, “I once heard that focusing on diversity without addressing inclusion and belonging is like trying to fill a bucket that has a hole in the bottom. At HubSpot, inclusion is so important because everyone deserves to work somewhere they can see themselves grow, no matter how they identify and live their lives. If an organization is looking to foster inclusion and belonging, they can start by creating an environment where feedback from employees – particularly those who are often overlooked – is welcomed, listened to, and addressed. Psychological safety helps the individual, the team, and the company by creating opportunities for openness, empathy, and understanding.”
#5 Best Company Culture
“HubSpot is an overall great company that continues to aspire to do better each and every day. It's not perfect--no company is--but it is always trying to be better. And that's a company and culture I can support.” HubSpot Comparably Review
We’re grateful that our co-founders saw the need to invest in workplace culture early. It was Dharmesh Shah who first drafted HubSpot’s Culture Code as a living, breathing document of who we aspire to be as a company. The goal of the Culture Code from its conception was to codify what makes us different, and help us stay aligned on our beliefs as the company scaled. It was also designed as a commitment to our customers; buyers today can afford to be picky about who they buy from, so we want to be transparent about who we are and how we work.
Just like code you would write when building software, a website, or a product, our Culture Code needs to evolve and be iterated on over time. That’s why Dharmesh makes revisions to the Culture Code as the company changes and grows. We’ve updated the Culture Code over 20 times since it was published, based on employee feedback. For example, most recently, Dharmesh changed the ‘E’ in HEART from Effective to Empathetic based on crowd-sourced feedback from the company that empathy is more reflective of our dedication to helping and understanding our customers.
Regarding how he thinks about building company culture, Dharmesh shared: “As a programmer, I believe building culture is a lot like building a product. First, just like with product you need to talk to your “customers”. In the case of culture -- the “customers” of the culture are the people that work in the company. Next, just like product, you need to iterate on your code constantly. And even then, the best products are always a work in progress.”
#2 Best CEO
“Incredibly transparent. The CEO talks to everyone and knows everyone's name. Super friendly and incredibly intelligent executive team who always have even the newest employees back.” HubSpot Comparably Review
Since the early days of HubSpot, CEO and co-founder Brian Halligan has always encouraged employees to think like founders. That’s why our culture is built on transparency, autonomy and feedback. Our leaders, including Halligan, never lose sight of those values so that collectively we can solve problems, both big and small, for our customers. Halligan regularly crowd-sources feedback and ideas via HubSpot’s internal wiki to ensure he’s hearing from diverse perspectives across our global offices, and shares what keeps him up at night through company-wide Q&As, quarterly company meetings, and more.
Halligan is deeply committed to creating a customer-first company and culture. For example, Halligan sends Happy@Hubspot.com emails regularly which include an anecdote or quote from an email he received from a customer about how happy they are using HubSpot, or how great their experience has been with an employee. One recent email from a prospect raved about how refreshingly helpful her sales rep was throughout the sales process. These emails not only recognize employees for remarkable work, but also put a face and a name to the global companies we work with so that they’re more than just a number in a spreadsheet.
Interested in joining our team at HubSpot? Visit our careers website to learn more about culture and career opportunities.
