Startup Perks don’t make the Culture

The concept of Startup Culture has attracted loads of attention and it has been often presented as the panacea for work satisfaction. Aspects that are frequently highlighted are fun office spaces, flexible hours, and perks such as free meals, massage sessions, and ping pong tables in the office (here it is: the ubiquitous ping pong table again).

But there must be more to it than what meets the eye for sure. Is the startup culture just a particular aesthetic? Is it enough to offer perks to your employees?

This post looks into how our culture is created and maintained here at ShuttleCloud, in particular from the human relationships point of view. Why should you read this post? Maybe you are not familiar with the topic, like myself when I started working at ShuttleCloud: “startwhaaat?” (Yes really, she says looking down slightly embarrassed).

Or you may work for one startup but are just curious about how others do it. Either way, this is the post for you.

Values, Environment, Perks and some Construction Tips

Values — not perks — define a startup culture. However, the perks and the environment maintain the culture. So as you see, the perks are not the be-all and end-all of a startup but they are also not the frivolous policies as they are sometimes portrayed. So if the values are the foundation, as everyone knows without foundations the building crumbles; however without the building… (Ok, I’m not really sure how to continue with this metaphor but you all get the gist, right?)

The values defines your culture and your culture determines the environment you want to create. The perks and environment are both the reflection of your culture and the tools to maintain it; they make the culture something tangible, alive beyond that piece of paper where the values were first written.

The Cradle of ShuttleCloud Culture

So enough with the rambling and let’s get to the nitty-gritty before you all fall asleep. Without further ado, here is a brief summary of ShuttleCloud core values:

• Exceptional colleagues
• Work/life harmony
• Work hard & smart → Autonomy & Accountability
• Continuous learning & development

These core values, alongside the ShuttleCloud vision were set early on by the team members who were at ShuttleCloud back then. All good, but how do we make sure these are not just written words in an old Google doc?

Let’s give that metaphor another go. The core values are the foundations and determine the type of construction you are going to build; however, without the building and the people in it you just have a pretty useless surface of concrete. (Ha! I got there in the end.)

So how is the value of exceptional colleagues reflected in the ShuttleCloud culture and how it is maintained and implicitly passed onto new team members? It may seem obvious but let me remind you that building a team with people who understand, share and perpetuate your culture and vision is paramount.

Here at ShuttleCloud, we have a great bunch of people, If I may say so myself (feel free to get a tissue; it’s getting a tad emotional around here). This does not happen by chance. The team takes a hands-on approach during the hiring process, reviewing CVs, conducting interviews and working with the candidates.

They look for the best candidates with great CVs but also consider how well they will fit within the team. They do hire not only based on talent but also on culture fit. As far as I am concerned, so far, so good.

Welcome to the Crazy Family

But the process doesn’t end here. Now that you have a new team member, it is crucial you get them up to speed quickly, not only with their job but also with your culture and team dynamics. You do not want anyone falling behind and feeling disconnected. There are small details you can do during the onboarding process to avoid this.

Here, for example, we send an email where every team member welcomes the new employee and shares some joke, meme or YouTube video to help them understand some of our inner jokes. There is even a survival guide with some useful tips such as “Always laugh at Antonio (one of our senior developers)’s jokes no matter how bad they are” or “Always nod along when Angel, our project manager, has one of his amusing rants”.

But let’s be honest — trust and rapport don’t just happen and cannot be forced upon people; they develop overtime. So if the exceptional colleagues value is as important for you as it is for us, I suggest you choose carefully those perks that will reinforce your culture and promote this particular value in your startup on a daily basis.

The Team that Eats Together, Stays Together.

For example, we get free lunches at ShuttleCloud. I can hear you thinking: “Nice one!” And yes, you are right. But there is more to it than what it may appear at first glance. Free lunches encourage that we all sit together for the meals. The team that eats together, stays together.

We chat, discuss current affairs, tell bad jokes, bring up geek topics, throw in some football banter and when we feel inspired, we set the world to rights. Bonding experience number 1: check.

Another of the perks that encourage the team building experience are the gatherings outside office hours; ShuttleCloud invites us to dinners outside the office, or we organize summer BBQs on our patio. These opportunities allow us to unwind and see each other in a different setting. Some of the funniest things happen these nights and give way to loads of friendly trolling at the office next day.

As you can imagine, we all have been on the receiving end of these jokes at least once.

And last but not least, the offsites. This is the week when the team works remotely from some vacation destination and get to do some male bonding. I’d like to tell you more about them but unfortunately, the guys are adamant on this one “what happens at an offsite, stays at an offsite”.

And in the spirit of continuous learning & development, the engineering team also gets to attend different conferences, events and workshops around the world. Next stop: Budapest. The team will be attending the CRAFT Conference there at the end of this month. Have fun guys, enjoy the pálinka and say hello to Candutas!*

To sum up, hire for talent and culture fit, get the new team members acquainted with your culture pronto and make sure the perks you offer reinforce your values and the team building experience. Of course other things like the office space itself, policies such as flexible hours and holidays or how the team members work among themselves (daily standups, learning sessions) all encourage and maintain other aspects of our culture but I’ll leave those for future posts.

And since I am sure you all are dying to know whether we chose a film for the movie night, can’t wait to hear what are the last pranks at the office, need to read all about the last meetups and whether there has been a party worth mentioning lately, I’ll dedicate the next post to those.

I hope the wait until then is not unbearable

Until next time!

* Candutas is one of those things you would have to learn during your social onboarding process if you ended up working with us.

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Originally published on ShuttleCloud Blog