This month marks an important milestone for our team: we onboarded the newest fourteen members of our Client Services team, turning our five-person powerhouse into a bonafide customer support army and making our Peerfit family 128 people strong. We’ve officially been certified as a “Great Place to Work”, and today just so happens to be Certification Nation Day — when “Great Place to Work-Certified™ companies across the country celebrate their Certification status — and more importantly — the people who make that possible. Needless to say, we’re celebrating accordingly.
To put all of this in perspective, we had less than forty employees at the end of 2017. To say we’ve grown exponentially since then might be the understatement of the century, but even as we’ve tripled in size and matured as a company, one thing has never changed: our culture has always been our True North. Why? Because state-of-the-art offices with ping pong tables don’t make a culture — you have to build it.
In our case, the foundation was laid brick by brick by our CEO, Ed Buckley. Ed has long believed that if you make something a priority at the top, regardless of what it is, it trickles down and naturally permeates the organization. Culture, luckily for us, has always stayed at the top of his priority list, because it’s ultimately what keeps companies intact.
If you think back to your Elmer’s elementary school days, glue was used to hold things together — maybe pieces of construction paper or the occasional popsicle stick. Well, for organizations, people replace the popsicle sticks, and culture acts as the glue.
A great culture keeps a company together. Employees are happy at work (and aren’t shy to let friends and family know), positions are easy to fill, and once an employee is hired, they stay. A poor or toxic culture does the opposite. Turnover is high and burnout is rampant — wreaking havoc on employees’ health (physical and mental), potentially damaging a company’s reputation in the process, and, finally, allowing it to fall apart.
Regardless of whether or not your company culture has been formally defined, your employees still know what it is. Culture isn’t a perk, it’s a feeling. It’s feeling welcome on your first day and knowing that your coworker isn’t just your coworker, they’re your teammate.
When you have a team of coworkers who become friends, who then become family, something magical happens. Happy #CertficationNation Day to all the other “Great Places to Work”, and if you’re a Peerfitter, whether you were hire #5 or #105, thanks for being part of our family.
Bring on the confetti.
Anna Hochberger is the Content Marketing Strategist for Peerfit. She is an avid walker and travel enthusiast, constantly on the look out for her next story to write or photo to take.
