Part of the allure of working for a startup and tech company is how teams celebrate together across all levels of success. Look at any culture page on a company website, and you’re bound to see photos of employees having fun outside of the workplace together — and on the company's dime.
Whether it’s a department luncheon, an after-work happy hour or something bigger like a company-wide, international trip, we asked around town to hear what Austin companies do to commemorate milestones and wins of all sizes.
Austin's Signpost team just wrapped up an impressive six months boasting above-average retention rates — paving the path for future promotions within the CRM automation company. Alex Gutierrez, Signpost's associate recruiter, filled us in on how they celebrate success across departments for both internal and external company wins.
What type of wins, both small and large, does Signpost celebrate?
Our office celebrates customer success through shared testimonials during our monthly all company meetings. We also celebrate top performers every month in sales for Top New Hire, Top SDR, Top Sales Executive and Top Closer.
Neat! Do these top performers receive something in addition to bragging rights?
Those who are our top reps for the month get to open the beer keg at 1 p.m. during two Fridays out of the month. We also buy them lunch of their choice on the other two Fridays of the month, and they get to leave at noon on any day of their choice one time within that month.
What other types of awards do y'all have?
We also have the monthly Signpost award that goes to one individual from any department, chosen by the team. This is one person that has gone above and beyond in their role to uphold our five core values: we fight for small businesses; we focus on impact; we act like owners; we make our own luck; our team wins.
The winner of this award gets their name printed on our Wall of Fame and also receives a $500 Visa gift card.
How do these honors and celebrations impact your company culture?
These wins help us create a winning attitude as well as a sense of community amongst each other. We understand that what we do is a grind; sales is not for everyone. The more we can keep things interesting and exciting, then the more our team works to reach the goals we set for ourselves every month.
The team behind MVF's customer acquisition marketing platform not only reached their 2016 sales targets — they shattered them. A big year calls for a big celebration. We caught up with Emmy McKee, MVF's senior corporate recruiter, to see what they're planning for the entire company to recognize their efforts.
Congrats on the big year! How is the team celebrating?
This is a company-wide achievement and both our U.S. and U.K. offices work tirelessly to reach our goals. We were able to smash our targets for 2016, and now our entire company is celebrating big in Ibiza May 2017.
That's pretty awesome. Is this the first time traveling abroad?
This is the third time we will be going to Ibiza for an all-expenses-paid trip. We also held a company-wide festival in the woods in the U.K. that we all flew over for.
What about for smaller accomplishments?
When reaching smaller targets, we'll head out for a team lunch, dinner or happy hour, too. At MVF, we never need too much encouragement to have a big celebration.
We like to encourage staff to push for big goals by providing a big incentive like a trip away or a big party. It means everyone has an even bigger reason to hit our goals and makes it a lot more fun for us all too.
How does this affect MVF's culture?
This makes for an extremely collaborative and team-oriented atmosphere. Everyone supports and motivates one another to help the entire company hit its annual targets.
Following a successful 2016 that saw IDERA's value grow immensely, the data management and server backup provider had a lot to celebrate. IDERA's CMO Heidi Farris clued us in on the private concerts and parties the company organizes to show appreciation for hard work.
What a great year — how'd the company celebrate?
The IDERA team enjoyed a holiday party with a private show by the Bellamy Brothers in downtown Austin to celebrate an awesome 2016. As has happened in past celebrations like this, multiple employees were invited to get up on stage and perform with the bands and have meet-and-greet access with the musicians prior to the shows.
Are private concerts a regular occurrence at IDERA events?
A common theme at IDERA outings is enjoying live music. From local and up-and-coming artists, to rock n’ roll headliners like Bret Michaels and .38 Special, IDERA CEO Randy Jacops goes all out in putting on private shows for his team.
Every summer, employees and their families and friends are invited to celebrate the company’s success at IDERA Fest complete with food trucks, games and tons of musical talent.
How does IDERA celebrate individual success?
High achievers are recognized at quarterly all-hands meetings with a plaque and an MVP jersey with their name on it. For repeated standouts, employees are awarded occasional trips such as catching a big show in Vegas.
Also, quarterly departmental outings allow individual teams to celebrate their departmental goal accomplishments with events that are tailored to their own team's interests. In the past, these have included brewery tours, Top Golf outings and even out-of-town trips.
What role does this play in your company culture?
We love to celebrate and support a work hard/play hard culture. Teams get together monthly to recognize birthdays, quarterly to recognize company MVPs and team achievements and then they blow it out once or twice a year to celebrate company-wide success.
Two times a year, IDERA Fests give everyone the opportunity to celebrate together. We have multiple offices and remote employees, so these events are an opportunity for team members to get together — and give together. Almost all of the IDERA events include the opportunity to participate in silent auctions and raffles with a chance to win signed guitars and other swag from musicians. The proceeds from these events go to local charities.
