Spicing Up the Workplace With Spiceworks

When we learned Spiceworks was selected as one of Glassdoor’s top ten Best Places to Work in SMB this year, we were beyond excited! It’s a huge honor to be recognized for something that we work so hard each day to tend to – our culture. So how did we do it? Honestly, it’s been an all-hands-on-deck team effort. Our founders set us on one heck of a trajectory from the beginning and have stayed true to that. And our employees (we call ‘em Spiceworkers), the people that spice IT up day in and day out, are the ones who truly carry the torch now in making Spiceworks a great place to work. Here’s how: We prioritize ownership, creativity & passion When we started the Recruiting team at Spiceworks in the spring of 2010, the company had 55 employees. The growth plan: double every year. With that kind of growth, a company’s culture can easily be rattled and hijacked if it’s not a top priority. Because there’s pressure to put butts in seats – and talented ones at that - it can be tough to hire at the right pace and ensure you find the type of person that can do things the Spiceworks way. But we always take the time we need to get it right. Instead of crossing our fingers and hoping that things would turn out okay, we built our culture from the top down. The Spiceworks founders knew the type of culture they wanted to experience each day, and even more importantly, what they didn’t want. They didn’t just talk the talk and come up with pitchy values to put on posters and such. They walked the walk by acting like the kind of people you’d want to work with each day and exhibited the ownership, creativity, passion and open communication they felt would make Spiceworks a fun place to be. Their behavior set an example for early employees, who then set an example for the next generation, and so goes the circle of SpiceLife that now inspires our 340 Spiceworkers to do the same. Authenticity matters At Spiceworks, what you see is what you get. Our founders have always made it a point to prioritize transparency and honesty, which translates into an authentic vibe that runs throughout the company. To this day, our CEO Scott interviews every single candidate that is hired. All 340 employees met with him in person before being invited to join the team. Why? Because our founders are serious about preserving the culture they’ve worked so hard to build and meeting with potential candidates helps ensure we’re adding the right people to the team who’ll be able to bring that culture to life in their role. Have a question about sales figures, revenue growth, company outlook, etc.? Just ask. The founders are all about being open, honest, and transparent with the employees who help make the spice work. Scott has a 1:1 lunch with every single employee after they’ve been at Spiceworks for six months to get to know them a bit better and see if the job is everything they thought it would be. He has monthly pizza parties (aka Slices w/Scott) with Spiceworkers from across various departments to keep the lines of casual communication open no matter how many feet separate his desk from someone else’s. No question is off limits and all feedback is welcome. We’re not afraid to fail Our Spiceworkers own the projects they take on. If they have an idea, they run with it and see it through from beginning to end. Our CEO has a mantra, fail fast and fail cheap, which encourages us to test new ideas quickly and then report on what worked. We’re about progress, not perfection. From our very own web show, to fun infographics, to our unique karaoke songs – the creativity that has spawned from this unique way of thinking has been amazing. Our employees aren’t afraid to speak up and they’re not afraid to fail – two great ingredients for an innovative (and spicy) work environment. There is this palpable buzz in the office – something special that fuels the success of our company overall. Our employees feel like the projects they own are making a noticeable impact on the Spiceworks cause to simplify everything IT for everyone in IT. We’re one big team that’s on this fun, spicy ride together! We work daily at keepin’ our culture spicy To us, culture is everything. It’s not about perks like free bagels and tacos (although we do have those). It’s about how we all behave. And it drives everything that we do – from the way we interact with each other on a daily basis, to the way we interact with IT pros and tech marketers in our Community (shout out to our SpiceHeads and Green Guys/Gals!), to the copy we write and the content that we create, right down to the way our receptionist Karin (she’s awesome, btw) greets an office visitor. We are genuine, open, honest, down to earth and just downright fun loving! And we’re thoughtful about it. Because at Spiceworks, cultivating culture is deliberate – it’s something that our employees work at everyday because they respect the culture we’ve built and they want to keep that alive and well so they can keep loving their job. We came here not because we just needed a job. We came here because we wanted to work at Spiceworks. Think you’ve got what it takes to be a Spiceworker? Check out this video to learn more!