Since we were founded in 2011, Wibbitz has become home to employees in three locations across the world – Tel Aviv, New York, and Paris. With this growth, the unique personalities from each location have shaped the company’s culture together. This organizational culture is and will always be based upon Wibbitz’s commitment to putting its employees at the center.
We believe that the success of a global company requires its people to be constantly challenged and fulfilled, which means there needs to be a personal sense of ownership in the company’s development – in addition to his or her own growth. As a member of our expanding global team, each employee understands that his or her role affects the people working in all of our offices. This makes it even more important for everyone to be on the same page. In fact, my job as part of the People Operations team is dedicated to leading and maintaining this goal with my teammates.
It’s all in the family
With the rapid growth we’re experiencing, we find that this connection is invaluable to all aspects of employees’ development. We tend to refer to ourselves as a “family” because the dynamic of our teams’ relationships – our goal is for everyone to get to know each other on a personal level. Although working cross-functionally helps, it still doesn’t come easily for a team of 75+ employees. Like many teams, we depend on some tools to help us; however, I see that intentional effort and initiative from our employees is what really makes the difference.
Being part of the Wibbitz family is not only getting to know names and roles, but also learning about our teammates as people before anything else. Prior to his or her first day, we invite new employees into our video creation platform to create a video. We leverage our platform’s power to tell their own stories to the team and share them on their first day!
Keeping the conversation going
For cross-office chatting, we rely on platforms like Slack to help organize our communication, as well as recognize milestones and victories across all offices. Of course, this never could replace face-to-face interactions and video conferencing. Our Backend team couldn’t agree more. After working with Wibbitz in the Tel Aviv office for several months, Martin (one of our Backend developers) moved back to Argentina and continues to work with his team. He quite literally telecommutes to the Tel Aviv office – he and his team leader Avishay enjoy live streaming during their workday a couple of times a week. Here is the backend team celebrating the first day of Hanukkah together!
Staying in the loop
When it comes to sharing the day-to-day moments and personal updates we miss out on due to the physical distance, we use “The Wibbitz Family” WhatsApp chat room. Wibbitz also utilizes Workplace by Facebook to interact and share photos. One of the other ways we connect is through our Global Happy Hours; this is a time that the teams gather via video conferencing to take a break and learn more about each other and our countries’ cultures, holidays, and traditions through activities. Once a quarter, the global team also dedicates time for an “All Hands” meeting to better understand the company’s focus and what each of the teams are doing.
Getting together IRL
One of my personal favorite ways of establishing deeper connections within the Wibbitz family is having visitors from the different teams! Occasionally, we have our team members from one location visit the others, which always strengthens both personal and working relationships in the team. Our co-founders, Zohar Dayan and Yotam Cohen, dreamt of having everyone in the global family experience this. After 6 years of hard work, we raised $20 million in Series C funding, and were able to bring this vision to life… in Greece!
Wibbitz Fest 2017 in Crete, Greece was the first ever opportunity for the entire Wibbitz family to meet. It felt surreal to sit together in one room for our All Hands meeting, where we talked about our plans to take over the world!… of video automation, that is. This was, of course, preceded and followed by time unwinding by the water together, trying local dishes, and exploring the charming coastal town of Agios Nikolaos. After the trip, we surveyed everyone to measure the trip’s impact on the team. About 85% of our employees reported a noticeable improvement in the team’s connection. Employees cited feeling the trip’s emotional impact at a personal level as well: feeling appreciated by the company, refreshed in the workplace, and a strong sense of unity. We were happy to see that our employees truly took the opportunity and maximized the potential of our first company-wide trip. Can’t wait for our next family reunion!
Want to join our one-of-a-kind (and quickly growing) team? We’re hiring in New York, Tel Aviv, Paris, and London – click here to apply!