1.

Zappos
Cultural fit interview
Zappos hires according to cultural fit first. It has established what
the company culture is, and fitting into that culture is the most
important thing managers look for when hiring. This promotes the
culture and happy employees, which ultimately leads to happy
customers.
New employees are offered $2,000 to quit after the first week of
training if they decide the job isnt for them.
Our number one priority is company culture. Our whole belief is
that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff like
delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring
brand will just happen naturally on its own.
-Tony Hsieh
Its key that the people who are involved in establishing the culture
(typically, the CEO) participate and vet each candidate that comes
through. The theory is that those people that were hired by the CEO
will hire people who share the CEOs vision.

It actually doesnt matter what your values are, what matters is that you have
them and that you align the organization around them. And the power
actually comes from the alignment not from the actual values.
Our message is more you should figure out what your values are and then
align the entire organization around them.'

Fire Those that Dont Fit the Culture No Matter How

Talented

Pay New Employees to Quit

At some point during the training, Zappos offers $4,000 to the new employee
to quit and walk away from the company. Hsieh says they dont want people
who are there for a paycheck, and they dont want people who feel like they
are trapped.

Hsieh says that when new employees turn down the money, they
turn out to be much more passionate and engaged because they
realize that its a place they really want to be and contribute.

2. Warby Parker

Warby Parker has made company culture deliberate by

creating a dedicated team tasked with coming up with
events and programs to promote community.
Company culture at Warby Parker instigates culture
crushes
1 . BE DEL IBE RATE

Its no accident that Warby Parker has a fantastic

company culture they plan for it (and have a whole
group dedicated to do so). Within the company, the
aptly named culture team is in charge of planning
company outings and themed luncheons. They also
play a part in the new employee screening process,

ensuring the culture lifecycle lives on with every new

employee 20/20 and optically challenged folk alike.

2 . F IND CO MF ORT T HR OU GH DI SC OM FO RT

To encourage a more unified work force, the company

started playing weekly rounds of lunch roulette
where four randomly selected employees are sent out
to lunch together so they can get to know each other.
Sort of like a blind date, but way better.
3 . A LWAY S HAVE SOM ET HIN G TO LOO K FO RWARD TO

Every quarter a group of employees on the fun

committee plan a surprise outing for the entire
crew. In the past this has meant open bars and DJ
lessons, but as Stephanie + Jen told us, every outing is
always a surprise and has to top the next. So as the
crew keeps growing the possibilities do too.

3. Southwest airlines
In order of importance, Southwest ranks employees first, customers
second, and shareholders third.
"We believe that if we treat our employees right, they will treat our
customers right, and in turn that results in increased business and
profits that make everyone happy,"
Happy Employees=Happy Customers=Increased
Business/Profits=Happy Shareholders!
We are all encouraged to Live the Southwest Way, and our
Employees exemplify this with their Warrior Spirits, Servants
Hearts, and Fun-LUVing Attitudes.
Warrior Spirit: work hard, desire to be the best, be courageous,
display a sense of urgency, preserve, and innovate.

Servants Heart: follow The Golden Rule, put others first,

demonstrate proactive Customer Service, and embrace the SWA
Family.
Fun-LUVing Attitude: dont take yourself too seriously, maintain
perspective (balance), celebrate successes, enjoy your work, and be
a passionate Teamplayer.

4. Twitter
Roof-top meetings and friendly colleagues helped to make Twitters
employees the happiest in the country
Team meetings on the roof are the best, great teamwork and a lot of
smart people
Workers also get free meals at its San Francisco headquarters, inoffice yoga classes and unlimited vacation, at least for exempt
employees.
Team meetings on the roof are the best, great teamwork and a lot of
smart people,
Three things in common in employees:
They want a supportive and motivational team-oriented
environment

They want to work for companies that had a great mission

statement and generally did the right thing and acted with integrity

They want to feel like they had a second family at the workplace,
where they could turn to colleagues for support and advice.
The best thing about their work is interacting with their co-workers.
Though Twitter employees receive considerably fewer perks than
Google employees, they are energized and motivated by Twitters
culture of excellence and hard work.

This committed, passionate employee attitude doesnt come simply

from fun extras or creature comforts; instead, Twitter employees
say that they are motivated to maintain a culture of excellence
because their values and goals are in line with the companys
overall vision.
Twitter doesnt have the best company culture because of its offices
or its atmosphere: Twitters company culture excels because of its
people, thus proving that smart recruiting and people strategy are
the best investment a company can make. When high performance
is assured, harmony follows, and Twitter won this round by putting
first things first.

5. Google
Weve all heard about Googles legendary employee perks
everything from free meals to an in-house bowling alley. Google
employees do admit to enjoying these perks, and the fun
atmosphere of their workplace, which one employee describes as
like being back in college again times going to Disneyland every
day.
It would almost seem wrong not to mention Google on a list of
companies with great culture. Google has been synonymous with
culture for years, and sets the tone for many of the perks and
benefits startups are now known for. Free meals, employee trips and
parties, financial bonuses, open presentations by high-level
executives, gyms, a dog-friendly environment and so on. Googlers
are known to be driven, talented and among the best of the best.
20%?
"We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects,
to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most
benefit Google," they wrote. "This empowers them to be more
creative and innovative. Many of our significant advances have
happened in this manner."

6. Facebook

Just like Google, Facebook is a company that has exploded in growth

as well as being synonymous with unique company culture.
Facebook offers, as do many similar companies, lots of food, stock
options, open office space, on-site laundry, a focus on teamwork
and open communication, a competitive atmosphere that fosters
personal growth and learning and great benefits.
Yet, Facebook has the same struggles as similar companies: a highly
competitive industry leads to a sometimes stressful and competitive
workplace. Additionally, a free and organic organizational structure
that worked for the smaller organization is less successful for the
larger one.
To meet these challenges, Facebook has created conference rooms,
has separate buildings, lots of outdoor roaming space for breaks and
has management (even CEO Mark Zuckerberg) working in the open
office space alongside other employees. Its an attempt at a flat
organizational culture using the buildings and space itself to
promote a sense of equality among the competition.

7. Adobe

Gives employees challenging projects and provides the trust

and support to help them meet those challenges successfully

Avoids micromanaging in favor of trusting employees to do

their best

Doesnt use ratings to establish employee capabilities, feeling

that that inhibits creativity and harms how teams work.

Managers take on the role of a coach, more than anything,

letting employees set goals and determine how they should
be assessed.

Employees are also given stock options so that they know

they have both a stake and reward in the companys success.

Adobe has a very open company culture: it promotes risk

taking without fear of penalty