Editor’s Note:
Terakeet has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years, nearly doubling in size over 2021. With this change in size, our People team, led by Chief People Officer Lynn Fraas, has worked tirelessly to ensure Terakeet stays…Terakeet— that is, an innovative and supportive place to work and grow a career. We spoke with Lynn to hear how she defines our workplace culture and what she’s doing to ensure Terakeet continues to grow intentionally for all employees.
How do you define “culture”?
To some people, culture means going to happy hour and events. Culture includes those, but is broader than just social events. Culture is rooted in a company’s true core values. It’s the way you do things, how you make decisions, the language you use, and the way you interact with each other. All of it comes together to define the culture. A company’s culture is not stagnant, it evolves as the organization grows and changes.
What do you think is the key to maintaining culture with a growing company and many remote employees?
When you have a solid cultural foundation, like we do at Terakeet, one key element of maintaining the culture is arming and equipping managers with the right information— reinforcing that foundation— so they act in certain ways and have certain standards. Regardless of whether employees work remotely or under the same roof, the way people are treated filters mainly through managers, so they’re critical to keeping a culture consistent, healthy, and growing.
Cultures are cultivated. Proclaiming, “I want our culture to be X,” will rarely move the culture in that direction. Establishing the conditions required to cultivate the activities and behaviors reflective of the desired culture will prompt the evolution.
What do you do to gather feedback from employees?
The key feedback we seek from employees is through an annual TripTik survey. We conduct the survey every year. It asks employees to rate the company across six dimensions. It also asks them, “If you had a magic wand, what would you use it for?” The entire executive team reads every word of that survey. It is the main source of feedback that informs the types of programs we will continue/revamp/add as the company grows.
A company that’s growing as fast as ours will always have a next “to-do”. The survey helps us prioritize our efforts to ensure we have the right impact from a people perspective.
We also have other periodic surveys, both in written formats and in in-person calls. We’ve just recently completed a survey that involved calling and checking in with everyone in the company. We listen for and pay attention to global and directional themes: things we should keep doing, things we should change.
Why do you think it’s important to get employee feedback?
Everyone has a different perspective. If you think of a nine-story building, you’re going to have a different view depending on where you are in the building. The same is true with employee populations. Depending upon where you are in the organization, you’re going to have a different view. It’s important to hear all those views so you get a good picture of what’s really going on in the company. It helps us make smarter decisions about the types of programs to stop, start, or continue.
Can you share an example of a time that employee feedback led to a change at Terakeet?
There are fundamental things that people look for in a great workplace, and we strive to make sure we’re executing on those aspects of the culture.
When I first came to Terakeet, I received loud and clear feedback that no one knew when compensation reviews were going to happen. So, we implemented a calendar of biannual reviews that occur every winter and summer.
During a company-wide meeting, the team pointed out a gap in our management training. We had grown from having 20 to nearly 100 managers in a short period of time, and we recognized that growing so quickly had impacted our ability to train managers effectively. So, we hired someone to create a management leadership development program that is systematic for new managers as they are hired. This will help ensure all managers have a consistent outlook on how to manage at Terakeet which is important not only for the work we deliver for customers but also for maintaining our culture.
What do you want employees to know about Terakeet?
From an employee perspective, Terakeet will continue to strive to provide interesting, challenging work with growth paths and career opportunities while maintaining our strong culture of caring about people.
I believe Terakeet is a great place to work, and my role is to make sure it remains great in a way that supports the company’s ability to scale and grow.