At busuu, our success depends heavily on the productivity of our people. In order to create an inclusive, high-performance environment, our people need to be happy. Not only on a personal level but also in their professional environment. In my opinion, the happiness of my colleagues – also known as my busuu family – is one of my most important goals.
1 hire for culture fit
2 create a social environment
3 make the team feel at home.
One way to ensure happiness is by providing an endless supply of porridge, smoothies and fruit, delicious cookies and a great cup of coffee to charge the batteries in the afternoon! Perks like gym memberships, Friday evening beers and quarterly team outings are standard for London’s Tech Startup scene.Therefore it’s important to think outside the box when planning team events and not do the stereotypical team outing. It’s also vital to ensure that all staff feel included.
Openness and transparency are valued across our business. We disclose our business strategy in hands-on all-hands sessions, involve all our teams in establishing our roadmap, and share knowledge through Lunch & Learn sessions.
We measure performance based on the OKR-system made famous by the early Google team. This enables everyone in the company to understand our business goals and make sure everything they do at work day-to-day supports those goals. It also allows us to share and demonstrate our values individually and across the company.
To ensure we’re doing the right things, we conduct a happiness survey every quarter. It lets to measure the overall team temperature and gives us valuable information for building in the right management support. It makes me very proud that we score higher than the average London tech startup in the overall happiness score! I will tell you more about that in my next post!
