We asked chief people officers at 7 Seattle tech companies about their biggest challenge right now

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From top left, clockwise: Icertis’ Annette Snyder; Convoy’s Sunita Solao; Smartsheet’s Megan Hansen; Nintex’s Nellie Thompson; Outreach’s Leslie Pendergrast; F5’s Ana White; and Zillow’s Dan Spaulding.

As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic — can you believe it? — companies continue grappling with the implications of permanent remote work and shifting workplace dynamics. Some have completely given up on their physical office space, while others want to see workers in person — at least some of the time.

We reached out to chief people officers and HR leaders at seven Seattle tech companies to learn more about the biggest challenge they are facing right now with their teams. Here are some key focuses:

  • Making sure employees feel included and connected, whether they are at the office or working from home
  • Keeping employees engaged amid continued uncertainty
  • Figuring out when employees need to be in the office
  • Rethinking how and what types of benefits are offered
  • Staying adaptable and agile — no one solution fits all needs

Read on to hear more from the HR leaders.

Smartsheet Chief People & Culture Officer Megan Hansen

Megan Hansen. (Smartsheet Photo)

Research shows that employees feel more connected to their teams right now, but disconnected to their employer. Smartsheet is focused on making all our employees feel connected, wherever they’re working from. For example, our executives dial into big Zoom meetings from their laptop even if they’re in the office so people who aren’t in the room can see them better. We’re hosting social events in our offices to encourage folks who are coming in to take time to connect with each other. And we’re continuing to host fully virtual company-wide events like our recent Hack the Sheet Pan cooking class with celebrity chef Carla Hall, followed by small group “after parties” to digitally replicate the happenstance connections that we know can cultivate community and lead to innovation. 

We’re growing really fast – our team grew 33% last fiscal year with no plans of slowing down. But it’s a hot labor market right now, so it’s important that we live and breathe what we refer to as The Smartsheet Way (our core set of values and competencies) so we can attract, develop and retain top, diverse talent. We’ve re-assessed our benefits and policies to make sure we’re delivering what matters most to people, including introducing a new flexible time away model and more comprehensive mental health benefits.

Smartsheet back-to-office policy: Last month, Smartsheet reopened offices and introduced a new flexible workplaces plan designed to give employees more choice about where they work from. Employees’ health and safety continues to be the company’s top priority. Smartsheet is aligning with local public health guidelines in each of its regions, and employees who choose to work from the offices will be required to show proof of vaccination. Smartsheet will continue to adjust approach quickly as the pandemic evolves and guidelines change.

Outreach Chief People Officer Leslie Pendergrast

Leslie Pendergrast. (Outreach Photo)

We are very focused on moving past the pandemic and inspiring our employees to do great work, as great humans, while they work in the way that is most productive for them and their teams. Pre-pandemic, we were a very office-centric culture but we are going to create a new balance as people become more comfortable coming together. As we are able to connect more in person, we will remain remote friendly with an office-centric approach to collaboration, concentration, and connection. Our team has grown significantly over these past two years, not only by size but geographically, so we want to ensure our workplace remains as inclusive as possible, even as some teams begin working in-person. Accountability with flexibility will allow us to meet our business challenges and support our people. 

Outreach back-to-office policy: Our physical office [is open] for people to work from right now if our employees wish to come in. We are still in the process of assessing what comes next for Outreach. 

Icertis HR General Manager for North America Annette Snyder

Annette Snyder. (LinkedIn Photo)

Our biggest challenge throughout the pandemic has been upholding our high level of energy and employee engagement across the entire company. In the past two years, we’ve developed different strategies to keep Icertians motivated, empowered, and connected at a time when uncertainty was the new normal.

Some of our most effective initiatives include our internal awards program that recognizes employees’ behaviors, actions, and outcomes on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. We also initiated mental and physical programs for Icertians, like our 21-day meditation course where over 200 employees participated across the organization.

Now, as we head into the third year of the pandemic, our focus is on creating additional opportunities for employees to live our Four Rings of Responsibility to self, family, community, and business. Current programs that focus on these values include no meetings on Fridays, a week off in July to recharge with family and friends, and our 7 Days for Humanity Benefit which gives every Icertian seven paid days to volunteer in their community and give back to a cause important to them.”

Icertis back-to-office policy: This year, Icertis is focused on implementing a hybrid work model aligned to business requirements and feedback from Icertians. The model includes three ways of working: Hub (work from office more than 90% of time); Club (work in combination of office + remote); and Remote (work remotely for 90% of the time).

Employee safety and flexibility are core to the successful rollout of a new hybrid work model. Through a participative process, Icertis will gradually implement the hybrid work model based on employee feedback from our “Remote work & engagement survey,” as well as external factors, including the vaccination rate of employees and conditions with new COVID-19 variants. 

As Icertis transition to a hybrid work model, department leaders will continue to engage with their wider teams to communicate the plan, ensuring that employees are given at least eight weeks’ notice to return to their employment city (if applicable) and setting up meetings to help individuals transition back smoothly. 

Convoy VP of People Sunita Solao

Sunita Solao. (Convoy Photo)

At Convoy, we have prioritized flexibility to give our employees a variety of options in where they work and how work can be done most effectively – at home, in office, or in remote locations including flexible schedules. We’ve learned time and again that there is no one solution or approach that meets all needs and it’s important to stay agile, learn and adapt.

One challenge that we continue to face is building and sustaining deeper connections across our employee community. Our inclusive and innovative culture is fueled by the magic that happens when individuals and teams come together, build strong bonds to create and build on behalf of our customers. We will continue to find ways to strengthen and foster this connection as we design our future of work approach.”

Convoy’s back-to-office policy: No specific date for return-to-office, and planning for an “organic, gradual ramp-up of employees coming back to the office.” Offices in Seattle and Atlanta are currently open for those that want to go in.

Zillow Chief People Officer Dan Spaulding

Dan Spaulding. (Zillow Group Photo)

Because Zillow moved early to a “Cloud HQ” where nearly everyone can work remotely, our employees have the choice to work in and/or move to the place where they are most productive. Our goal is to create new working norms and policies that focus on finding sustainable ways to balance the always-on nature of remote work with our employees’ personal lives.

The challenge for this year is rapid experimentation and learning as in-person collaboration begins again in our offices. When do people need to be together? When can work be done more effectively outside of time in person? Based on feedback from quarterly employee surveys, we’re focusing on programs that protect employees’ productivity, happiness and time. In an effort to reduce “Zoom fatigue,” we introduced “core collaboration hours,” a period when employees in all time zones will be online and available for meetings. Outside of those hours, we lean into asynchronous approaches to work. But this is all early stage and getting it right will be critical to the long-term success of distributed work.

Employee flexibility is also important as we address difficulties that Zillow’s working parents and caregivers continue to deal with, including quarantines, classroom closures and other COVID restrictions. We know it has never been more critical that we view each employee as a whole person — one who may be facing new obstacles and challenges in many facets of life — and we continue to lead with empathy and provide resources and relief programs that include flexible work arrangements, back-up childcare options, additional paid time off or temporarily reduced work schedules. 

We believe that maximizing flexibility to accommodate the moments our employees care most about gives them energy to show up well in all aspects of their lives — and in turn, that’s good for our business.

Zillow back-to-office policy: Since we adopted flexible work policies during the pandemic and moved remote for virtually of our employees, our offices have been open (including Seattle) for use by employees if they want or for collaborative in-person meetings. We have no plans or intentions of changing our ‘Cloud HQ’ policies. For us, flexible, remote work is here to stay in perpetuity.

Nintex Chief People Officer Nellie Thompson

Nellie Thompson. (Nintex Photo)

COVID, without a doubt, has led to a natural inflection point for most people, especially those working in technology. Many are re-evaluating work/life – where they live, what they do, where they spend time. Tech workers today have more choices than ever as hybrid and remote-first work is becoming ‘the norm’ and the tight labor market has created one of the most competitive battles for top talent in decades.

We are also seeing unrealistic (and simply not sustainable) incentives and tactics happening to lure talent away from their current employer. For a job candidate this is tempting to chase and as company wanting to keep pace.

At Nintex, we take an honest broker approach, and are transparent in what we offer today and what we aim to offer in the future. We remain committed to investing in our people’s growth as we near 1,000 employees worldwide including career development opportunities and work preferences to ensure a happy, healthy, and productive workforce.

Our Nintex workplace highlights include:

  • Flexibility in where and how people work and breadth in job scope, including variety in work assignments and access to senior leaders
  • Offering on-job training programs and new development offerings like dedicated manager enablement, access to specific Leadership Development offerings and learning platform for all leaders, and piloting new regional graduate programs to jumpstart the careers of tomorrow’s workforce
  • Maintaining and optimizing Nintex’s physical offices for creative work, collaboration and celebration, recognizing the lack of human interaction and connection has taken a toll and that some individuals naturally need/navigate to this connection

As a chief people officer, I am proud of the great work we’re doing at Nintex but even more proud of our employees and how important it is to all of them that everyone is supported and included at Nintex. The thoughtfulness I’ve seen since the onset of the pandemic has reaffirmed how much our organization cares about its employees and how much Nintex employees care for each other.

Nintex back-to-office policy: We’ve adopted a remote-first workplace but recognize the importance of collaboration and in-person interaction. That’s why we’re offering both styles of work (remote and office) and maintaining our physical office space at our Bellevue making it available when our employees and teams want and need it.

F5 Chief People Officer Ana White

Ana White. (F5 Photo)

The pandemic has been challenging for everyone for a multitude of reasons, but at the same time it has taught us to think differently about how we work. Not just what we do but how we do it.

At the beginning of the pandemic, F5 was in the midst of transforming our business from a hardware to a software company and a networking company to a cloud and security company. In the past two years, we have acquired companies and not only merged the people but also these technologies. This is a difficult task during normal times.

Having our BeF5 principles in place that defines our culture and the way we work and treat each other has been immensely helpful in guiding the F5 team through these uncertain times. Many companies have their beliefs written down and talk about them, but at F5 they are our single source of truth. To some degree, the pandemic was the ultimate test to see if we truly lived them beyond the walls of F5 offices.

What I am most proud of is F5 has demonstrated that companies can be both human-first and high-performing. We’ve maintained strong employee engagement survey favorability specific to Belonging (81%); Managers caring about wellbeing (90%) and F5 demonstrating that employee well-being and health is a priority during COVID (95%), while being able to deliver strong business success, including five consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth.

As a company that is at the epicenter of two fast growing areas – application delivery and security – that are also suffering from talent shortages, we are participating in the “talent war.” The only way to win this war is to keep the employees we have and ensure they are raving fans helping with our recruiting efforts. To do this, we are focused on empowering them to be owners; rewarding them for helping each other and our customers thrive; and supporting them to be their best self by having radical flexibility, creating new development opportunities, and scheduling quarterly wellness weekends. 

F5 back-to-office policy: F5 offices continue to be open at limited capacity. In line with our Human First approach, we believe employees should choose the way they can do their best work – be it an F5 office or their home office. Therefore, even post-COVID-19, employees may choose to work virtually, in the office, or a hybrid of the two.



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