Tech companies you'll love to work for: HubSpot

This is an ongoing mini-series about the cool tech companies we’ve visited. To read about other tech workplaces we’ve visited, click here.

Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing

That’s one of the key tenets of HubSpot’s culture code. Yes, the company actually has one, and it takes it very seriously.

Step into HubSpot’s newly-opened Singapore office, and it’s clear that this is another one of those slick tech workplaces for savvy millennials (strange creatures that popular opinion says just work differently from people born before 1980). But HubSpot isn’t just another run-of-the-mill tech company with a shiny sheen to it. For those wondering about what exactly it is HubSpot does, here’s the lowdown: the company works on its own inbound marketing – a term that encompasses things like content marketing, blogs, SEO and social media – platform to help its clients attract visitors and grow.

This is a company that has been mired in its own share of controversy, but that has worked hard to move past it and improve. Avid readers may recognize that this is the same company that former Newsweek journalist Dan Lyons implicated in his book Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble.

But we’d be kidding ourselves if we believed that there actually are companies where everyone was perfectly content. If you need another example, just check out The New York Times’ bruising feature on Amazon’s supposedly brutal workplace culture. There were those who wasted no time in denouncing Amazon as an unforgiving place to work at, while others dismissed these claims as mere fiction.

The point is that you simply can’t make everyone happy. We’re not making excuses for HubSpot, but the company’s focus on its unique culture seems particularly appropriate at a time when many are wondering how to find stability and satisfaction in the 21st-century economy. Maybe HubSpot isn’t the place for you, but here’s also why it just may be.

What’s cool about this office?

Alright, call us superficial, but this is a really nice office. Instead of white-washed walls and soul-sucking cubicles, you’re greeted by warm, earthy tones ‒ and plenty of wooden paneling ‒ that somehow manage to convey a sense of dynamism that so many startups prize.

But the most compelling thing is probably the effort HubSpot has made to impart some local flavor to the office decor. Singapore has thrived as a maritime port, and the office features booths that have been styled after – you guessed it – shipping containers. Anyone can come here to work, collaborate, or just sip a beer poured from the tap in the pantry (yes, really), and it’s a pretty nice touch if we may say so. Local employees even got to name the office. They went with the name SingSpot, which if we’re being honest, isn’t the most creative name. That being said, it does have a certain folksy appeal to it.

And that beer tap we mentioned? It’s located right beside a literal candy bar of sorts, which employees can head to satiate any cravings for sweets. Glucose is fuel for the brain after all. There’s even a dedicated game room, complete with an old-school arcade machine and a PlayStation 4 gaming console, for employees to go to unwind.

After seeing all that, we weren’t even surprised to learn that everyone gets a standing desk at their workstation. The height is adjustable with a simple push of a button, and we can imagine that this will help a lot with those of you who find yourself struggling to stay awake at your desks after lunch.

This place is best for…

People with plenty of initiative, and who value individual autonomy. We had the opportunity to speak with JD Sherman, President and Chief Operating Officer at HubSpot, who told us about how the company believes in letting employees explore their own ideas. To use his words, there will still be certain “guard rails” up, but workers will otherwise not be constrained by any strict dictates.

Referencing HubSpot’s culture code, Sherman also emphasized the fact that purpose is what brings people together now. In the past, employees were motivated by things like a pension, but workers today are more apt to seek out like-minded folks who are working toward a similar goal.

It should also come as no surprise that HubSpot is big on allowing its employees a generous degree of flexibility. This is definitely not the place for those who enjoy working within well-defined dictates and are accustomed to conforming to strict hierarchies and instructions.

In a sense, HubSpot embodies the 21st-century workplace, where the traditional divides between work and life are melting away. One of the more intriguing aspects of the firm is its unlimited vacation policy. That is exactly what it sounds like, and employees don’t have to bother with things like how to properly distribute their allotted vacation days. What’s more, employees who have spent five years with the company will be granted a one month sabbatical.

At first blush, that probably sounds like a dream, but that doesn’t mean that everyone will thrive under such conditions. HubSpot is extremely results-oriented, so it requires disciplined and driven individuals who can work on their own to deliver tangible gains.

 

This is an ongoing mini-series about the cool tech companies we’ve visited. To read about other tech workplaces we’ve visited, click here.

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