Question

Critical Thinking Case HubSpot Focus on Flexible Benefits

What would your manager say to you if you came up with the idea of traveling with Justin Timberlake on tour for an entire year? This would not just be a work from home agreement but an actual out of office plan for one full-year sabbatical. That is exactly what happened at HubSpot when Rosalia Cefalu had a crazy idea that actually got approved. HubSpot, a global inbound marketing company, has approximately 19,000 customers in over 90 countries and 1,960 employees, stretching from Cambridge, MA, to Sydney, Australia. “We don’t think that culture is about free beer and ping-pong and dogs in the office, it’s about what you believe, why you do what you do, and who you choose to work with,” states CTO and cofounder Dharmesh Shah. Although HubSpot has plenty of free snacks on hand for their employees to enjoy, other flexible benefits HubSpotters enjoy are unlimited vacation time, tuition reimbursement, flexible hours, and an overall environment that balances freedom with accountability. At HubSpot it goes deeper than just the perks. The focus from the top down instills pride and passion within its employees, which then translates into happy customers. Although flexible benefits are a big perk of working at the third-best tech company to work for, according to Glassdoor’s annual Employee Choice awards, the culture isn’t for everyone. The company practices a sense of understanding, knowing that employees will move on and do not need to stay to be loyal and that sometimes someone is no longer needed—either because of performance, or changes in the company’s needs. This isn’t taken personally, and HubSpot is able to grow and continue to grow because it objectively sees the performance of its employees and what is best for the company and employee.

Questions: 1. How does HubSpot’s focus on culture affect employee performance? Chapter 8 Performance Appraisal and Rewards 283

2. What concerns would you have regarding giving employees countless flexible benefits such as HubSpot does; for example, a yearly sabbatical?

Answer 1

Solution -

1. HubSpot has a very flexible way of working and has approved of an open culture where there are abundant perquisites and at the same time there is a practical approach to business. The flexible culture of the HubSpot is such that it nurtures happy employees but it does not expect employee loyalty but business need which allows for a happy and satisfying environment and keeps the employee happy who in turn provide for customer delight which allows for increasing business. HubSpot tries to balance its culture with responsibility and accountability hence the business is protected and at the same time, the market needs are also taken into consideration. The performance culture of the company would be transparent which will allow for the practical approach of the company to seep in and create an understanding of the business needs.

2. The concerns that I would have with this kind of culture is as below -

• The employees may get carried away with lavish perquisites and the productivity might start to fall.
• There could be a misuse on part of the employees on the perquisites being extended. There could be some misinterpretation of factual circumstances to gain benefits. This can lead to a complete deterioration of the organizational culture
• There needs to be a very healthy balance of responsibility with these perquisites which asks for a responsibility from the management to allow for delegation so that all employees own their roles and feel empowered for delivery as well as responsible for it.
• The bad habits within employees are usually contagious hence the management needs to be extra aware of any malfunctions and try to keep on fixing them. This is a tough task and any lapses can completely turn the productivity of the organization to an all-time low.

With such an open flexible culture loaded with so much freedom of perquisites, it is necessary that the organization remains lean and at the same time allow the employees their freedom along with responsible behavior. The management role in such circumstances is very tricky.