UpSellit has been recognized as a 2021 Inc. Best Workplace! Each year, the honorees are considered against thousands of companies. The 2021 list features companies that have managed to not only rise, but thrive amidst the chaos and uncertainty of unprecedented times. In addition to Best Workplaces, UpSellit was also included in additional categories: Prosperous and Thriving for companies with $5MM – $50MM in gross revenue and Enduring Impact for companies in business for 15+ years. UpSellit is incredibly grateful to all of our employees and leaders for making this company a place where people love to work, even at a time when that ‘place’ is actually all across the world.
What type of culture earns Best Workplace recognition?
Setting the standard for excellence in company culture and management is not the result of an isolated accomplishment. It is the culmination of a multitude of initiatives, paired with the tenacity to weather any storm. Inc. Best Workplaces sets out to award the company cultures that thrive in the face of adversity.
This past year in particular, UpSellit has managed to uproot traditional culture as we knew it and reinvent what it means to achieve both success and togetherness from miles away. That level of adaptability is what we believe sets us apart and earned our recognition as one of America’s best places to work.
Collaboration from conference rooms to living rooms
At UpSellit, culture is at the forefront of every decision we make. While our traditional idea of culture was disrupted in March 2020, we’ve done everything we can to uphold the culture we consider to be a strength of our business. In July, it didn’t seem fair to keep everyone in limbo – leases, mortgages, families – so we decided to shift to 100% remote.
Adapting culture to a remote environment has been a new challenge. Making sure everyone is comfortable, has every resource, and is equipped to succeed is our top priority. The highlight of our culture is the collaboration it fosters because it always lands us the win. Our best ideas have come from casual conversations, lunches, or all-hands brainstorms. Creating virtual equivalents of these scenarios is crucial to the cultivation of ideas that set us apart.
Going beyond themed Slack channels, we requested every department conduct their regular meetings through video conferencing and encouraged video chats to hash out ideas. Our monthly parties transitioned to a virtual environment, trying out mixology, escape rooms, trivia, and a murder mystery. Our hope in encouraging these video meetings is to maintain the strong connections we all already have. Bringing our teams together also ensures everyone has an outlet, someone to talk to, and an opportunity to break away from their own environment, even from miles away.
As we adjusted to our new normal, something incredible happened – our company thrived under the lockdown and we saw a huge spike in performance. The culture that we’ve carried from the office to our homes has become a fortress. With so many exterior elements out of our control, our culture has enabled us to thrive from conference rooms to living rooms, and everywhere in between.
Management that fosters freedom
Our defining management principles are autonomy and appreciation. We empower our employees to take initiative and highlight success wherever possible. While we find it best to always acknowledge our wins, we also find it equally important to learn from our past performance. Our quarterly one-on-ones are the perfect opportunity to not only highlight individual or department strengths, but pinpoint areas for growth and improvement.
With regards to department structure, each has its own set of leaders. Our managers allow employees to lean on their colleagues to troubleshoot and take ownership of day-to-day issues, now in a virtual environment. This fosters leadership and creates a culture where employees can lean on each other, build trust, and grow confidence in the idea that colleagues can effectively problem solve with a little collaboration.
We strengthen our teams by giving them the space to think for themselves. Giving everyone the freedom to chart their own path has allowed us to stand in the ring with giants. If anyone at UpSellit vocalizes a desire to take on new skills or mature their position, we as a company do everything we can to enable that path for them. Our employees also have the freedom to choose their own schedules, routines, and now, locations. Allowing employees to work from whatever place in the world they want to call home has generated higher levels of productivity as each employee can work in the environment most comfortable to them.
Although we have traditional executive roles in place, we do not allow them to distance our employees based on title. We work as a unit, and when one employee or team succeeds, we all do. Transparency and approachability have always been the key to the success of our company, this year more than ever. While everyone was a little scared at the start of the pandemic, we saw it as an opportunity to set our zero-layoff policy in stone. Our employees are what make UpSellit what it is, and we do whatever we can to ensure they remember that every day.
A journey, not a destination
While we are honored to be recognized as one of the 2021 Inc. Best Workplaces, we know that being listed among Best Workplaces is a journey, not a destination. In line with our own management principles, we are proudly acknowledging this achievement while also continuing to improve our culture and evolve together. We are humbled by this recognition and excited to know that we’re on the right track!