An out-of-the-box culture plan

Written by Luciana Gutsztat

Previously on…How do you best ignite cultural transformation?

In August 2019, the StarMeUp indicators showed a low level of adoption: almost 50% of the 173 members did not use the platform to send or receive recognition. Participation in BeThere was similar; during that same month, only 20 images had been uploaded to the social network by people in the Lima office; the indifference toward the tools was indicative of low employee engagement.

The Lima Culture Plan had two objectives: on the one hand, to improve engagement and on the other, promote a sense of belonging in the company to start building the “Globant way.”

Now let’s talk about the key actions taken to develop the culture in Lima:

1 – Boost culture creatively!

Forcing people to feel part of organizational culture is impossible, just like imposing a sense of commitment, a drive to participate or motivation is. The question is how to find a way to boost culture in an interesting, fun and dynamic way.

• Gamification. One of the most successful initiatives in Lima was to choose a hashtag for the office (#GlobantLima) and organize a “friendly” competition with Globant Chile to see which office sent more stars using the hashtag for their office. In the whole company, #GlobantLima was the second most used hashtag in 2019, and although Chile came in first, just a few months before the year’s end Lima wasn’t even in the running.

• Star(ry) Friday. Another effective idea was to implement the “Star Fridays,” which motivated employees to recognize the five people who had helped or impacted them in some way that week.

• Unlimited stars to influencers. At Globant, StarMeUp allows employees to send up to 20 stars per month. Because receiving recognition has such a positive impact on people, for the last few months of the year ambassadors had unlimited stars to recognize and motivate their peers.

• Globuddies – In Globant Chile and Peru, the Globuddies program was implemented so that new hires are assigned a personal companion—a buddy—to introduce them to the organizational culture and corporate values. How are Globuddies selected? Through StarMeUp! Influencers, who are the ones who send and receive the most stars, are the most representatives of the company’s DNA, making them the ideal buddy.

As a result of these actions, Lima’s StarMeUp indicators increased across the board:

2 – Let’s get this party started

Internal events, work-specific and informal activities alike, strengthen relationships between employees. They not only encourage teamwork but also increase employee commitment and loyalty by showing that the company cares about their emotional state and that not everything is routine work. Globant knows that its events and activities are an opportunity to convey the company’s values, generating an attractive company culture for all talent, even the newest additions. 

At Globant Lima, they decided to go further and made employees responsible for organizing the events. “The culture of recognition, of shining the spotlight on the other person and oneself, must be sustainable. Celebrations are part of an essence that all Globers have to learn. They must become ambassadors of their own site. It is a wheel that must continue to roll,” says Iván Olivares, who supports the idea of giving the employees a sense of ownership of initiatives in the organization.

Social media networks are here to stay, and in companies, where communication is essential, even more so! In the chart below, we see how the photos that employees uploaded to BeThere have increased since they started organizing the events. Coincidence? No, what the photos show is an office with many more integrated and connected people.

3 – Offices that inspire

Workplaces and office design can inspire creativity and innovation. Why not give employees the freedom to intervene in their own workspaces?

A group of employees in Lima saw an image on BeThere of post-it art created by employees in Globant Mexico and decided to create something similar in their office. They organized themselves: first, they voted on the design for the office. Next, they went to buy the materials. And then, together, got to work! Using the different post-it colors, they put together a Super Mario Bros. in a window and every so often they change the design.

Letting employees “take over” their workspaces as a group was a fun and highly inclusive experience for the entire office.

4 – It’s curtain time

Another important objective of the Lima Culture Plan was to give it greater visibility, no longer acting as an isolated site and, instead, show how it was contributing to the Globant community. The team developed some initiatives specially designed to boost the office’s visibility. One of the biggest milestones was a visit from Guibert Englebienne, CTO and Co-founder of Globant, who marveled at the excellent results being achieved with the implementation of StarMeUp OS. 

Preparing the stage

By the end of November, the work atmosphere was ready for a successful merger with Belatrix. Globant Lima’s office of 160 employees set into motion a plan to onboard 440 new Globers, embracing the challenge of integrating them into the #GlobantLima team. The strategy was simple: extrapolate the organizational culture plan that was already working so well.

On December 16, the cultural ambassador, along with the People team and the individuals in charge of the merger, organized talks and workshops with Belatrix’s leadership teams to introduce them to Globant’s culture and values, emphasizing the benefits of the StarMeUp OS platform.  

Extra Bonus: Impact on staff retention

The implementation of Lima’s culture plan was hugely successful. The organizational climate and office energy changed radically. But how can we measure the impact it had on culture? With StarMeUp analytics, the effectiveness of the initiatives was measured to determine how connectivity evolved following the implementation of the culture plan.

The following graphs illustrate how daily recognition impacts employee dynamics.

Before the organizational culture plan, there were few connections and many were also with come employees appearing completely disconnected. 

After implementing the culture plan, the number of connections visibly increased. Certain employees—influencers—began to stand out.

We see that the changes made produced an exponential growth in the number of connections. These types of insights confirm the direct relationship between the use of StarMeUp and the level of employee engagement with the company and the work teams.

The never-ending story

The story of how Lima became a thriving and attractive office is also the story of how Globant expanded, becoming a global company internationally recognized as one of the twenty companies with the best organizational culture in the world. The massive implementation of StarMeUp OS allowed Globant to grow steadily, replicating its values in different countries and connecting hundreds of multidisciplinary teams. 

The case of Lima called attention to the magnitude of the cultural revolution and the record time in which the changes occurred. The challenge of achieving the “Globant way” was enormous, but they had the StarMeUP OS tools to help them execute their vision. The question was how to light the fuse that would spark a cultural transformation.

The role of the cultural ambassador, the StarMeUp initiatives, and employee-driven events with a big dose of creativity were all key to inspiring others to replicate the change. The results were excellent, and once the fuse was lit, the employees became drivers of change, ensuring their sustainability over time.  

This case shows us how technology can help connect people to build more human organizations.