Culture Audit 2018 - Siteimprove Careers
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Culture Audit
2018
Culture Audit 2018 1
Table of Contents
1. Company Information 4
Who We Are 5
Highlights From the Siteimprove Journey 6
Siteimprove’s Products 10
Who Benefits From Siteimprove’s Services? 11
Organizational Structure 12
Tour of the House 13
2. Hiring and Onboarding 17
2a. Hiring Procedure 18
2b. Onboarding of New Siteimprovers 21
3. Inspiration 24
On a Mission Together 25
Our Values Revamped 25
Sharing Our Work With the World 26
4. Information 30
The Siteimprove App – Our One Stop Hub for Corporate Communications 31
Digital Signage – Eye-level Visuals 32
Release Management – Streamlining the Flow of Technical Updates 32
Meetings at All Levels 32
Open-Door Policy: Come On In 33
International Knowledge Sharing – Let’s Learn From Each Other 33
5. Involvement 35
5a. Dialogue Between management and Employees 36
5b. Involvement of Employees 36
5c. Appeal 37
6. Appreciation 39
The Best Kitchen Staff in Town 40
A Round of Applause 41
Team Activities 41
Physical Surroundings 41
Awards 42
2 Culture Audit 2018
Gifts 42
Moving Siteimprove HQ to Croatia 43
Bonus Plan 43
7. Development 44
Learning From Others 46
Formal Learning 46
Developing Siteimprove Managers 46
8. Care 48
8a. Work-life Balance 50
8b. Support in Tough Times 52
8c. Diversity 53
9. Celebration 56
Celebrations on the Distance 57
Celebrations for All 57
Let’s Party! 57
Special Occasions 58
10. Equality and Social Responsibility 59
10a. Equality 60
10b. Social Responsibility 60
Culture Audit 2018 3
1. Company Information 4 Culture Audit 2018
Siteimprove A/S
Sankt Annæ Plads 28
1250 Copenhagen, Denmark
Telephone: +45 33 36 93 50
E-mail: info@siteimprove.com
Who We Are
We are a people-centric software company driven by the desire to simplify website
management and make the internet better for all. We have helped more than 7,000
organizations transform the way they manage their websites, making the web more inclusive
in the process.
Our intelligent automation software provides the clarity and direction needed to run a
high-performance website, while our crew of knowledgeable experts develop resources and
technology to put our customers ahead of the crowd.
Siteimprove was founded in 2003 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has since expanded into ten
offices around the world (with more in the works): Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, London,
Minneapolis, Oslo, Sydney, Toronto, Vienna, and Japan. With 500 employees working in 29
distinct markets, we pride ourselves on having a truly global, yet truly local approach.
Culture Audit 2018 5
Highlights From the Siteimprove Journey
2001
Morten Ebbesen was running a web agency with his brother, when he was assigned the task
of developing a tool that could find broken links on a customer’s website. This expanded into
similar tasks of developing tools for improving the quality of websites.
2003
It soon became clear there was a wide demand for enhancing the quality of websites, both
in regards to content and technical aspects. As a result, the two brothers founded a new
company - Siteimprove. It began as a four-man company with Morten leading, along with his
brother, and two previous colleagues, Jesper Persson and Finnbjørn av Teigum.
The Danish market was not large enough to cover costs, and as such on October 16, we
founded a British subsidiary. A market analysis showed that the problem of error-ridden
websites was not unique to Denmark, and that Content Management Systems were not
solving the issue. In December, we hired Kate Sygrove as a part-time salesperson to call out to
British councils, the same target group as in Denmark.
2004
Sales were slowly increasing, and we were hesitant about charging too much for a
subscription to our services. How do you price something that only you provide? Finances
were tight, and we could only afford to hire student workers, who worked 15-20 hours a week.
We survived financially by doing consultancy work for the previous company.
2005
In 2005, with a blind faith in the belief that local markets must be the easiest to conquer, we
hired two German-speaking student workers and had them try selling to German councils. At
this time, we did not make a market analysis. If we had, we would have learned that German
websites were at least five years behind their Danish counterparts, and that the market in
general was immature. We gained 12 customers, but we shut down after a year, learning from
this experience.
At the same time, we began using AdWords on the American market, where we gained a
significant amount of customers. In 2004, we hired an American salesperson and had her
selling to the American East Coast during the Danish evening.
2006
Finances were still tight, and we decided to implement annual, rather than quarterly,
pre-invoicing. This gave us more leeway, and we decided to invest in the development
of our main product, LinkCheck. We began working on SpellCheck, which could identify
misspellings on websites, and Accessibility, which could check if websites were accessible to
all users. By the end of the year, we were ten employees, all located in the Danish office.
6 Culture Audit 2018
2007
In June, we launched SiteCheck, which included LinkCheck, SpellCheck, and Accessibility.
We could see that that this was our chance to raise prices and as such we selected a contract-
based strategy (our customers had not previously signed contracts) that cost more, but in
return, offered our customers more features. It turned out to be a good strategy. We lost
only two customers, and it resulted in a steady, continuous revenue flow allowing for more
investments.
Sometimes, your next phase of growth is determined by pure luck and on a Saturday
night out in 2007, Torben Rytt, a project manager at the sister company at the time, met
Vicky, an American, at a bar in Copenhagen. Vicky was studying a semester in Copenhagen
before going back to Minneapolis, and Torben decided to go back with her. We immediately
identified this as an opportunity for Torben to open an office and hire salespeople in the US,
so that is exactly what we did. The first salespeople were hired during fall and three people
were squeezed into a very small office.
2008
Sales in the US were slow to start, and it was expensive to send money to the states month
after month. We were on the verge of giving up when suddenly in June, eleven months after
Torben went to the US, the salespeople cracked the code and began having success. Revenue
covered the monthly expenses and within two years, the parent company in Copenhagen had
regained its investment.
2009
We still only had employees in Copenhagen and Minneapolis, although our largest market
was the UK. In the wake of the financial crisis, we experienced a weakened exchange rate
between the Danish Kroner and the British Pound and our British revenue decreased by 40%.
This was unfortunate as all of our costs were in Danish Kroner, and as such, we decided to
open an office in England to have costs and revenue in the same currency.
We also founded a subsidiary in Sweden and hired one salesperson to sell from Copenhagen.
By the end of the year, we had 20 employees across three offices.
2010
For the first time, we experienced a real sales boom with a revenue growth of 53% and the
hiring of five more employees. We had figured out how to scale our business, and we hired
salespeople who were excellent at establishing long-lasting relations with clients. Among
these was Camilla Simonsen (our current COO), who had been selling on the Danish market
as a student worker since 2005. Since then, she had graduated with a Master’s degree from
Copenhagen Business School specializing in Corporate Social Responsibility. At this time,
Morten made an agreement with Camilla to hire her full-time in sales whilst also giving her
responsibility for establishing our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) profile and writing a
report for the UN‘s Global Compact CSR program.
2011
Things accelerated quickly and we gained 18 new colleagues, bringing the total to 45
employees. We invested in an extended development department and hired more people
in support and sales, but overall, we still had the same flat organizational structure we had
always had.
Culture Audit 2018 7
2012
Germany was too large of a market to ignore. We established a subsidiary and decided that,
given there are many different nationalities in London, we would hire two German-speaking
employees to sell from the UK office. Besides selling, they also translated our tools, marketing
materials, and website into German. After a year without a single customer, we gave up and
moved these activities back home to Copenhagen. The difference from last time was that we
were in a position to be able to afford these kinds of experiments.
USA became our largest market, and we had six salespeople over there. It was a challenge to
manage the expanding sales staff, so we hired Roger Fuhrman as Sales Director to support
Torben and to accelerate sales on what seemed to be a vast market.
2013
The professionalization of the American sales efforts paid off and we adopted a more
corporate approach to our business by standardizing policies across our offices.
By this stage, Roger had a sales staff of 20, and there was never enough time, since Torben
and him were also managing the recruitment and training of new salespeople. As such, we
hired a recruiter in November and started developing an on-boarding program and initiated
activities to generate local interest in our company.
Mie Jensen, who started out in sales in our Danish market in 2011, and who speaks German
fluently was put in charge of the German team who were now selling from Copenhagen. Sales
were still slow in this market, but we were stubborn and refused to give up. By the end of the
year, we were 81 employees worldwide.
2014
Realizing that if we did not conquer the market, our competitors would, we decided to
further expand into Europe and established three subsidiaries with local employees in the
Netherlands, Norway, and Ireland. We also opened a sales office in Frankfurt. This expansion
symbolized our desire to be closer to our customers and to hire salespeople who know their
markets.
2014 was also the year where we continued our process of professionalization, which
included hiring Martin Wagner as our Chief Financial Officer in Copenhagen and Kristin Troup
as our HR Manager in Minneapolis — we were finally becoming a ‘grown-up’ company! By the
end of the year, we had grown to 140 employees.
2015
‘Busy’ is the word that best describes 2015. We opened four new subsidiaries in Australia,
Canada, Austria and Switzerland. We started selling to Finland and France, and by the end of
the year, we were 300 employees globally.
In May, we held our first global meetup where all employees met in Copenhagen for four
fantastic days with a focus on cross-cultural collaboration and teambuilding.
Five Danish employees also celebrated 10 years’ employment with Siteimprove, which is not
a bad achievement considering that we had a total of 10 employees in 2005!
By the end of the year, we were proud to announce that Summit Partners had invested DKK
377 million in exchange for 24 percent of the company, making Siteimprove worth 1.5 billion!
Expectations were set for 2016.
8 Culture Audit 2018
2016
2016 kicked off in the best way possible: we had lots of energy from the news of the
investment, which was a huge pat on the back, and we moved into our new premises at Sankt
Annæ Plads in Copenhagen – a beautiful office building giving us much more space and room
to grow.
We kept focusing on improving and professionalizing our processes. In the first half of 2016,
we added a Chief Customer Officer, Mike Flanagan, to the Executive Management Team (EMT),
and we welcomed a Human Resources Director, Gitte Hemmingsen, to help professionalize
our people processes. In the fall, we strengthened our EMT even further by promoting Camilla
Simonsen to Chief Operations Officer.
We continued to expand the Siteimprove family and topped 360 employees globally and 140
employees at our new headquarters. In the second half of 2016, our growth journey took us
into Spain and Italy.
2017
Among the highlights was the biggest ever gathering of Siteimprove employees. It happened
at our second global meetup In May, where the whole company met up in Copenhagen,
spending three days on our own “island” making new friends, getting smarter and having fun.
May 18th was Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) and Siteimprove chose to celebrate
the day and create awareness of digital accessibility by welcoming inventor of the World Wide
Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and Co-founder of GAAD, Jennison Asuncion, as keynote speakers
at a public, not-for-profit event on Siteimprove Island. The day was dedicated to our mission
of making the web more accessible, and Siteimprovers from all over the world were joined by
a number of great organizations and members of the public in the educational celebrations.
In September, everyone from the Copenhagen headquarters went on a trip to Croatia to
celebrate our success and bring us all closer together.
In late 2017, we launched our GDPR solution and initiated our newest adventure when we
entered Japan. At the end of the year we were 467 Siteimprovers globally.
2018
We kicked off the year with a big bang by relaunching our corporate values with workshops
in Copenhagen and Minneapolis. In close collaboration with Siteimprove managers, we
gave our values an overhaul to make sure they genuinely reflect the Siteimprove culture. We
continuously focus on integrating the values deeply into everything we do.
March was a month of celebration as it started with us welcoming employee number 500
worldwide. We made sure to celebrate our amazing milestone across all our offices. It was
also the month where we proudly received the award “Transatlantic Company of the Year”
by the American Chamber of Commerce for our success on the US market. The award is an
acknowledgement of our unique relationship with the US, which is our largest market and the
home of the second largest Siteimprove office.
Another significant highlight of the year was when we relaunched our SEO product in April.
We are now able to offer a brand new, top-of-the-line SEO solution which integrates perfectly
with the rest of the Siteimprove Intelligence Platform.
Culture Audit 2018 9
Siteimprove’s Products
We challenge each other and ourselves to think outside the box every day. At Siteimprove,
we collaborate across departments and borders to innovate and improve our tools, and
experiment with new processes to make our products and services even stronger.
Our primary product is the Siteimprove Intelligence Platform, which provides content and
analytics insights that help organizations connect their digital strategy to larger goals.
The intuitive, gamified dashboard centers around our recently developed Digital Certainty
Index™ and allows organizations to streamline the content creation process to more
effectively manage the quality, credibility, and impact of online content.
With our easy-to-use analytics features, teams can measure and track visitor behavior in
order to make more informed decisions about site structure and content strategy.
Organizations can also define and report on relevant KPIs and use real-time data to visualize
the effectiveness of their digital presence.
In addition to our products themselves, we provide an unparalleled customer experience
through our services and personalized customer support. With tiered support plans that offer
customers the right level of support when they need it, Siteimprove is a comprehensive way
for organizations to manage and deliver their digital presence exactly as intended.
10 Culture Audit 2018Who Benefits From Siteimprove’s
Services?
Our customer base of 7,000 organizations (and counting) derives from a wide variety of
industries, including higher education, finance, government, Fortune 500, healthcare, retail,
nonprofit, and more.
10 international offices serve 29 markets across four continents, and deliver unparalleled
services in 13 languages. The Siteimprove Intelligence Platform and our services are
adaptable to organizations big and small, from innovative startup companies to educational
institutions of all sizes, and corporations such as Audi, Land o’ Lakes, Microsoft, and Oxford
University Press.
Culture Audit 2018 11Organizational
Structure
Siteimprove is a Danish-founded company
with its headquarters in central Copenhagen.
Siteimprove has subsidiaries in Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France,
Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and
USA.
This graphic depicts the overall company
structure.
CEO
Siteimprove Inc. EVPs CFO COO CCO/CTO
Country Teams
(based in CPH) Country Offices Finance
Denmark Australia Business
Human Resources
Intelligence
Finland Austria
Gr. Marketing Core Unit
France Canada
Operations Gr. Customer Xperience
Iceland Germany
Data Science
Italy Japan
IT Operations
Spain Netherlands Product
Development
Sweden Norway Release
Management
Switzerland UK
12 Culture Audit 2018Tour of the House
Front Desk Operations Finance Core Unit
Kitchen Partnerships Sales Release Management
Business Intelligence Technical Support CX Product Units
Human Resources Marketing Data Science IT Operations
Culture Audit 2018 13Front Desk
Lotte, Office Manager:
“Our number one objective is to deliver great service with a big smile. Our main tasks include
welcoming guests, receiving parcels, and facility management. We are making sure that
everything is working and running smoothly around the office.”
Kitchen
Zoltan, Sous-chef:
“We are a happy team trying to make our colleagues happy! We get a lot of ideas about how
to make people happy here, like serving little cakes, inviting people down for a champagne
celebration, or playing music in the canteen. We don’t want to be boring and cook the same
dishes all the time. We always want to try something new, which is why we really enjoy cooking
people’s favorite dishes, even when we’ve never tried it before.”
Business Intelligence
Oscar, Software Developer:
“We provide tools and information for our sales staff and the rest of the organization by
developing software and digesting hard data so that our colleagues can use it.”
Human Resources
Ann-Cecilie, HR Coordinator:
“In HR, we assist managers throughout the whole hiring process and make sure that all
new Siteimprovers get a good start through our onboarding program. We are also on top of
our HR systems and are taking care of vacation, sick leave, and parental leave. Employee
development and employer branding are also among our key responsibilities. Finally, we are
fostering an inclusive culture to ensure that we are one united company.”
Operations
Conny, Internal Communication Specialist:
“Reporting directly to the COO, our small team is responsible for project management and
internal communication to ensure daily operations are running smoothly across all of our
global offices.”
Partnerships
Chihiro, Partner Manager:
“We are identifying web agencies, who could benefit from using our tool. By partnering up
with agencies, we hope to increase our business development as our partners will have a local
presence, making it easier to spread our name.”
14 Culture Audit 2018Technical Support
Ola, Tech Support Engineer:
“We’re the link between sales, development, and customers. We handle technical questions
and issues related to our product and features, and it is our responsibility to customize our
products for our customers as we have many features that require a custom setup. We also
support sales whenever they experience problems with demos or customer setups.”
Marketing
Rie, Head of Field Marketing and Communication:
“Our key objective in Marketing is to drive demand and awareness of our solutions in multiple
and diverse online and offline channels in innovative ways, targeting new customers,
and ensuring we inspire and nurture our existing customer base. Marketing is a fun and
challenging department, with a lot of talented and creative people!”
Finance
Peter, Group Accounting Manager:
”As Finance department our core function is to have a clear overview of the financial situation.
We do that by accounting for and reporting on the past supported by forecast and analysis for
the future to support the business strategy. With the rapid growth we closely monitor the cash-
flow to keep funding great initiatives. We also work with compliance and risk management to
reduce any financial exposure Siteimprove might have.”
Sales
Regina, Sales Coordinator:
“The Sales department is the driving force for business results across a range of verticals and
countries. Our goal as business experts is to engage with web teams around the world to
introduce them to our solutions. We do so by qualifying their need and finding out how we can
help them manage and improve their web presence more effectively.”
CX
Pil, Operations Manager Group CX:
“Our prime objective in Group CX is to assist all countries in preventing churn. We also focus
on automating processes to make it easier for our CX colleagues in the local teams. By having
the overview of all countries, we’re able to identify trends across countries, which we use to be
proactive and improve to prevent customer cancellations.”
Data Science
Ophélie, Data Scientist:
“In the Data Science team we research and develop new product features using machine
learning, data analysis, and statistics. The projects often have a long term scope, and the aim
is to generate business value by making features that are hard for competitors to copy.”
Culture Audit 2018 15Core Unit
Martin, Engineering Manager:
“Core is the part of the Product Development organization that takes care of the infrastructural
tasks. We are in charge of developing the foundation that the other units build our products
upon. Our unit consists of 4 teams, each with their distinct tasks: the crawler team, the service
team, the infrastructure team, and the UI team.”
Release Management
Seán, Technical Writer:
“In Release Management we manage, plan, schedule and control software releases. As well
as this, write copy, manage localization, create interactive tutorials, and write help center
articles.”
Product Units
Alberto, Engineering Manager:
“Here, each unit is in charge of their individual products. We provide our clients with new
features, we prioritize tasks, and we try to fix any potential bugs. The product units not
only take care of the development of products, they also handle communication to other
departments regarding anything that relates to the plans and status of our products.”
IT Operations
Allan, IT Operations Manager:
“IT Operations is responsible for the functioning and maintenance of the infrastructure that
supports both internal and external customers. We’re a dedicated group of people with great
passion for technology and user satisfaction and we constantly try to challenge status quo.”
16 Culture Audit 20182. Hiring and Onboarding
Culture Audit 2018 172a. Hiring
Procedure
People Are Our Greatest
Resource
At Siteimprove, we are
committed to employing the
best people, empowering them
to succeed, and promoting
from within. It means that
we care tremendously about
who we hire, do all we can
to make them succeed once
they are hired, and we prefer
to promote from within
instead of hiring from the
outside. For this reason, we
not only assess if a candidate
meets our requirements, we
assess if there is potential for
professional development proactive and perform more headhunting for positions,
and personal growth, since we believe most people need which results in better candidates for our open positions.
exciting challenges and a sense of going somewhere in order A larger recruiting team that consists of specialists speaking
to continue feeling satisfied and successful. We value talent different languages is yet another measure for ensuring that
and potential as much as experience. we find the best fit for the company.
Our employees are our biggest asset, and their happiness We focus a lot on social recruiting which we do by
determines our success. Therefore, we are fully aware that connecting with people personally through platforms such
hiring people with the right cultural fit is crucial for the as LinkedIn and at career fairs and job matching events.
business, and we are working continuously on making our During the past year, we once again participated in career
recruitment process more streamlined and suitable for our fairs at the IT University and the Technical University of
hiring needs. This includes being clear about our values, Denmark.
the qualities we look for in employees, what we believe
it takes to be successful and happy at Siteimprove, and In our recruiting efforts, we sponsor a variety of industry
communicating this not only internally but also externally. specific communities and conferences. We are the proud
This is why we have a Talent Acquisition Team whose most sponsor of the Copenhagen .Net User Group, a community
important responsibility is to secure a streamlined and for users of .Net programming language. We provide the
professional recruiting process. We believe that having location, food and drinks for speaker events where a speaker
people who know the company inside-out involved in the delivers a talk about a topic relevant for developers working
hiring process increases the chances that the people we hire with .Net programming. In the past year, we were among the
will fit well with the company culture and our values. main sponsors of both Techfestival and Micro CPH which are
local initiatives taking place in Copenhagen.
Finding Siteimprovers
In 2017, we initiated our partnership with the community
NEW Since our latest culture audit, we have expanded Women in Tech, who we are now working with to promote
the recruiting team in order to support our diversity within the IT and technology industry. Together,
business activities in all European locations, plus Australia we hope to inspire women to pursue a career in an industry
and Canada. We now have four dedicated recruiters located that is traditionally dominated by men. We support Women
in Copenhagen, who each specialize in different professions in Tech through a sponsorship agreement, and our goal is to
and markets. A larger recruiting team allows us to be more show that the IT and tech industry is a great place to work
18 Culture Audit 2018for women as well as men. grow and develop. Our recruiters are determine if the candidate has the
To engage and involve our employees certified in Cubiks’ PAPI 3 personality desired professional skills and if there
in the recruitment of their future tests and regularly attend each other’s is a cultural fit, which is why we have
colleagues, we have an employee interviews in order to learn from and also chosen to focus on our values
referral program in place. We believe provide feedback to one another. in our interview process. We present
that current employees are valuable our values and make them a central
ambassadors in the recruiting process 1st Round Interview discussion topic throughout the
and know better than anyone what Based in Copenhagen and interview.
it takes to be a Siteimprover. In 2018, Minneapolis, our talent acquisition
we updated the program to include all 2nd Round Interview
specialists have the overall
full-time positions as the program had responsibility for recruitment at If invited for a second interview, the
proven successful in our hunt for new Siteimprove. It is their responsibility to candidate will meet with the recruiter
colleagues for our Sales and Product attract and recruit new talent, keep an and the hiring manager. The purpose
Development departments. We like overview of open positions, track and of this interview is to determine if the
to show our employees that we are provide good service to applicants, candidate has the desired personal
grateful for their efforts which is the and work closely together with and and behavioral competencies,
reasoning behind employees receiving act as advisors to the hiring managers. going deeper into professional/
a bonus of DKK 10,000 for a successful The talent acquisition specialists technical skills. We use a personality
referral. This arrangement helps our often take the first phone interview assessment, PAPI (Personality and
recruiters a lot, especially for the with a potential candidate and then Preference Inventory) by Cubiks,
harder-to-fill positions. make recommendations on which and often a case or exercise that the
candidate has been
asked to prepare
beforehand.
For us, the
personality
assessment is a
tool for dialogue
rather than as a
screening tool. We
spend around an
hour going through
the candidate’s
results, giving
them plenty of
opportunity to
comment and
provide examples.
candidates hiring managers should The case varies depending on which
We use personality assessments as meet. When the recruiter and hiring role we are hiring for. Developers are
part of our recruiting process for an manager have agreed on who to invite asked to complete a coding exercise.
even more thorough assessment of for personal interviews, the following Sales account managers are asked to
the fit between the candidate and interview process is initiated. do a 30-60-90-day plan for how they
Siteimprove, and the candidate and will go about their first three months
the specific job role. The assessments The recruiter invites the candidate for in their new role, and what they strive
also prepare the hiring managers on a first interview, which is conducted to achieve within this timeframe.
how to be the best possible managers by the hiring manager and the Marketing candidates often have to
for the specific candidates and how to recruiter or an assigned team member. prepare a case presentation on a
get the best out of them and help them The purpose of this interview is to popular topic, e.g. GDPR and how
Culture Audit 2018 19they would develop a strategy for that topic. We believe leads to new and interesting ways of doing things. It
the combination of personality assessments and cases is a is therefore important to us that new employees have
thorough way of assessing a candidate. an innovative mindset and like to challenge the status
quo.
After the two rounds, the candidate should have a
comprehensive understanding of the company, the role, and oo Willingness to change and entrepreneurial spirit
the expectations.
For the abovementioned reason, it is also important
that our employees are not afraid of change. In
We pride ourselves in treating all applicants with respect.
fact, they need to thrive in a constantly changing
Regardless of whether they make it to an interview or
environment. As a company in tremendous growth,
not, they get a response from the talent acquisition team,
conditions may change with very short notice as we
normally by email. If they have been to an interview and
decide to expand to a new market or take a product
did not make it, we always give them a phone call with the
in another direction. Our employees should share the
decision and feedback.
entrepreneurial spirit and appreciate a fast moving
environment as it is part of the start-up like culture
When we decide to hire someone, the hiring manager will
that we have.
make the phone call and extend the formal offer.
oo Ambition
What It Takes to Be a Siteimprover
We have grown tremendously during the last couple
Apart from the professional qualifications required to be
of years. Why stop here? The sky is the limit, and we
successful in a given role, we look for a number of other
want new employees to embrace that vision and see
qualifications in potential employees. We typically dedicate
opportunities instead of obstacles.
an entire interview to address behavioral matters – whether
we are the ones asking the questions or are the ones put
oo International mindset and global outlook
on the spot. Interviews are not just about us getting to
know the candidate; it is just as much an opportunity for An international mindset is vital for thriving at
the candidate to get to know us. As such, we strive to be Siteimprove as the Danish office is a workplace for
open and honest in the interview situation and to not make more than 40 different nationalities. Employees will
promises we cannot keep. We do not wish to give anyone the hear a wide variety of languages during a normal
wrong impression, we want to provide candidates with the workday, and we expect our people to be able
best possible foundation for making an informed decision. and willing to connect and collaborate with their
Otherwise, no one wins. international colleagues.
oo Passion oo Ability to thrive in an informal and social
environment
We believe that passion characterizes Siteimprove
and has done so from the very beginning. We are Our management philosophy is to focus more on
truly passionate about what we do – our people, our how much you can accomplish than how late you
products, our customers – and the entrepreneurial stay in the office, and more on your bright ideas than
spirit that Siteimprove is founded upon still shines the shine of your shoes. In other words, we are more
through. So naturally, we look for passion in new hires about content than about appearance, and in order
too. We have to be convinced that the candidate loves for people to be happy at Siteimprove, they must
what he or she does, and believes in our products and value an informal, yet energetic, atmosphere. We do
our business. not take ourselves too seriously, and there is always
room for fun. We are generally a very social bunch;
oo Innovation we enjoy having fun and socializing with each other –
whether it is at planned big parties, or spontaneously
Another core value of ours is that we are innovative.
going out for a beer and a burger after work.
We put a lot of effort and resources into positively
surprising our customers with new and innovative
products and services, and we never stop challenging
each other. At Siteimprove, we like to let people run
with their great ideas, and we have often found that it
20 Culture Audit 2018First Week
2b. Onboarding of New
Siteimprovers For all employees, their first week of employment is a formal
introduction week. New employees from our European
First impressions matter! It is of great importance to us that offices are always invited to spend their introduction week
new employees feel welcome and are properly acclimatized in Copenhagen. We have designed a program consisting
when they start at Siteimprove. This process starts already of sessions introducing new hires to all our different
in the pre-boarding period when the candidate puts pen to departments, mixed with some fun quizzes and activities to
paper. help all the new Siteimprovers get to know each other and
the company.
In addition, new employees are assigned
Introducing Your New Colleagues a ‘buddy’ to give the employee an
impression of the ‘unwritten rules’ that
NEW Every first week of the month, our HR Director sends out an
always exist, and to help answer whatever
email to the whole organization with a list of new employees
questions they might have. We normally
and a couple of lines about who they are. The email also includes recent
have people starting in larger groups – we
transfers and promotions. The initiative is a nice way of introducing our
have had anywhere from two to 18 at a
new colleagues and the descriptions make it easy to start conversations
time. This way no one goes through the
with the new Siteimprovers.
onboarding process alone.
NEW
Once a new Siteimprover has a confirmed starting month, their name,
As new employees step into
department and photo go up on our internal ‘wall of fame’. It is a big board
their designated onboarding
where all future colleagues are presented. It gives an effective impression
meeting room for the first time, they are
of our growth, and it really helps us connect the names and faces of our
met with a welcome package that includes
soon-to-be colleagues before they have even had their first day at the
branded items such as a notebook and a
office.
water bottle, a block of post-its with our
Usually we have our monthly global staff meeting
during the onboarding week and at every one of
them the new Siteimprovers get the chance to
introduce themselves to the rest of the company in
exchange for a big round of applause. Presenting
yourself in front of hundreds of people might be a
bit nerve-wrecking at first but it is a great way to
establish an early connection between colleagues.
In order to improve time to performance and ensure
that new Siteimprovers are comfortable in their new
roles and familiar with the whole organization, all
new employees go through an extensive onboarding
program, starting with the pre-boarding.
Pre-boarding
When a candidate has signed the employment contract,
they receive a welcome letter from HR with practical
information. This includes choice of phone and info on
fitness discounts, lunch scheme, and the name of their
buddy, who will greet them on their first day. The program
of the onboarding week is also part of this email. This is to values printed on them, along with a couple of important
ensure that all new employees have the information they documents and finally some candy to get them through their
need to feel welcome before they have even started. first week.
Culture Audit 2018 21The onboarding program that typically includes a mix and a really effective way of remembering each other.
of theoretical knowledge, hands-on training, and social We also organize a Siteimprove quiz about the com-
activities typically follows this pattern: pany and play a game, where they have to combine
our values with different statements and icons. These
1. The week begins with breakfast with their new team,
initiatives help integrate our new colleagues quicker
after which a formal introduction to Siteimprove
as the information is easier to remember when you
follows. It is a presentation of who we are, what we
are having fun.
do, our values, organizational structure, history, and
much more. A person from senior management, 6. Another one of our activities during onboarding week
normally our COO, Camilla, hosts the session and our is the photo shoot. Employees have their picture
CEO, Morten, joins whenever possible. The session taken during the first week so that we can include
concludes with a tour of the house, which you can them on the website as soon as possible, if they have
join on page 13 agreed to it. We warn them first, of course! We wish to
come across as approachable, and we believe having
2. An employee from each department gives an intro-
pictures on the website not only provides transparen-
duction of their department. This is in order for the
cy, it literally adds personality to the company. We are
newcomers to gain a good overview of the company,
proud of our people, and we want to show the world
who and what it consists of, and to make sure they
that we are.
know who to go to in different situations.
7. The first week always involves some social elements.
3. Every employee should know our products, whether
Many of our new hires from other European locations,
they are to develop them, sell them or market them.
who stay at a hotel during their time in Copenhagen,
Therefore, we do comprehensive product training
enjoy that there is something planned for them after
during the first few weeks. This can be in the form
work. Social events are fantastic opportunities to
of class-room training, or for sales people, it can be
meet new colleagues in an informal setting, which is
a role-play where experienced sales staff show how
why we take new employees out for dinner with their
they usually go about a sale, and eventually the new
onboarding group at a local restaurant.
employees get to try it out themselves.
8. The last day of the introduction week, we have a Q&A
4. Moreover, the new employees get an introduction to
session, where the new employees can ask questions.
our internal tools and systems, such as our databases
We also ask them to provide feedback on the on-
and our internal communications and knowledge
boarding process by filling out a feedback form. The
sharing platforms. They will learn where to find
feedback enables us to keep learning and improving
important information, such as e-learning material,
our onboarding process. Most of the onboarding
white papers, and the employee handbook.
sessions have been videotaped and uploaded, so new
5. To make the introduction week more interactive (we hires, or others that might benefit from it, can watch
know the information load can be a little overwhelm- them at any time.
ing when you start a new job), we try to spice it up
with some games and exercises. For example, we NEW 9. We have introduced Systematic Onboard-
ing, a brand new tool that prolongs the
make the new hires prepare a “coffee shop pitch”. The
onboarding period to include the first 6 months of
challenge is to explain who Siteimprove is and what
employment. It involves three surveys that both the
we do so that their non-web-savvy friend or maybe a
new employee and their manager will submit; one
grandparent can understand. The goal is to tell that
after 1 month, one after 3 months, and one after 6
they just started a new job and of the others asks
months. We do this to give our new team members
the “who”, “what”, “why” questions. They might be a
the opportunity, tools, and resources to help them
bit shy in the beginning but once we get started, this
succeed in their job and ensure that they feel part of
game is a source of great laughs and you would be
Siteimprove.
surprised how different the pitches can turn out!
NEW The past year we have added more games
to the onboarding week, including an
icebreaking game where each person makes three
statements about themselves, and the others then
have to guess which one of them is a lie. It is great fun
22 Culture Audit 2018Since the last Culture Audit,
we have welcomed 93*
new Siteimprovers!
*All numbers are for the Copenhagen office only
Culture Audit 2018 233. Inspiration 24 Culture Audit 2018
On a Mission Together
We are on a mission to make the web
better for all, which we do by helping
organizations of all shapes and sizes all
over the world increase the quality of
their websites. Every single Siteimprover
contributes to our mission one way or
another, which ensures that we can
continue offering unique tools and
services that can provide customers
with digital certainty.
Our Values Revamped
NEW We recently decided to give
our corporate values an
overhaul. Our values need to reflect
who we are as a company and as
people. They are what connects us all
on our growth journey – across teams,
departments, offices, and countries.
Developing the Values
NEW The work with updating our values actually started at a workshop for the executive management team (EMT)
focusing on leadership values. At the workshop, the management team looked into what good leadership is at
Siteimprove, what we are already doing that makes us successful, and which behavior is needed to reach our goals.
The next step was then to involve managers from across the organization to identify what makes us Siteimprovers. The
managers, acting as representatives for their teams, then developed the wording of the revamped values during workshops
both in the United States and in Denmark, building upon the existing values and the outcome from the EMT’s workshops. After
being approved by the EMT, the revamped values were ready for launch.
The Siteimprove Values
Passionate People-Centric Customer-Focused Embracing and
to Succeed Driving Change
Culture Audit 2018 25Launching the Values We want our employees to feel inspired and to inspire each
other, and the values act as inspiration for us all. To achieve
NEW The new corporate values were rolled out globally
our goals and be great colleagues, we need to bring our
as 2018 began. In a video sent out to the whole
values to life every day. It’s more important than ever to live
organization, COO Camilla Simonsen revealed the four ‘new’
and breathe our values as we are growing, ever-changing,
Siteimprove values. Following up on the video, we launched
and have some very ambitious goals.
two workshops – one in Minneapolis and one in Copenhagen
for all Siteimprovers in Europe, Canada, and Australia. Sharing Our Work With the World
The workshop kicked off with a presentation from the HR
We are proud of the results we have accomplished together,
Director going into detail about the story behind the values
and one of the ways we share them with the world,
and how they came to be. As the presentation finished,
and internally, is through our annual corporate social
everyone would stroll around the room talking and asking
responsibility (CSR) report. In 2010, we joined the UN Global
each other questions about the values such as how they can
Compact, which is the largest corporate sustainability
live the values in their role, what the values mean for them,
initiative in the world. Through this membership, we have
etc.
committed to setting goals every year and report on the
past year’s accomplishments by submitting an annual
The workshop ended with a creative session where
report describing our CSR work within the Global Compact
employees were asked to write or draw their interpretations
principles of human rights, labor rights, environment, and
of the values on big canvases that hung on the walls. The
anti-corruption.
whole point of these activities was to integrate the values
by having everyone relate to them, finding examples, and
In our report, we focus a lot on digital accessibility,
engaging with their colleagues about their shared values.
describing recent developments in our accessibility tool
Keeping the Values Top of Mind and the events that we organized to increase awareness of
digital accessibility. We also outline our charity initiatives,
NEW The launch week concluded with the Siteimprove
our continuous focus on the well-being of our employees
Christmas party, where we introduced
and our environmental footprint. Our CSR efforts are
the “Siteimprove Value Song”. Last year’s winner of
very important to us and to our employees. People like
Siteimprove’s Got Talent, Orri, had rewritten the lyrics of
to feel that the company they work for is responsible and
his winning song so that it now included references to the
contributes to society in a positive way. Many candidates
Siteimprove values. Still to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Piano
that apply for jobs mention our CSR focus as an important
Man” Orri performed the song after the Christmas dinner,
part of the reason why they found us attractive. Knowing
and we all ended up singing along to the chorus:
that we care about being a good corporate citizen, our
employees often suggest causes we can support or involve
“ We are the people of Siteimprove
the rest of the company in.
We focus on the customer need
The changes we face, we drive and embrace Working Toward the SDGs
With a passion to succeed ”
NEW This year we also committed to the UN’s
2030 agenda, the Sustainable Development
To maintain the buzz surrounding the values and continue
Goals (SDGs). At Siteimprove we want to contribute to
to inspire each other to be the best Siteimprovers we
a sustainable future, and we have identified three goals
can be, we continue to organize small value happenings.
where our tool and our employees’ expertise and skills
Over the past few months, we have put up value posters,
can make a huge difference. We believe Siteimprove is in
handed out mugs and blocks of post-its branded with our
a unique position to contribute to Goal 4 about quality
value icons, and launched a value t-shirt competition. The
education, Goal 10 about reducing inequalities, and Goal 17
competition kicked off at our workshop where everyone had
Partnerships for the goals.
the opportunity to create a design including our values for a
t-shirt. It was interesting to see how our colleagues interpret
In the spring of 2018 we have been creating engagement
the values and how they want them represented on apparel.
about the SDGs internally and sharing their message about
To decide on the final design, we held a vote and the winning
a sustainable future, which has been eye opening to many
drawing was then sent to our graphic designers, who created
employees. It is a motivational boost to know that the work
the final t-shirt layout.
that we do contributes to the global goals for 2030 and helps
26 Culture Audit 2018a lot of people across the globe. up the agenda. Our expertise and capabilities have been
recognized, which has resulted in Siteimprove becoming a
Read more about our social responsibility in section 10: participant of the WAI-Tools project, which is part of the EU’s
Equality and Social Responsibility Horizon 2020 program, alongside key governmental players
and other industry organizations.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Digital accessibility is the main focus of our CSR initiatives, In June, Siteimprove also sent a delegation to the United
and while we work to create awareness about the Nations headquarters in New York to participate in the
importance of including everyone on the web through Conference of State Parties. Here our lead accessibility
public events, we also inspire our employees, as they get strategist, Stein Erik, was on the panel at a side event
to meet and hear from the people that our technologies organized by the European Disability Forum.
help. We make sure to mark Global Accessibility Awareness
Day (GAAD) every year and in 2015, we hosted a big tandem The company being involved at the top international level
cycling event in collaboration with the Danish Association when it comes to decision making within the field of digital
of the Blind. We received a lot of positive feedback and accessibility is a big recognition of our employees and the
truly heart-warming stories from the blind community, and work they do with accessibility. It is also a great source of
we shared these stories with each other. Many employees inspiration as we now have the opportunity to help even
reported that hearing these stories truly made them proud more people through our cross-sector partnerships and
to be a Siteimprover. projects.
Putting a Face to the People We Help
In 2017, we celebrated GAAD by having a global meetup for
all our employees where we organized a festival in central We also host networking events for customers and we invite
Copenhagen with free access for members of the public. At our developers to stop by and talk to the guests, who are
the event, prominent figures within the tech world, such as users of the services that our company provides. It is a good
inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and opportunity for our employees to get a user perspective on
GAAD Co-founder, Jennison Asuncion, spoke about how the our tools, and oftentimes our customers praise what we do
World Wide Web belongs to all of us. Hosting an event of that and offer ideas for improvements. At times, our Sales and
magnitude with such inspirational guests brings pride to our Customer Xperience people also visit our customers to show
employees. The event received national news coverage, and them new features or help them solve the problems that
it means a lot to our employees when the public recognizes they are facing. Meeting the people that we help face-to-face
the good we do in our fight for an inclusive web. is a way for our employees to experience the impact that
their work has on our customers.
In 2018, we focused a lot on our internal celebration of GAAD,
making sure that all our offices received GAAD cakes and
NEW In 2018 we published a series of videos of
were reminded about the importance of accessibility and remarkable people with different impairments,
the role that Siteimprove plays in making the world more who are truly passionate about what they do. At times,
accessible. We also hosted events in Rome and Lisbon where technology are creating barriers for people with impairments
our local teams, who are based in Copenhagen, flew out through our videos we highlight how we and other
and organized the accessibility events in Southern Europe. accessibility technology providers really make a difference
Celebrating GAAD is a great opportunity to spread the word to a large group of people all over the world. We shared the
about accessibility externally and remind people internally videos both internally and externally, inspiring everyone to
about who and how our services contribute to a better, more contribute to the change and showing our employees that
inclusive web. their work has a significant impact on a lot of peoples’ lives.
A Seat at the Table Volunteering
NEW In the past year, we have focused our public affairs
NEW In the spring of 2018 our brand new volunteering
efforts on the development of digital accessibility program, Act to Include, was announced. Act
legislation and guidelines on multiple levels. It is our strong to Include grants all employees the opportunity to spend
belief that we have something to offer at the table with our one working day volunteering for a cause that promotes
knowledge and resources, which is why we are engaging inclusion, accessibility, and equality. As our CSR strategy is to
with the EU and the UN in order to push digital accessibility focus on digital accessibility, our new volunteering program
Culture Audit 2018 27naturally does the same. We encourage our employees done a great job adding new, cool features to the tools
to visit schools, universities, and professional fora to working with tight deadlines and demanding customers,
spread awareness about inclusion online and educate the or when our sales staff have exceeded all quotas, or when
developers, designers, and decision makers of the future. Act Marketing successfully launches our new website, we make
to Include is a brand new project that, with our employees sure to celebrate together at the office. Celebrations often
as ‘inclusion ambassadors’, hopefully will inspire the world consist of our amazing kitchen staff serving treats in our
to think about inclusion in all aspects, digital as well as canteen or courtyard, or serving great drinks in our large
physical. bar area, and sometimes it even involves a company trip to
Croatia!
Celebrating a Job Well Done
We make sure to celebrate successes to show our employees
that we value the work they do. When our developers have
28 Culture Audit 2018Culture Audit 2018 29
4. Information 30 Culture Audit 2018
Our past Great Place to Work® results have shown that open-door policy, which is the linchpin of the Siteimprove
internal communication is the one area where we have culture. While we strive to help our employees develop a
to step up our game. As we continue to grow and expand clear understanding of where the organization is headed
into new markets with new physical offices worldwide, in a long-term strategic context, we also aim to offer them
communication has become more challenging and complex, the opportunity to stay up to date with what the different
but also more important than ever. departments and offices are up to in the shorter run. The
new platform helps us realize both communication goals.
In recent months, we consequently have concentrated our
efforts and put a strong focus on how we communicate The Siteimprove App is offered to all employees during
information across all our offices to ensure employees onboarding. It integrates different modules for corporate
can stay informed about organizational developments, global news and departmental updates from management,
important strategic changes, and the overall corporate a focus section “story of the week” as well as a social
vision. wall where all employees can share snapshots from
their daily Siteimprove life. All EMT members, managers,
To guide us on the path towards clear, effective and designated content ambassadors are continuously
communication that reaches all Siteimprovers, we have encouraged to publish content in the app to keep
welcomed an internal communications specialist in the information fresh and relevant to all.
Fall of 2017 to help drive
communication from top To harmonize information
management to the entire and fun, we have included
organization. gamification features such as a
daily trivia quiz centered around
The following is an outline the Siteimprove world. For all
of the actions that we are actions employees take in the
taking to ensure transparency, app – participating in the daily
engagement, and knowledge quiz or surveys, reading posts,
sharing between departments etc. – employees can earn points
and employees. and thereby boost their personal
high score. Engagement pays
The Siteimprove App – Our off – each month we announce
One Stop Hub for Corporate
the top scorers globally and hand
Communications
out a little price to thank them for
NEW The latest milestone their vivid participation.
towards more inclusive
internal communications across For us, the reasons to integrate
all our offices is our recently an app as one central element
launched Siteimprove App for of our internal communications
mobile and desktop, where strategy were apparent. The
we share important corporate Siteimprove App delivers news
information and inspirational in a digital way our employees
stories from the Siteimprove are already well familiar with
world to bring employees closer and that feels natural to them
together. – be it accessing information
through social media platforms,
The Siteimprove App supports different kind of news apps,
us substantially in making etc. As a company working on
information available in a more the forefront of technology, it
transparent, easily accessible seemed only logical to rethink
manner. With the option for the way we share information
employees to like and comment and implement an innovative
on updates, the idea behind the communications tool that is easy
app ties in smoothly with our
Culture Audit 2018 31You can also read
