HR & Culture: How One Supports The Other

"When culture and strategy are working together and aligned, they equip people to make very good judgments that align with the company more quickly and with less oversight," says Giftbit CEO Leif Baradoy in 'Culture-Driven HR,' his Tech Talk at The HR Tech Summit Canada 2024. "This leads to more empowerment, enabling people to make good judgments with less red tape. In a growing business in a good market, culture and strategy working together are necessary conditions for individual happiness, success, and business growth."

Indeed, Giftbit’s company culture fosters quicker, sounder decisions that benefit both teams and applicants. And this strong culture is woven into every aspect of the employee journey.

Leif Baradoy on Giftbit’s secrets to 90% employee satisfaction and 100% retention in 2023, along with practical tips for HR and People Operations professionals:

How does culture impact HR practices?

Giftbit has vetted over 10,000 job candidates in the last six years. We also very often have really great people actually apply for jobs with us, upskill, and then come back to apply for other jobs. In fact, three of our current team members have applied more than once.

Why? In large part, it's because of our ever-evolving culture. 

"Your culture is your style in action; it's who you are," says Leif. "Culture is both how we treat each other internally within our teams and externally. A healthy culture notices when the world is changing, when the business strategy is changing, and how our interactions internally and externally need to change to accommodate that."

Specifically when it comes to HR, Leif highlights several ways Gifbit's culture directly impacts our HR practices. 

1. Use a fast and human hiring process

"Post salary ranges, be candid and straightforward, disqualify people quickly and kindly, personalize responses as much as possible, and focus on the job to be done," says Leif. 

To do this, a tool like Rippling can help with templated responses that you can personalize where possible. 

2. Pay people generously for work samples

At Giftbit, we use our own payout platform to pay generously for work samples, which creates a much more positive experience and reflects our values from the very beginning of the employee journey. 

Pro-tip: Payouts are much easier to many that direct transfers.  

3. Create memorable cultural experiences when onboarding. 

"At Giftbit, we have a strong onboarding checklist, and we send new hires a reward payout on their first day," says Leif. "This delights them and concretely shows our product and craftsmanship."

Pro-tip: a digital gift card platform makes it easy to send automatic onboarding and other milestone gifts that your employees will really like and use. 

"Lean into your strengths, and be intentional about culture in your business," says Leif. Connect with him on LinkedIn to keep the conversation going. 

Giftbit makes it easy to reward and incentivize employees with digital gift cards. Watch a quick demo now.