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Each company knows the pain of growth. And it’s usually the processes for feedback, alignment, and engagement that suffer the most. This is an experience Jenny von Podewils and Kajetan von Armansperg also experienced firsthand – and it is why they decided to found Leapsome in 2016. Their goal? To make millions of employees feel more engaged and satisfied at work.
Their software gave companies a 360°-tool for feedback, performance management, OKRs, employee surveys, and much more. It is a product that not just many companies believe in, but investors as well: in 2022, Leapsome closed a Series A financing round of US$60 million. With the support of Insight Partners, Creandum, and the Visionaries Club, the HR-tech pioneer plans to accelerate its international growth while simultaneously furthering its People Enablement platform.
As one of the leading People Enablement software products on the market, New Work is central to what Leapsome is about. But what does it actually mean to them? “New Work for us is about making work meaningful. And for that, it’s important for us to provide purpose,” says Jenny. For Leapsome’s co-founder and CEO, it is of utmost importance to make the 80,000 hours employees spend at work in their life as fulfilling as possible. “Along with that goes making work environments employee-centric, providing development opportunities, and setting up the right environments for people to thrive.”
Jenny and her team have a clear idea of how to make sure that they really live what they preach. “Firstly, we care about clarifying our purpose. We exist
to make work fulfilling for everyone. The second element is that we really work to help our employees thrive and develop – that's the core of our mission as well,” explains Jenny. “The third one is being employee-centric all the way. That means providing flexibility as to how we work, when we work and where we work. We have a deliberate hybrid set-up where we bring people together and establish communities for collaboration and at the same time ensure people can work from anywhere.”
But really living what New Work is all about has not always been a smooth ride. For Jenny personally, the most difficult project so far has been making hybrid work, as it is a complex undertaking. She smiles: “Going fully remote or staying fully in the office is easy, but doing hybrid right…” To make it succeed, Jenny is convinced that you need to build alignment among everyone, build opportunities for people to develop constantly, and – last but not least – you need to make sure that the environment works for everyone. But even if it might sound like an easy recipe for success, it really is not: “Balancing and juggling that hybrid set-up is the hardest part.” And that never really ends.
While making hybrid set-ups work is a challenge many companies face, there are still more hurdles to take. One of the core reasons why really living what New Work stands for is so difficult for many is that there is no clear project owner. “For New Work to work, it needs joint ownership,” explains Jenny. “Of course, the leadership and the People team play a key role in it. But beyond that, it is actually something that we have to work on together as a team.”
Building the right team can set companies on the path of exceptional growth. But finding the right talent is getting more and more difficult as employee needs and demands constantly evolve. These days, companies need to sell themselves to possible candidates as much as the candidates need to sell their personality and skill-set to a new potential employer. Thus, it is hard to imagine a company that does not offer employee benefits such as fitness studio memberships, access to mental health apps, or stock options. For many companies, this is the best – or only – way to set themselves apart from the competition on the job market. But this picture does not tell the entire story.
“When it comes to hiring, there are certain hygiene factors, of course. Everyone wants to earn a salary that enables them to have a certain lifestyle and that gives them security in today’s markets. But then besides that, I believe that people are looking for a good company culture more and more. In my experience, they are looking for a place where they can really feel like they are part of something, where they feel like they belong,” clarifies Claire, Leapsome’s Head of People & Culture.
The employee focus that Claire talks about is at the heart of New Work. Ultimately, this concept is about shaping the future of work, and without taking employee needs into account, companies will fail. And this development has already reached the hiring process: "It depends on the company, of course. Some may offer more security and salary - and may have a certain reputation that still helps them in their search for talent. But for everyone else, if you don't understand what New Work is about, then the hiring process becomes more difficult," says Claire. Jenny agrees: "We're all competing for the best talent these days, and I think it's almost impossible to ignore New Work when you're hiring millennials or digital natives. So it's an absolute must..."
But how can companies adapt successfully? For Claire, there's a simple answer: listen. "Listen carefully to what expectations potential employees have; listen to what candidates ask for in the interview and then make adjustments accordingly." At Leapsome, Claire and her team have set up a system to track why potential employees accept or decline an offer. The team uses these insights to adjust their approach where necessary.
Hiring is, of course, only part of the story. The other is employee retention. Monitoring and documenting employee needs doesn't stop once the right talent is hired. To ensure that employees stay with the company, companies need to invest in employee satisfaction. But some still struggle with this. And another development is exacerbating the whole situation: "People have a stronger sense of who they are as a person, there's a lot more self-awareness and reflection on what's really important to them. And I think that's a great development," says Claire. "And honestly, if you have a real relationship with your employees, then it's not too difficult to make them happy."
But how to keep track of it all? “Part of Leapsome’s product is actually an employee engagement survey, and we ourselves run monthly engagement surveys,', explains Jenny. “And as part of those, we track employee net promoter scores – so we are basically asking our employees whether they would recommend us to their friends or anyone else. That’s one KPI that allows you to measure whether you are doing things well as an organization.”
For Leapsome, though, it is about more than simply tracking the impact of their actions. It’s also about collecting qualitative input. So the constant dialogue with Leapsome’s employees is crucial for building a work environment that caters to their needs. “Using everyone’s feedback, we can continue to build environments in which everyone can thrive”, concludes Jenny.
At the end of 2022, Leapsome moved to a brand-new office. The two-floor open space office in typical Berlin backyard fashion is a place for Leapsome employees to focus and collaborate at the same time. And people enjoy it a lot – which is a direct result of the sophisticated planning that went into the project. “For the new office, it was important to us that it really caters to our employees: some people might want to come here to have deep work^, others are coming here – and that is quite a usual case – to have workshops, learning sessions or to collaborate. So having the right parts of the office for them to do what they need to do was a crucial factor,” Jenny comments.
And following the pandemic, there’s another vital aspect to it. “For us, it is pivotal that the office is also a place for social connections. Having enough areas where people can just sit down together and talk, have a coffee, or just chat about the weekend … that was also key for us when choosing the new office and designing it.”
The workshop that Leapsome ran to collect input and feedback from all the different departments also showed what employees seem to care about the most: “The funny thing is that I think the most highly requested thing was a really good coffee machine,” laughs Claire. “But in all seriousness: something that was vital to everyone was that the office should make it possible for everyone to find exactly the work environment they need. So we had to create launch areas just to sit and talk, relaxed environments to brainstorm ideas, and quiet places where people could really focus. That’s why we installed phone booths, which are great for virtual meetings or any kind of calls, really. Thus, our main task was basically to find the right balance between building areas for connection while still designing safe havens for deep work. This way, everyone has the ideal workplace to thrive.”
Thriving employees aren’t just happier – they also positively impact the company’s overall success. Motivated employees are more productive, their workflows become more efficient, and a high motivation among employees also helps increase the profit margin. “Nowadays, there are quite high demands towards an employer, and of course, employers need to double-down on building work environments where people want to work,” emphasizes Jenny. “At the same time, it goes beyond that because it is not just something you do for your employees to feel happy. If you manage to build environments that are driven by a clear purpose, by clear alignment and clear ownership – that is very much a win for the employees and the company as a whole.”
Like what you read? Leapsome is currently hiring in Berlin & New York for a variety of roles. Check them out here.
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