CardConnect was thrilled to return for another year of Philly Tech Week. From last Wednesday’s Dev Conference to the perfectly located Signature Event, it was a very full week of innovation and collaboration.

In that spirit, we wanted to share some tips on how we built our innovative and collaborative culture at CardConnect. Every workplace needs good mechanisms to nurture its own culture, but here are a few we take seriously.

1. Hire slowly and correctly

Hiring right can be challenging to execute, especially if time is of the essence, but it’s one of the most important parts of building a team. Putting someone into a role that isn’t a fit can build culture debt, but there may be a better role for them within the company. Investing time and money into a person that’s not right for the company can have an ugly impact on the growth of your team in the long run.

Several in-depth interviews with employees at different levels discussing different parts of the company and role will help to ensure you’re putting in the work to make a good hiring decision. It also gives the potential new hire a glimpse into the company culture.

2. Don’t confine your people, they come first

Take care of employees because when you invest in people, they feel ownership in the company and everybody wins. The people at my company understand they’re valued and are considered the primary reason our clients choose to do business with us.

Our open office allows for freedom to generate and explore new ideas, whether they fail or succeed. We invest in training and continued education to give people the items they need to grow at work. We also make sure our teams feel comfortable at work. Our office has gaming centers and ping-pong tables, a stocked kitchen, catered lunches and produce deliveries for our employees to take home. We offer gym memberships, yoga, acupuncture and even a chiropractor in the office. We also don’t have a dress code.

CardConnect HQ. (Courtesy photo)

3. Provide a culture driven by leadership

Having a distinctive culture joins people together. Many of the individuals on our leadership team have been with the company since Day 1. The company culture was created by them and it is continued by them. It’s difficult to make the culture representative of a company without everyone’s full support in driving the company culture forward. It starts with leadership setting the tone.

4. Allow for freedom and faults

Giving employees more freedom to self-organize can boost morale, increase happiness at work and raise productivity. When your employees feel trusted and free to create an environment that works for them, people are confident and productive. Whether it’s an SDLC or scaling software architecture, give your teams freedom and support to make and own decisions. They will treat each hiccup as a shared investment and look for high-quality solutions quickly.

When companies allow their employees the freedom to make bold or innovative decisions, some will ultimately fail, and that’s OK, because trying new ideas and learning is what it’s all about. It is the job of a well-designed culture to support these employees and use their faults as an opportunity to reach higher. Employees will have faults regardless of the structure you set. Being accepting of who they are sends a positive message to the employee which encourages their best work.

Our team at CardConnect prides itself on making our offices an innovative and positive place to work. We work hard but we love what we do, and we’re happy to know others have taken notice, too.

We hope other businesses will join us in cultivating the talent in the Philadelphia area and beyond. PTW is a great reminder of that.