Building a Company Culture: Creating ESPROFILER's Identity and Values

In my last blog, I wrote about the great benefits of joining a company as a founding team member and being lucky enough to help build the go-to-market strategy. In a very similar vein, one of my greatest joys at ESPROFILER has been working with our early employees to define our culture and values.

A top priority for me is creating a workplace where employees feel valued, heard, recognised for their contributions, and understand how their work directly impacts the company's success.

Far too often in the past, I have worked for companies that express a set of values that are very rarely exhibited by the vast majority of the employees, with senior leaders often being the worst offenders.

I’m sure anyone reading this blog has their own memories of an employer-value horror show. However, it’s a positive example that I would like to share of a company really living and breathing a core value that occurred fairly early in my career which has really stuck with me.

Looking Back

Back in January 2008, I joined Rackspace UK as a Solution Engineer. This was an exciting and quite different opportunity for me, as I had little experience in the cloud and hosting space. At the time, Rackspace was still technically a startup, albeit a late-stage one with an IPO on the horizon.

Right from the off, I found myself blown away by the culture, diversity, fast pace and the many great people I got to interact with. However, one thing in particular piqued my interest and it was something that Rackspace called ‘Fanatical Support’.

It was plastered all over the office walls, on people’s screensavers, on desktop wallpapers, on t-shirts and anywhere else you can think of!

As soon as you went through the employee onboarding process, you were introduced to ‘Fanatical Support’ as one of the core pillars of the company and something it expected every employee to live and breathe. It was talked about in every employee all-hands and key staff meeting, and the company went to great lengths to celebrate and reward employees who had demonstrated ‘Fanatical Support’.

Of course, the beauty of the value was also its simplicity, it just meant providing exceptional customer service at all times during every customer interaction, but despite the simple nature, it was incredible to see how much everyone in the company really believed in this value and it was seen as a critical differentiator from Rackspace’s competitors.

My time at Rackspace was sadly fairly short but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the company and have never forgotten the ‘Fanatical Support’ value.

Our Values

The simplicity of this value was definitely one of the inspiring examples that helped me and the ESPROFILER team build our own set of values and I am delighted to share them with you in this article.

Set a High Bar

We believe in setting high standards and always raising the bar in the work that we do. For the company to be successful, we all need to strive be the best version of ourselves whilst challenging and supporting each other to continuously improve.

Everyone Has the Same Voice

At ESPROFILER, we want everyone to know that their voice will be heard and that, irrespective of their seniority or role at the company, they are given the opportunity and platform to voice feedback and ideas to the rest of the company.

Always Be Innovating

Innovation is critical to any company, particularly to early-stage startups as they seek to find market fit and a path to rapid growth. We encourage and reward our employees for constantly looking for new ways to innovate.

Treat Each Other with Compassion and Respect

We work hard to foster a workplace of compassion, respect, and inclusivity, where every individual feels valued and supported.

Equal Opportunity for All

Diversity and inclusion is central to everything that we do. We actively promote and support getting more people into technology irrespective of age, disability, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.

Give Back to the Industry and Wider Community

Extending beyond our core mission, we are committed to making a positive social impact through giving back to the community & making a difference. We are committed to leveraging our resources to support communities in need.

Looking Forward

Building ESPROFILER goes beyond creating a product, it's about cultivating a vibrant community of individuals who share our above values. These values are more than just aspirational statements; they are the guiding principles that inform every decision we make and shape the very essence of who we are as a company. These values will serve as the foundation for a future where ESPROFILER thrives, fostering an environment where individuals bloom both professionally & personally, innovation flourishes and we make a lasting impact.

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