What’s in a company’s culture? We hear plenty about perks and benefits, but is that what defines and shapes culture?

One Click believes it’s the people who create what a company’s culture is and becomes. Over time and with adherence to its guiding philosophies, One Click has developed a well-regarded and awarded culture—including a Company Culture of the Year Mira Award—keeping culture at the forefront of everything they do.

Culture starts with people

The people One Click brings into its fold represent how its culture is shaped; this fact informs recruitment. The company relies heavily on referrals from current team members—over 50% of recent hires have come from these referrals, who undergo thorough vetting processes. “Hiring is the single most important thing we do,” said Randy Stocklin, One Click’s Co-founder and CEO. 

Lessons on culture began in One Click’s infancy: as is the case for many young tech companies, One Click hired to fill immediate needs—a fit to the product, not necessarily to the people and nascent culture. After the first few years, when One Click had settled into itself as an organization, company leadership assembled the elements comprising modern-day One Click’s culture and values set. 

From there, leaders enacted intentional strategy to foster culture through recruitment and hiring. “We started to be really intentional about hiring to our values,” Randy said. “We were finding and getting people who were excited about our mission and the way we did things as a company—that’s worked very well for us since.”

Today, One Click has cemented 10 core values into absolutely everything it does. It’s impressive to see how the values extend into team members’ lives: how often does a team member take it upon himself to brush off every coworker’s car in One Click’s parking lot after a snowstorm? It represents the reciprocal nature of this kind of relationship. “One Click has to be a fit for someone, too. The fit goes both ways,” said Kari Daffron, One Click’s Director of Brand Marketing. 

Expectations run high in this environment. To thrive at One Click, Randy espouses several crucial characteristics: people who think and act like business owners, people who truly care about other people, and people who excel at communication. “We’re relentless in our pursuit of people who communicate well,” he said. “We have a team that really trusts one another, and that allows us to set clear expectations.” 

Fun underlies much of One Click’s work 

Culture manifesting at One Click is a familiar sight to tech workers: the ping pong table, bagel and donut days, flexible schedules and the like. Beneath these perks though is the sense of fun in their work, which the team isn’t shy about showing.

From pies in the face to rounds of ping pong, One Click team members find ways to have fun together.

Fun is an intentional choice at One Click; company leadership and teams ensure they plan out chances to relax and unwind. Teams are allocated Team Happiness budget lines—money to go do things together that make them happy—and it’s included in a team’s annual objectives and goals to accomplish. “Culture is not an event. Culture is what we do every day,” said Meghann Arnold, Director of Team Success at One Click.

It’s part of a larger framework—the company’s operating system, as Randy calls it—that creates and maintains a space open to constant feedback and experimentation. For example, the company uses weekly TinyPulse surveys to consistently measure company culture success and how well people are living One Click’s values, encouraging team members to speak up.

“We reinforce to our new people that this is a different environment than you’ve ever worked in before,” said Meghann. “We want you to speak up. We want you to raise your hand. We want you to ask questions.”

Culture breeds long-term success

The One Click culture sticks with its team members as part of daily life. It’s creating a place where people still want to be involved even after they’ve left for new opportunities. 

“One of my goals has been to develop our team member professional development program to the point where people evolve and develop so much that they graduate from One Click,” said Meghann. She plans to use this graduate pool to develop an alumni network of former One Click team members to keep people connected and provide opportunities for mentorship and more.

Perhaps what’s most eye-catching about One Click’s culture is its organic evolution and how leadership encourages that self-growth. Certainly a lot of work goes into developing the culture, but much of what One Click team members experience comes from their own interactions; they define culture themselves. That’s the kind of person who gravitates to One Click—and it all starts from the very moment they’re hired.