Protect Your Greatest Asset: How to Build a People-First Culture

HR leaders from Magnite and Printfection share their strategies for creating a people-first culture and gauging its success.
Written by Olivia McClure
December 21, 2022Updated: December 21, 2022

Having a global workforce made up of more than 900 professionals hasn’t hindered Magnite’s ability to make every employee feel like a valued member of the team. 

According to Senior Director of Global Recruiting Cori Keuler, the company has taken a multifaceted approach to building out a people-first culture through the development of a robust benefits package. Employees have access to a wide range of perks, including quarterly mental health days and generous PTO. 

“It’s important for our employees to have time to focus on their well-being,” Keuler said. 

Yet fostering a healthy workplace doesn’t just involve supporting team members when they’re outside of the office. At Printfection, career growth opportunities serve as a reflection of the company’s commitment to its people. 

Head of People Operations Laura Seredinski said the organization recently instituted career growth tracks in order to enable managers to have productive conversations about professional development with their direct reports. Considering scaling companies naturally offer employees the chance to evolve themselves, the organization aims to ensure its team members have full access to this exciting aspect of its culture. 

While the approach to a people-first workplace may take many forms, the purpose is the same: to protect a company’s most valuable asset. Keuler and Seredinski checked in with Built In Colorado to share how their organizations have prioritized employees and the ways in which they gauge the success of these efforts.  

 

Laura Seredinski
Head of People Operations • Printfection

Printfection’s platform enables companies to create and send branded merchandise to employees, customers and prospects. 

 

What steps has Printfection taken to foster a people-first culture?

Our core values — “we care,” “we learn” and “we act” — are lived out every day across every aspect of our culture, from having realistic work-life balance and meaningful work to the career progression that comes with a scaling company. Last year, we created and adopted career growth tracks that allow managers and team members to have conversations about professional development opportunities. The last thing we want is for people to feel like they need to move to another company in order to move up in their career. We want to facilitate the continuous growth of our individuals so they can further impact the evolution of the company.

 

We want to facilitate the continuous growth of our individuals so they can further impact the evolution of the company."

 

What perks and other offerings help support a people-first culture?

There are tangible benefits of a fully remote and distributed work environment, such as top-of-market compensation and healthcare benefits. Yet the most important ones are the intangible benefits that we offer as part of our value proposition, such as a great leadership team and a strong, inclusive environment that empowers everyone to show up authentically and feel like they belong.

 

How do you gauge the effectiveness of these efforts and ensure employees feel valued and supported? 

We measure the success of our people-first efforts through weekly pulse surveys and quarterly engagement surveys. We use the data to inform what initiatives we should take on to continually create an environment that allows people to thrive both personally and professionally.

 

 

Cori Keuler
Senior Director of Global Recruiting • Magnite

Magnite’s platform enables publishers to sell advertising on their terms and across every channel and format, including CTV, mobile and audio. 

 

What steps has Magnite taken to foster a people-first culture?

Our people-first approach centers on ensuring employees are well supported with a top-tier benefits package and hybrid work schedule. Our offices provide daily catered lunches, beverages, snacks, training and development resources and events. We also have a generous time off program and quarterly mental health days, the latter of which we introduced this year. Our employees are encouraged to use their mental health days to do an activity that reenergizes them, whether that’s taking a hike, going to a movie or gardening. 

 


PEOPLE-FIRST PERKS
  • Equity and employee stock purchase plan
  • Cell phone subsidy
  • Peer-to-peer recognition program via Bonusly
  • Wellness coaching
  • Fitness reimbursement
  • 401(k) matching


 

How do you gauge the effectiveness of these efforts and ensure employees feel valued and supported? 

Across our global offices, we seek feedback on our programs and benefits through annual employee engagement surveys and a full-time people programs team. Our strategy includes holding new hire check-ins after the first 90 days of employment, hosting volunteer opportunities across our office locations and offering team-building activities. We also host monthly all-hands meetings to provide business updates and encourage an “ask-us-anything” approach to transparency and communication.

 

 

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