Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
Our Video Production & Digital Marketing Team had noticed a slight turn down in creative & innovative video introductions and thumbstoppers, which are critical for a successful video and ad because the first few seconds of an ad can make or break the entire campaign’s performance. The Video Production team got to thinking- while most of our employees were working from home, enjoying their pet’s company, and experimenting with new recipes, let’s ask them to record just 7 seconds of those moments to test in new video introductions. As with everything we do at Golden Hippo, speed of implementation was key. The Video Production team quickly created a Slack channel called #homemadeintros and encouraged all of our employees to submit these 7 second videos to then test in different ad introductions, which generated thousands of unique videos that spurred new front ends resulting in new revenue growth.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
Since creating the #homemadeintros Slack channel, team members across all departments have been able to contribute to revenue growth in ways that were previously not possible. This has motivated everyone to share their video introductions and has created a stronger sense of unity within our culture. We all share the same goal of contributing to our company’s success, and this initiative has made it easier for employees to work together towards this goal.
Check out the Golden Hippo careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
SmileDirectClub created the first med-tech platform for teeth straightening that revolutionized orthodontia, helping more people get a smile they love. We built a state-of-the-art FDA-registered manufacturing facility in Antioch, TN – capable of producing millions of aligners per month. Our innovative first-generation SmileMaker Platform is available through the free SmileDirectClub App and leverages advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to show consumers their potential smile transformation within minutes. This technology is an industry first, upgrading current 2D remote scanning options and introducing real-time AI to capture a 3D view of the teeth. Along with all of this technology, we continue to expand our oral care line with a compact travel counter-top flosser and sensitivity-free whitening kits.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
Every area of the business is aligned with our new “Together 4 Growth” strategy to bring all of this innovation to life with strategic initiatives to drive our success – together as one team. These initiatives will ignite growth and help us impact even more people’s lives through the power of a smile. One united team working together for growth and rallying around these transformational initiatives has empowered all of our team members across the organization.
Check out the SmileDirectClub careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
AppFolio’s product vision is “ a world where choosing, living in, owning, and managing communities feels magical and effortless, improving the lives lived within them.”
Despite a historic climb in rent prices and surging demand for units nationwide, today’s property managers are contending with a host of challenges, from rising material costs, to cutthroat competition, and belt-tightening efforts amid wider economic concerns.
In many ways, property management has parallels to the restaurant industry, coping with – and eventually growing from – the changes forced by COVID-19 and “going digital” (fulfilling orders and deliveries, or automating elements of wait service). While at first, restaurants may have viewed this as an impassable hurdle, these services went from “confusing” to essential. Similarly, with property management systems, technology has the potential to be an enabler, not a hindrance.
AppFolio focuses its innovation to allow property managers to set their business apart and create space for what matters most – from growing their business and focusing on their vision, to building communities of belonging where everyone can thrive. As one customer, Chase Collins, owner of Prosper Real Estate in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, puts it: “AppFolio is basically the most important employee we have.”
Listening to customers is in AppFolio’s DNA, and one of its core values. The company uses a robust market validation process where product development works closely with teams like sales, marketing, and customer success to understand customer pain points in order to address them. Another example is AppFolio’s product suggestion board, embedded within its core product. In the past year, AppFolio has addressed and resolved 107 ideas submitted by customers, including refunding security deposits through the AppFolio electronics payment platform, which means customers no longer need to manage paper checks.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
AppFolio fosters an environment where teams can take pride in ideating and creating collaboratively. One innovative element of AppFolio’s culture is its system of “colleges” – cross-functional groups of 30-50 engineers, designers, and product managers who focus on a particular area of expertise within AppFolio’s software suite and function self-sufficiently. This practice allows AppFolio to stay connected to its start-up roots and company value of “small, agile teams” even as its team – and business – grow.
Since 2012 the company has hosted semi-annual events for the Product Development and Engineering teams called Hack Days. Each Hack Day is about encouraging employees to break out of their daily work and think outside of the box, collaborate with people across the business, and bring an idea to life. During Hack Days, AppFolians dedicate 36 hours to work on something fun and inspiring, and the best creations receive awards. Many Hack Day projects have ended up in production, becoming part of AppFolio’s core product, including most recently a ChatGPT-style product that takes universal search to the next level, using AI to transform text into actions.
Other examples of AppFolio’s innovative culture include:
- Continued investment in making the company’s three office hubs exceptional work environments while at the same time, evolving the office footprint to create more individual meeting and co-working spaces to maximize flexibility and connection. Office hubs are now viewed as “magnets” to bring people together through frequent, impactful events and experiences that build culture and community.
- Manager training and support, so they can prioritize and help instill new levels of flexibility and comfort into their teams’ day-to-day work. These updates include new best practices around the onboarding experience for new hybrid/remote team members, meeting design, and tools for fostering healthy team communication and connections.
- Evolving the practice of ‘daily standups’ so that both in-office and virtual participants join via Zoom to create experience equity.
- Using onsite customer visits to keep distributed team connected and energized. Since many teammates live in locations outside of AppFolio’s office hubs, this provides everyone the opportunity to meet customers at their business sites and understand the challenges they are facing first hand.
Check out the AppFolio careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
As a people-focused technology company, UKG not only invests in new technology (fact: we invested $625 million on R&D in 2022 and $2.5 billion total over the past five years, our industry’s largest investment focused solely on human capital management and workforce management cloud solutions)—but innovation also happens across our entire company, and its impacts extend well beyond our walls. Our purpose is people, and one way we’re fulfilling that purpose is by investing in startups that best serve all people, through UKG Labs, our ecosystem built to accelerate the growth of startups sharing our values—because when people-centric solutions win in the market, people win. We also have the UKG Diversity Accelerator Program, which funnels resources to a diverse-owned and diversity-focused technology ecosystem while helping to maximize supplier diversity in the HCM market. And another great example of “innovation happens everywhere at UKG” is that the idea to sponsor U.S. Paralympic athlete Dan Cnossen came from U Krewers in our ADAPT (Accessibility and Disability Allies Partner Together) employee resource group, focused on raising awareness of different abilities.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
UKG is a technology company that thrives and grows on innovation. While our Engineering, Product, Innovation, Cloud (EPIC) team is ultimately responsible for designing, developing, and delivering our HCM and workforce management solutions, ideas for these solutions are consistently solicited from our customers (fact: 375+ of our product features in 2023 originated from customer ideas), and especially from our U Krewers. Two formal innovation programs open to all 15,000+ U Krewers worldwide are Spark Tank, a quarterly hybrid event where any U Krewer can pitch innovative ideas for our customer solutions or internal processes, and 48 Hours, a two-day, nonstop coding competition where our product engineers help bring those ideas to life. These events serve to not only fuel innovation at UKG, but they also exemplify that ideas can come from anyone, anywhere within the company (and beyond, with our customers)—proving you don’t need to be an engineer to innovate and help enhance our people technology, programs, and processes.
Check out the UKG careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
Curative is shaking up the health insurance industry with a new, innovative, employer-sponsored health plan that will completely change how members engage with their health. It’s a plan that consumers love to use — one that removes cost barriers like copays, deductibles, and most prescription charges*. Getting every member the preventive care they need, encouraging healthy behaviors, and putting medical advancements to work results in lower long-term total costs of care for members and employers.
We’re all about increasing access to care and encouraging proactive health engagement so members can live healthier, more productive lives. Each member is paired with a Care Navigator, who will be their first point of contact to onboard them to the Curative plan. Upon enrollment, each member is encouraged to complete a Baseline Visit*, which will provide a snapshot of their current health and establish a plan to reach their health goals. Curative’s plan focuses on affordability, simplicity, and engagement and completely revolutionizes the way that people interact with their health insurance.
*No copay, no deductible, no out-of-pocket costs in-network, including preferred prescriptions, for members who complete their Baseline Visit in the first 120 days of plan effective date.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
At Curative, we believe that innovation is key to delivering the best possible health care solutions to our members. That’s why we’ve fostered a culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement that encourages employees to think outside the box and challenge the status quo.
We’re proud to say that this emphasis on innovation has helped us to break ground in the health care industry, which is often stagnant and reluctant to change. By constantly striving to find new ways to better serve our customers and increase access to affordable health care, we’ve been able to deliver cutting-edge solutions and unparalleled customer experiences that lead to better health outcomes for our plan members.
This innovative spirit has also fostered a sense of pride and ownership among our employees, who feel empowered to help build the future of health care. We’re grateful for their passion and dedication, and we’re committed to continuing to provide a workplace that encourages innovation and collaboration. To learn more about Curative’s health plan, visit curative.com.
Check out the Curative careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
Following the pandemic, the pivot to e-commerce within many B2B and B2C companies was swift and effective resulting in unprecedented growth in digital sales. Since then, Classy Llama has served on the cutting edge of digital innovation enabling companies to broaden the scope of their client base by architecting solutions that separate themselves from their competitors. The agency is offering extensive services to its broad client base through the implementation of fully integrated, cohesive, scalable, and customizable packages that bring the brick and mortar experience to the e-commerce domain through features that range from augmented reality to conversion rate optimization and everything in between. Introducing products such as these to our clients is another step towards achieving our mission of helping B2B and B2C companies adapt, grow, and prosper.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
These innovative integrations have instilled a sense of pride and accomplishment within the members of the organization who are confident, through client feedback, that they are solving the complex challenges that businesses are facing while simultaneously delivering distinctive value to both the clients and the clients’ customers. The end result of prospering businesses and products that interface with customers in ways that were previously unimaginable have increased the creative scope and bandwidth amongst the team members across the agency. The byproduct of consistent and successful innovation has fostered an organizational climate that has inspired the leadership to be entirely receptive to bottom-up refinement and motivated the team members to be daring, creative, and bold in their ideas. Currently, the agency offers web development, user experience, conversion rate optimization, digital marketing, consultation services and more, to help businesses of all sizes increase their online sales.
Check out the Classy Llama careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
At Gaylor Electric, our team of construction experts possess the ability to address unique jobsite challenges through innovation. By capitalizing on virtual design, fabrication, and leading-edge technologies, we deliver consistent excellence in safety, quality, and performance on our jobsite across the country. As proven innovators, we have mastered the art of managing construction complexities, and eliminating jobsite hazards. Through innovative manufacturing, we fabricate, build, and ship large electrical modules, in a controlled environment, that are delivered to our jobsites – ready for install.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
Gaylor Electric takes a full spectrum approach to developing our safety culture by transferring our safety data into an analytical software. With this program, our Business Intelligence department converts the numbers into comprehensible visual representations to inspire change. For Gaylor Electric, true innovation comes through in powerful stories that are revealed through our collection of valuable safety data. By eliminating emotion and propelling data-driven decision making, we have made obvious strides in construction innovation – our data inspires industry evolution!
Check out the Gaylor Electric careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
Since the beginning of 2023, we’ve launched two industry-leading products that have helped make buying even better: Octane Preferred is the first-of-its-kind B2B loyalty program that offers exclusive benefits for powersports dealerships across the country, like custom marketing materials and early access to new products. We also introduced Prequal Flex, a dealership-specific URL which allows customers to apply for financing wherever dealers market their vehicles, including social media posts or advertisements..
These products help make buying better for enthusiasts, while helping dealerships connect with qualified customers earlier. The result is a seamless online-to-in-person experience that allows more people to pursue their passions, faster!
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
One of our core values is “win as a team,” and this value sets a tone that drives us forward. Together, we celebrate wins and assess set-backs candidly – meaning we’re able to create more innovative products, faster and build on what’s working for our people and OEM partners, dealerships, and enthusiasts. In addition, we’re committed to creating a workplace that values different ideas and experiences, and our people are encouraged to bring their whole self to work. When people feel heard and their ideas are taken seriously, it creates a culture where team members are engaged, passionate about helping customers succeed, and feel safe to innovate.
Check out the Octane careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
At Techtronic Industries (TTI), we believe that innovation is essential to uphold a competitive advantage as industry leaders and empowers us to deliver the best in class products to our end users. Our focus on technology has led to significant advancements in our products, including the use of cutting-edge research and development and battery technology using lithium-ion. In addition, we have implemented AI and machine learning into our operations worldwide. One example of this high-tech innovation is the Milwaukee Tool ONE-KEY connectivity platform. By connecting sites, people, and equipment, we are driving the future of job site management into the palm of your hand. This technology has allowed us to optimize our warehouses and manufacturing facilities, improving efficiency and reducing waste.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
At TTI, focusing on organization-wide innovation has strongly impacted our culture. It has created a dynamic, fast-paced environment where our people are driven and encouraged to evolve. This deeply embedded entrepreneurial spirit focused on growth flows throughout the organization and world-class leadership team. As a result, innovation is at the core of our company and everything we do as we consistently improve and push the boundaries in our industry.
Check out the Techtronic Industries North America careers page here!
Tell us about some of the innovation happening at your company
At Squarespace, innovation is embedded in everything we do. One of our values is Protect Creativity – acknowledging that ideas can come from anyone or anywhere but require the space to develop and grow. Our bi-annual Hack Week is a clear example of innovation in action; a Squarespace tradition where employees at all levels and tenures can dream big and investigate creative concepts by freeing themselves to work on anything they want for a week. Similar to Hack Week, Squarespace holds an annual Design Week to nurture creativity and innovation in product design and user experience.
Can you tell us the effect on your culture of focusing on organization-wide innovation?
To foster a workplace culture where employees feel empowered to innovate, we offer programs like Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and the Inclusion Advisory Council (IAC) – a body of employees who provide feedback on DICSR strategies and identify barriers that impact underrepresented employees. Both programs provide resources and runways for employees to drive Squarespace programming that reflects their communities. These initiatives allow us to embrace the uniqueness of every Squarespace individual and bolster interdisciplinary, intersectional perspectives that challenge our biases and introduce new ways of thinking. Inspiring open dialogue is needed to explore new ways to look at things that drive innovation, making these programs and others akin to an incubator for innovative solutions.