The Chevy Chase headquarters of WeddingWire brings in new employees at a steady pace. Sustaining the kind of startup company culture possible five years ago is a daunting task as the number of people there leaps past 300, but vice president of people Jenny Harding has spent almost six years doing just that.
"Our cornerstone is staying innovative and nimble like a startup," Harding explained to me in an interview. "We've done a really good job making small teams, it's not a flat organization."
The office itself speaks to the kind of social environment Harding wants to encourage. Like a lot of startups, it avoids the look of a cubicle forest, but it also is carefully designed by Harding and her team to keep people connected and aware of each other.
"We have as much open space as possible to keep that four desks in a living room atmosphere," Harding said. "It's silly to hire really smart people and then isolate them in an office."
Harding was the first human resources hire for the company, working as a consultant before joining full time. She's overseen the intake of all kinds of people for the expanding company, but for her, it's less about what exactly their job descriptions are and more about how they interact with everyone else in the office.
"I personally believe empathy really goes a long way," Harding said. You need a good understanding of the whole process across departments."
There are plenty of ways, large and small, that WeddingWire—a nominee for DC Inno’s Tech Madness competition— tries to make being in the office feel less like drudgery. Along with headline perks like unlimited vacations and the chance to be a "delegate" to WeddingWire's office in Spain, the office holds creatively themed rooms, hosts events like whisky tastings (and a keg) and small-group lunches with CEO Tim Chi. They also subsidize healthy food in the cafeteria to incentivize employees to eat better. Even those smaller aspects, like no strict dress code can do a lot to boost morale and company pride.
"Our cornerstone is staying innovative and nimble like a startup."
"Traditionally those features are created based on what the company thinks will be appreciated," Harding said. "Here, they're based on people's needs actually are."
The success WeddingWire has had in attracting and keeping talent doesn't come without a lot of work. Challenges can arise, most notably with recent college graduates. When it's their first job, they don't necessarily grasp what makes WeddingWire different and how the relaxed rules don't mean anything goes. The work is still the priority.
"We're serious about the product we produce," Harding said. "Online we have a clean and respectable presence, but we want to let the creative juices flow. We treat people like adults."
And WeddingWire is always trying new ways to connect everyone in the company, like an "around the world" tour where people make a mini-version of some country and others in the company go check it out, try some food and culture and get a WeddingWire passport stamped.
"Some people do fantasy countries too," Harding said. "Because that's how we roll at WeddingWire."
