By Doug Lee, Lead User Interface Designer, Yoga Enthusiast

Down dog, tree, warrior, revolved triangle … and breathe … and breathe … There’s a new yoga program here at SuccessFactors, and it totally rocks!

Twice a week, we head out to a lunchtime yoga session with a professional yogini (the term yogi refers to males). And the interesting twist here - instead of a studio, the sessions are outside on the grass, right in the grandest studio of them all.

Never having tried this, I’m totally realizing that the natural connection is AWESOME. So much so that I’ve taken to foregoing the yoga mat entirely, opting instead to practice right on the grass. The sensations of grass between your toes, lilting citrus notes wafting up from the daffodils, birds singing, and wind whistling through the trees - it’s amazing.

Afterwards, there’s a peaceful, easy feeling that stays with you throughout the day. Each yoga class ends with the incantation “namaste” - a mutual recognition and respect for the spirit within each of us. Carrying this over from the class to the office makes the day just that much more navigable. So, to each of you, I say - “namaste”.

** This post written under post-yogic influence. Adjust interpret-o-meter accordingly

By Brendan Delumpa, Senior UI Developer

Before coming to SuccessFactors, I had worked in a variety of environments, ranging from small start-ups with less than ten people, to large, established companies composed of thousands of people. While many of those places claimed to have “open door” policies and said they embraced collaboration, innovation, and creativity, in reality, most engaged in various forms of knowledge hoarding and turf protection, and had cultures that were happy maintaining the status quo, wary of new or groundbreaking approaches to solving problems. So it was a bit unsettling for me to come to SuccessFactors where everyone collaborates, communication is generally direct and always honest, and where creativity and innovation are the norm rather than the exception.

There are many things we do here on a daily basis that support what I’ve mentioned above. For instance, in the engineering department, before we can check in any files we’ve worked on, we have to get another person to review our changes and demonstrate what effect they have on the application. While this is to ensure quality, it is also an opportunity to collaborate and share knowledge, as the reviewer may know of a more efficient method to accomplish some operation, or may provide insight into a possible enhancement in addition to your change. To me, this is phenomenal! I’ve never been in an organization that turns what is normally a very tedious task into an opportunity to be better – and it happens all the time!

I honestly spent the first few weeks of my employment saying to myself that this work environment was too good to be true. But over time, as I settled into my new role, I realized that it is good, and it is true. I work in a truly awesome culture! Now, I just couldn’t work in any organization that doesn’t operate this way! SuccessFactors has set a new standard for me.

By Mary Poppen
Professional Services Practice Manager

My path to SuccessFactors has been a unique one–I have had the distinct pleasure of being both a customer and an employee of SuccessFactors. I believe this dual perspective provides me with a very special view of the SuccessFactors culture and mission, which I wanted to share with all of you.

As one of SuccessFactors’ first 25 customers (we now have 1750+!), I had no idea how lean the organization was until about two years into our contract. When I learned that they had just 12 employees upon our implementation, I was amazed. How could 12 people provide the kind of service and product that we were being provided? SuccessFactors was like no other vendor I had ever worked with. The implementation was extremely smooth and fast, the support team was extremely responsive and ready to jump on any issue that arose, and engineering was releasing enhancements every month that continued to make the product more incredible and applicable to our business processes. Being a customer of SuccessFactors was definitely more of a strategic partnership than the traditional vendor-customer relationship.

After four years as a customer, I decided that the people and products at SuccessFactors were really the place for me. I joined the SuccessFactors team in October of 2005 as a Professional Services Consultant, implementing the software for organizations of all sizes and industries. It didn’t take long for me to realize I had made the best career move of my life. The people, the customers, the leadership, the product…a culture like no other I have ever experienced! What makes it so incredible? Here are just a few reasons:

• Sincere, genuine, daily emails from a CEO who is extremely proud of the team and the product—whether it’s a spontaneous email celebrating customer go-lives; congratulating product managers and engineers on a challenging issue that was resolved; or following a customer experience and educating the company so others can learn and grow;
• Colleagues who will drop everything to assist with an issue because a customer is planning to go-live with our product the next day;
• Colleagues from all areas of the organization who will respond to a plea for help or a question day or night;
• Collaboration across sales, services, product management, engineering and marketing to ensure alignment on new and existing offerings;
• Innovations to remain an exciting, cutting-edge software company that recognizes that the software must change and transform with business needs to be truly valuable;
• The opportunity to learn something new every day (literally) and the chance to apply it as quickly as it is learned;

These are just a few of the things that make SuccessFactors a truly unique company, and just a few of the reasons why I feel so lucky to be here! And what’s more, all of these things don’t just provide value to the employees here; what goes on behind the scenes makes us all the more effective for our customers as well.

I admit—it’s reassuring on your first day at a new job (and new to the other side of the country) to see the Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America award up on the wall when you walk in. I already liked what I knew about SuccessFactors from the interview process, but finally seeing the office in person and such accolades on my first day I thought, “Huh, this is going to work out just fine.”

But it’s one thing to have corporate awards displayed for all to see (who wouldn’t?), and quite another to infuse, and continue to infuse, your work culture with all of the things that got a company such an award in the first place. I would soon learn that SuccessFactors didn’t just proudly display these awards, but they displayed their corporate values and unique culture through their people each day.

At first glance, the open office was a frightening thing—desks clustered together throughout the huge floor, no cube walls providing faux separation, no VPs tucked away in corner offices. “What to make of this?” I pondered. “Will everyone see me as I eat my snacks??” After a few weeks here, the value of this sort of office layout was clear. Have a question? Walk right over to the appropriate person and ask them. Working on a collaborative project? Your team mates are just a stone’s throw—or virtual meeting–away and collaboration happens as often as coffee is brewing in the central cafeteria. Need to discuss something with your boss? He or she isn’t in hiding; they’re just a few desks away, in full view. Working on a project with someone in a different SF office than yours? Everyone’s contact info is impossible not to find and working with them feels like they’re just around the corner. At any point in time, you can see coworkers crowded around one computer monitor working on various projects, or colleagues engaging one another in passing as they traverse the floor. While we do have conference rooms, they’re floor to ceiling glass, allowing you to see exactly what sort meeting is going on. It’s that sort of transparent environment that promotes open dialogue, no matter what the project, issue, or challenge, and it’s clear that no one is dilly-dallying here. We’re all taking advantage of the vast network of people around us each day. I may not work on the Customer Success team, but I can see their dedication to our customers each day as they work meticulously through various customer issues. I may not be in Sales, but I can still applaud when a rep rings the bell to indicate a new member to the SuccessFactors family of clients. And I may not report directly to our CEO Lars, but I can still be inspired by his dedication to this company that we see whether he’s in the office, sleeves rolled up just like the rest of us, or fully engaged and sending motivating emails when he’s on the road.

The way that everyone at SuccessFactors interacts with one another–and the real core of those interactions–is a clear testament to why we are proud to receive awards like being one of the Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America. And like a Hollywood sequel, it’s not easy to live up to. But I have a feeling that 2008 will be an award-winning year for SFSF as well….

UPDATE! Several weeks after this post was written, SuccessFactors does it again! We were recently named one of the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area.