Work culture
Diversity and Inclusion
We recognize that the best outcomes for the organization come from people collaborating effectively in groups, more so than from individual talent.
For this reason, we continuously grow and foster an environment where all voices are encouraged to be heard and prevailing wisdom can be challenged.
While we know there's still more work for us to do in making our culture more inclusive and increasing the diversity of our work-force, we have already come a long way - in no small part because these topics are personally important to our Founder and CEO.
What have we already done to make this happen? Read on...
We work remotely - all of us
We love working from home! We hire exceptional people who we know are committed, well organized and self-motivated. We encourage you to work the hours that suit you best and to balance your outside life and interests. We trust you will get your work done. You can do it while you are at your prime without wasting time on the train or driving!
How we manage the work: Squads
The company is divided into business capabilities, which are managed by squads. Squads are responsible for prioritizing work and making sure our processes and policies support the business capability's goals. Participation in squads rotates periodically so that everyone gets the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and further their understanding of how the various capabilities interconnect.
How we get the work done: Task forces
When a task is defined, a group of people with the necessary knowledge and skills form a task force. The work and decision-making happens in these small groups that form, complete the task, and disband. With task forces, we break down silos and get the chance to work with people from different disciplines.
The tooling that supports the work
Chat, video conferencing, document collaboration - we use it all to maximize effective communications.
Meetings when everyone's remote
We keep them short and focused. To keep us all on the same page, we have monthly Townhall meetings to sync on our latest activities. Most meetings are recorded so that people across time zones (or coming back from vacation or sick leave) can easily catch up.
In-person company meetings
Working remotely is great, but we feel it's very important to work together face to face at least once a year when it is safe to do so. We meet in one place for five days to discuss the company direction for the following year, work together in person, and reinforce personal connections by having some fun. In addition, everyone has a personal budget for other meetups with colleagues throughout the world.
We know how the company is doing
Due to our open model, we all know how the company is doing financially. We have easy access to everyone in the company, including the CEO. We are encouraged to ask hard questions and challenge the how and why of decisions. We have “Ask Particular” meetings where we can ask any question that is on our mind about the organization, our work, or our culture.
What are the challenges?
- If the buzz of the office energizes you, if you thrive on the water cooler conversations, working in a distributed environment may not be well-suited for you.
- It can take some time to learn to set boundaries between work and private time, but we encourage and help each other to do just that.
- Since we don't have departments or managers, we are responsible for coordinating every aspect of our work. It can take some time to get used to being completely autonomous.
- Everyone who works for Particular is part of the team and treated equally. However, legally, since outside of Israel and the United States the company doesn't have subsidiaries, a large amount of our staff are contractors who set up their own company (or associate with an existing staff member's company) in their home country and issue monthly invoices as part of getting paid.
More about our culture and getting work done
Check out a few of our blog posts and presentations: