2021 has been a big year for the Cohesion family. As a fast-growing startup that has doubled its employee headcount, we have managed to uphold our core values and create a healthy and supportive work environment for every employee. Here is a snapshot of how we have raised the bar on company culture in 2021.
Core Values
Our pursuit of creating the best company culture starts with our six Core Values:
Integrity: Maintain the highest ethical standards and embrace human diversity of all forms.
Commitment: Take ownership and accountability for our work and demonstrate flexibility with our individual duties for the greater good of Cohesion and our customers.
Ingenuity: Examine problems from all angels to find comprehensive solutions.
Meaningful Interactions: Add value through our products and services by building meaningful connections to ensure true interoperability.
Continuous Improvement: If you haven’t figured it out by now, we are an ambitious group of go-getters who are dedicated to delivering the utmost quality in our products and services.
Action Bias: We prioritize needs, take quick action when faced with challenges and roll up our sleeves and act.
Diversity and Global Growth
Diversity is a priority here at Cohesion and we have implemented new strategies to increase multiculturalism within the company.
“Innovation stems from diversity - in backgrounds, identities, and experiences. Our team is stronger because of our differences, and it allows us to break boundaries,” said Megan Limanni, Cohesion’s Talent Acquisition Manager.
“Having a strong company culture in the middle of a global pandemic starts with our interview process, which includes structured interview questions and a diverse panel of interviewers,” said Megan. “Culture is more than just a buzzword. It's a conscious effort to address our biases and create an environment where people are excited to come to work.”
We also saw a rapid growth in headcount across the company this year. Numbers skyrocketed in our Chicago office from 21 full-time employees in January to 46 in December.
And it doesn’t stop there. With our satellite teams in India and Latin America, we’ve reached a global count of 95 team members. We plan to keep the ball rolling by hiring an estimated 31 additional full-time employees in 2022.
Team Building
As a leader, it’s crucial to acknowledge and accept each employee’s uniqueness. To better understand how each of us learns and communicates, Cohesion has partnered with Culture Index. Culture Index was founded in 2004 and is a tool we use to help our team members not only understand themselves, but also better understand their colleagues.
“These past two years have shown us a lot, including how important it is to understand individual personalities to drive strong culture,” said Thru Shivakumar, Cohesion Co-Founder and CEO. “Culture Index gives us a set of tools and a framework to understand what motivates each Cohesionite, how they learn, and their preferences for feedback. This allows us then to be conscious of what we can provide for our team members in order for them to be their best selves.”
While the Culture Index Report was insightful, nothing beats face-to-face collaboration, so Cohesion frequently offers constructive workshops, lunch and learns, as well as monthly breakfasts, lunches, and happy hours. Given the rapid rate in which the company has grown, these are great initiatives to connect with coworkers.
With each of these exceptional strategies executed in 2021, Cohesion continues to be an inclusive, supportive, and positive work environment that employees are proud to be a part of.
