Harvard Business Review recently published an article called “Your Company is Not a Family.” We respectfully disagree.
At Gusto, we definitely think of ourselves as a family. Or a clan, crew, band, what have you. Call us what you like, but the word “team” doesn’t seem to capture how enthusiastic we are about working together.
We often talk about the six core values that guide how we run our company — and this also applies to hiring. We don’t just hire people and expect them to conform to these values. We hire people who already embody them.
Our CTO and co-founder, Edward Kim, wrote a blog post in response to the HBS article: “My Company Is a Family.”
He explains Gusto’s family-like qualities, including: having eclectic conversations around the dining table, giving each other odd and affectionate nicknames, taking our shoes off at the office, and simply enjoying each other’s company.
Unlike a team, which must always optimize decisions that will result in the shortest path to their goal, we’ll often optimize decisions to do the right thing for our family. As it turns out, making decisions to protect our family is often the best way for us to achieve our goals as a team.
Every business is different. We’re certainly not advocating for all companies to adopt this familial approach; we just know it works for us. Read Edward’s article for more context. And if you’re interested in joining the Gusto family, check us out!
