Welcome to Splash’s Culture Book.
As a global team, this book is our guide to Splash’s amazing culture. This book will live on beyond all of us and reflects the fact that “culture” is bigger than any one of us as individuals.
“Culture” is a community’s norms and behaviors. At Splash, our culture is built on our core values. A healthy culture can’t be created from a top-down approach. It’s all about community, and each one of us plays a part in shaping our culture. The way we work, speak, and celebrate together are all key aspects of our culture.
This book is a result of everyone at Splash co-creating our culture together. Every single person at this company is inherently part of this process, and our hope is that everyone continues to feel a sense of ownership of our culture. During your time at Splash, we invite you to actively help us evolve this book and make sure it’s reflective of who we are, what we believe, and how we behave. This book, like our culture, is a living document that we’ll periodically reevaluate and adapt as needed.
Together, we’re on a mission to make it easy to host events. But not just any events. We’re obsessed with powering meaningful and measurable events. We want to help marketing professionals not just understand how creating impactful event programs leads to greater revenue — we want them to be able to easily scale compliant, on-brand event programs that generate serious ROI. This is the era of event democratization, and we’re leading the way. We believe the future of marketing means thoughtfully incorporating virtual, in-person, and hybrid programs to generate leads and accelerate revenue pipeline.
So how are we executing this mission? By building the most sophisticated event marketing software that integrates seamlessly into any company’s tech stack. Beyond the power of our platform, we’re living our mission through industry thought leadership and compelling content that offers real value to our customers and prospects. Our community looks to us for solutions to current challenges and insights into the future of events, and we’re delivering through the talented team we have working each day to serve our users.
When it comes to our people, there’s nothing we value more. We’re a diverse group of game-changers — distributed all over the world — dedicated to helping brands connect people at scale through the power of events. We believe in making consistent and intentional investments into our people through competitive compensation and benefits packages, and perks that reflect our shared values. Our learning and development programs set our employees up for career growth during and beyond their time at Splash. We’re not just building event tech software, we’re cultivating the next generation of leaders.
And when it comes to growth opportunities, teamwork, and influential work, Splash knows no boundaries. We’ve built a culture around empowerment, creativity, and innovation — and we’re not just saying that. Our employees make an incredible impact every day on event marketing programs that drive human connection around the globe. We come to work every day excited to innovate, grow both personally and professionally, and be a part of something big.
Splash’s culture has seen many iterations since it was founded in 2012. In 2018, we embarked on a rigorous process of reevaluating and redefining our core values. At the time, employees agreed that our values didn’t fully reflect who we were, or what we stood for anymore.
The process to relaunch our core values, similar to the creation of this book, involved a company-wide survey and countless internal discussions at all levels to narrow down six core values: show up, be real, co-create, love the details, stay curious, and find the fun. These six values remain the pillars of our culture and community today.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Splash shifted to a remote-first company, and we again reevaluated and redefined our culture to meet the needs of Splash’s most valuable asset: our people. This resulted in adding a seventh core value: take care. We officially launched our take care value at Splashgiving 2020.
Since launching take care, we’ve taken great care (pun intended) to look at our organization’s norms and behaviors — the things that make our culture — and ask ourselves which aspects of our culture are serving both the business and our people, and which aspects of our culture we’re ready to evolve.
From April through May 2021, we hosted weekly culture conversation sessions, open to everyone in the company to join, to hear directly from our people what’s working and what needs to change to accommodate our new remote-first culture and make Splash the best place to work. When we say “best,” we mean a culture that makes our employees feel seen, heard, supported, productive, informed, and clear on the norms of how we speak, behave, and work together.
Showing up means being dependable and doing what you said you’d do, when you said you’d do it. It also means showing up for each other and our customers by being someone others can trust and being present (especially in meetings).
Show Up is the “gateway” value if you will. It’s the foundation to embodying each of our company core values. At Splash, we don’t just show up and do the bare minimum. We show up to go above and beyond for our teammates and our customers. We show up so we can co-create, be real, love the details, stay curious, take care, and find the fun in everything that we do. Showing up is the first step to bringing all of our values to life.
Let’s be clear: Showing up does not mean being an extrovert, attending every company happy hour, or being “the life of the party.” So what does it mean? Let's explore some of the different ways people show up at Splash for one of our most common activities: meetings.
We normalize needing to be off-camera for some meetings. We recognize that life is happening all around us (whether you’re eating, dealing with kids, working through virtual fatigue, etc.), and we don’t think that showing up necessarily means having your video on in every meeting. This is something we encourage meeting hosts to specify in calendar invites and/or at the start of a meeting, so folks have permission to show up the best way they can for the meeting. If that means video off for some, we embrace that. We’ve created a Meeting Host Best Practices guide included in this book to share more examples of applying our core values to norms around how we meet and gather.
Whether you’re meeting over Splash Studio, Zoom, or in-person, your body language can help communicate to others in the meeting that you’re fully present. Making eye contact or showing your hands in the virtual room is a great way to show you’re not on Slack, sending an email, or doing something else that would distract you from the meeting.
One way we practice showing up to major meetings is by using our breath as an anchor to the present moment. Together, at the start of big team meetings and events, we often invite everyone to pause and take five deep breaths together. This tradition of taking five breaths helps us show up to the present moment. Read more about the history of this tradition in our chapter covering What & How We Celebrate: Traditions, Rewards & Recognition.
Being real means showing up to work as your full and most authentic self. We want everyone at Splash to know they belong. We prioritize creating spaces — virtually, physically, and figuratively — that foster a sense of belonging for everyone at Splash. And we always welcome feedback around what we can do to ensure this for everyone in our community.
Be Real also means knowing when you need to take a break to take care of yourself and/or your family. Unique perks like our Mental Escape (M.E.) Days, which give each employee two days off per quarter, were specifically launched to help each of us be real about when we need time to pour back into ourselves. Failing to do so can lead to burnout. It’s always better to take an M.E. Day than burnout.
Being real also translates to how we ask for and provide feedback to each other, or share our individual points of view — another crucial aspect of healthy company culture. We seek progress in everything that we do. Whether it’s a performance review or feedback on a recent team presentation, we encourage an open feedback culture. In this context, being real does not mean being rude or disrespectful. How we deliver and receive feedback matters, and we take care in doing so.
Being real creates space for us to have productive and healthy conversations around the work that we’re doing. Whether you need to be real about missing a deadline or goal, or be real and ask for help or co-creation on a project, this value lets us bring more vulnerability into how we work together. Being real is about being accountable and also holding your peers accountable when something goes wrong or could be better. Part of sustaining a strong feedback culture is dependent on understanding when something can be improved.
But to be real, you have to trust those you’re interacting with. We believe in establishing trust with each other to have those vulnerable moments where we can be real and share our thoughts, feelings, and opinions with care and respect.
Being real also means acknowledging when there are limitations or blockers in the way of getting work done.
Especially as a distributed team, this value empowers us to seek clarity when something is unclear or could have the potential to cause confusion. Whether that confusion comes from the tone of the written communication or some other reason, we always assume positive intent. If there is any confusion, we encourage you to talk about it live.
Your care comes first. Always. You have to put on your own oxygen first before helping others. It’s one of the reasons our M.E. Days are a permanent perk. At Splash, you’ll always be supported to take care of your mental and physical health so you can show up as your best self every day. When we take care of ourselves first, we can show up and take care of peers and our customers.
This means taking time off when you need it and taking advantage of the different resources you have access to through Splash. Taking care also means giving your team a heads up before you take time off. We take care to make sure our peers have what they need to cover for us when we’re taking time off.
Beyond mental and physical health, taking care also means taking care of each other by leading with empathy and assuming positive intent. This requires us to remember the human in each of us. This value helps us remember that and reflect that in our actions. One example is being mindful of time zones when we’re scheduling meetings. With a global team, we take care to think beyond ourselves and consider our peers.
We believe in making sure everyone has an equal voice in any “room” at Splash to contribute and be heard. Co-creating lets us operate collaboratively and creatively within the processes and structures we have in place — without slowing us down. Our business and culture thrive most when we lean into cross-functional teamwork. Co-creation helps us stay agile. It was the original value that Splash was built on. And it’s this value that will help Splash continue to scale and grow our business well into the future.
But how do we actually co-create? Well, it depends. Everyone has a slightly different style of working and co-creating. That’s what makes this value the most representative of how inclusive we are — everyone is invited to co-create. It’s through co-creation that this book came to be, and will continue to evolve.
One important part of co-creating is making sure that everyone has what they need in order to show up and co-create. Accessibility checks are one way to do this at the start of a meeting. Posing a question to meeting attendees like, “Does everyone have what they need for this meeting?” That could mean something different to each person in that meeting, but it gives people permission to participate on their own terms. Remembering that people consume and respond to information on different timelines can make a big difference in how we co-create.
Showing up as an active team player is also how we think about co-creation at Splash. That could look like actively contributing to a conversation or project. Or it could mean being open to receive feedback or help, and trusting others’ expertise — especially when their expertise can help or support you in some way.
Loving the details is a frame of mind and a way of being. This value speaks to the high-performance culture that we’ve created and want to carry forward. Loving the details helps your teammates and customers trust you, while also creating the space for you to co-create autonomously.
It’s not about being perfect — we’re human, and we all make mistakes. It’s about having a keen awareness of and appreciation for the work you are touching. A love of all details is what helps us take something to the next level in the spirit of betterment, inclusion, or whatever it takes to make something even better. Loving the details is also about finding joy and taking pride in the work that you do.
When we love the process and take care to tend to the details, that's what sets us apart from the rest — this is what makes our work unique and special. This value translates to setting our people and teams up for success as well as our customers.
Since its founding, Splash has benefited from a culture of experimentation. We know that thought experiments are the key to innovation, and we want you to know that it’s okay to fail. Not every experiment will yield the desired results, but each experiment can be a valuable learning experience. Our stay curious value is about being open to the fact that while you might not have all the answers, you’re open to learning something new and trying new things.
Staying curious is also about active listening — with empathy. Being sincerely curious requires you to actually listen to what someone is telling you, without judgment. Whether you are seeking understanding, or asking for or receiving feedback, we encourage everyone to stay open-minded and curious, without making assumptions (unless you are assuming positive intent, of course!). Asking open and honest questions with intention (as opposed to leading questions, or ones you think you already know the answer to) is a great way to bring our stay curious value to life.
At Splash, we want everyone to have fun on this ride. That means enjoying life and making work fun. Finding the fun together helps us get through the tough times that we’ll sometimes face — like living and working through the pandemic. “Fun” will mean something different to each person — so we won’t try to put it in a box. Finding the fun doesn’t mean getting wild, attending every happy hour or social gathering, or being an extrovert. While we do pride ourselves on hosting some pretty epic events and gatherings (like Sploffsite and Splashgiving), finding the fun might mean taking a break during the day for a walk with your dog, a quick solo dance party, a bike ride, or a game with your kid outside.
When we look for ways to find the fun from a client-facing perspective, remember that we’re all human. Whether you’re engaging with someone over Slack, email, or on the phone, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of laughter or small talk. In fact, those little details can go a long way to create and keep that human connection.
We don’t just talk the talk when it comes to living our values. We walk the walk with how we recognize those who go above and beyond to bring the Splash core values to life. The Sharpie Awards is our quarterly ceremony to honor our teammates who most embody our company’s core values. Only seven winners are selected and celebrated at our quarterly Team Scrum events. It’s a huge honor to receive a Sharpie Award, so we don’t award the same person twice in a given year.
The most prestigious award to receive at Splash is our annual F*** Yeah Award. Every year at our Q4 Team Scrum, hosted around Splashgiving, we award an “employee of the year” who has best exhibited each of our seven core values, and whose spirit elicits the sentiment of “f*** yeah!” This person who goes above and beyond to live Splash’s core values every day is then announced as our F*** Yeah Award winner at our final Team Scrum of the year and receives an epic gift from Team Splash.
The 5 Breaths tradition at Splash started with an employee who volunteered to lead the company in a brief breathing exercise at the start of one of our all-hands meetings. This short, simple exercise is a great way to help meeting attendees be present and engaged throughout the meeting.
Taking five deep breaths is a quick way to bring a little mindfulness in your day, and is especially helpful on meeting-heavy days. If you’re a meeting host at Splash, we encourage you to try this out at the start of your next meeting and see how it goes. If you do choose to use this 5 Breaths tradition to begin meetings, be sure not to call on random people to lead this exercise. If you want someone else to lead in your meeting, ask them ahead of time. Remember to let folks know they can keep their camera off for it.
This reward is among one of the favorites at Splash, and for good reason. After four years of employment at Splash, each employee is entitled to a reward of a four-week sabbatical, which is in addition to our flexible PTO policy and built-in twice-quarterly M.E. Days.
This sabbatical is a reflection of our Take Care value, and employees with four-year tenure are encouraged to take advantage of this company perk.
We value giving praise where it’s due at Splash. Beyond the quarterly and annual awards we give out for embodying our core values, we use Slack and Lattice as praise-sharing tools.
Whether it’s for a direct report, peer, your manager, or a whole group of people, everyone at Splash is encouraged to share their praise publicly or privately.
As with everything we do at Splash, all of our efforts reflect our intentionality, which is crucial to our success — especially when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The word “intentional” (adj) means ‘done on purpose; deliberate.’ At Splash, we deliberately seek to create a culture and environment in which all people can thrive and do their best work.
This starts with our recruiting and hiring processes, which are shaped by our three strategic anchors:
Words matter and we’re committed to weaving inclusive language and communication into each step of a candidate and/or employee’s experience with us. In our recruiting efforts, this means all job listings go through Textio to make them more inclusive and eliminate potential bias in our recruiting communications.
Data also matters, and numbers don’t lie. Since we’ve enabled EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) data in Greenhouse, it’s helped us better understand potential areas of focus in our pipeline.
Our candidate sourcing strategies have broadened, too, as we continue to use the most results-driven tools to help with top-of-the-funnel candidate sourcing and pipeline. We also have an active membership to various platforms to promote our open jobs to underrepresented groups. Recently, we launched an internship program in partnership with the Flatiron School’s John Stanley Ford Fellowship. Through this partnership, we’re able to offer apprenticeships and support their mission of fostering the advancement of Black tech professionals.
Our efforts don’t stop there. Each Splash interviewer and hiring manager undergoes a 30-minute interviewer training to educate them on best practices to avoid biases. For more information on this specific training, you can review our Interviewer Handbook.
As candidates move through our recruiting and hiring pipeline, we’ve taken steps to remove bias from the application process and simultaneously improve the candidate experiences. Our partnership with Knac.io, founded by Ariel Lopez, kicked off in February 2021 and included a special workshop on this topic as part of Black Heritage Month.
What do our efforts to retain top talent and continue building an inclusive workforce look like beyond recruiting and hiring? There are a number of adjustments we’ve made to our culture that reflect our strategic anchor of progress over perfection.
In 2020, we engaged Collective, a private DEI firm, to better understand the current state of DEI at Splash. They conducted an anonymous company-wide survey to gather data, and then facilitated a deep dive workshop into their findings and recommendations with the entire Executive team. The process and findings were illuminating in many ways, and we’ve taken those insights and immediately started to take actionable steps toward making Splash an even more inclusive and equitable workplace, with a diverse team.
You belong at Splash. We know that impression management is exhausting and reduces productivity and performance. We also know that those who aren’t inclined to be outgoing, or who have been socialized to make themselves small, and marginalized folks who do not feel safe won’t be heard or empowered to speak unless we create the space and opportunity for them to do so. We’re committed to carving out that space intentionally in big and small ways.
An ERG is a network of employees who share a common identity, characteristic, or set of interests. This may include race, gender, age, sexual orientation, working parents, functional level, disability, veterans, etc. The group comes together and actively engages and gathers around a unifying mission.
ERGs at Splash are officially chartered organizations established by employees. Their function is to assist the organization in fostering an environment that excels in DEI initiatives by serving as the common voice for employees who identify themselves with a particular diversity dimension. These cohesive groups will assist Splash in removing barriers that could negatively impact the success of its members. Additionally, ERGs serve as internal communities, providing personal connections and affiliations for their members.
This monthly internal series is designed to help us address and discuss — as a community — a vast array of issues stemming from systemic racism, and ways we can support and uplift underrepresented and marginalized communities. Session topics have ranged from Microaggressions, to standing in solidarity with the AAPI community and more.
Reflecting our Take Care value, our employee perk of two Mental Escape (M.E.) Days per quarter is just one way we’ve adjusted our culture to be more inclusive of anyone dealing with mental, physical, or emotional health challenges. We want you to know that your health and wellbeing come first, always. Everyone at Splash is encouraged to take time to take care.
Effective communication is the foundation of healthy company culture. As our company continues to grow and expand, we respect that each department at Splash has its own subculture — with more specific norms and expectations around communication. This chapter articulates company-wide values, norms, guidelines, and expectations — more of a high-level view you could say — of our communication culture.
Before we get into the specifics of how we use each of our communication tools and share best practices, here’s a general list of tips and tactics to help you communicate effectively at Splash:
We encourage you to share your communication style and preferences with your manager, and peers. We also encourage going out of your way to find out what others’ preferences are, especially when you’re working with someone for the first time. This may seem insignificant, but it can play a huge role in establishing healthy and productive channels of communication.
Don’t assume that others know when you are online and available, or offline and unavailable. Keeping your Google Calendar up to date, and using your Slack status to share when you are on/offline, in a meeting, etc. are great ways to provide visibility into your availability. Be mindful of time zones before sending communications (emails, Slack, etc.) and, when possible, make it clear in your message that you’re aware of the different time zones and don’t expect an immediate response.
We always support a culture of being real, and respectfully providing feedback to each other or sharing our points of view. The key to making this possible, though, is trust. We need to trust each other to tap into those vulnerable moments where we can be real and either give or receive feedback. We also believe in taking care when giving feedback. Depending on the circumstances, feedback might be best given publicly or privately.
Even with an effective communication culture, we’re all human and miscommunications still happen. Especially in a remote-first culture, we must assume positive intent. When miscommunications do come up, we lean into our Be Real and Stay Curious values, and seek clarity.
Going to peers for help is a great way to lean into our co-create and show up values. When asking for help, show that you’ve done your research or due diligence first before pinging someone. Articulate why you are coming to them in particular (we try to avoid creating a “hero” culture that can come from assuming one person will always have all the answers.)
Slack is our default method for internal communication at Splash. Common use cases of Slack include:
While it’s true that messages can be easily lost in Slack, there are certain features you can use to reduce a message’s lossiness. It’s also important to know when Slack is not the best method of communication. For example, at different times sending an email, hopping on a phone or Zoom call, or using collaborative tools like Google Docs/Sheets, Confluence or JIRA, or Zendesk are the best ways to communicate. When feasible, in-person communication may also be the best option compared to other communication methods.
We put together a getting started guide just for you.
Managers and peers can give private feedback/praise through the Lattice tool. Formal performance reviews happen twice per year, but that doesn’t mean feedback (both positive and constructive) should stop in between review cycles. Our praise channel is a great way to highlight the incredible work done across the company and to recognize contributions from all levels of the organization.
While there are some obvious uses for Zoom — like 1:1s, departmental and cross-departmental meetings, team events, collaborative working sessions, and performance reviews — there are other key ways we use Zoom at Splash to enhance our culture, including for bonding (e.g., coffee with coworkers, STS meetings, etc.), and providing feedback in the moment.
Keep these things in mind when using Zoom at Splash:
If it’s not specified in the calendar invite, take into consideration the context and purpose of the meeting — including who else is in attendance — and use your best judgment to decide whether having your video on or off will impact other attendees’ meeting experience and/or the outcome(s) of the meeting. See more about what it means to show up at Splash in our chapter on Core Values.
Email is still an important way we share information that we benefit from documenting and/or sharing internally.
Keep these things in mind when using email at Splash:
Keeping our calendars up to date is an essential part of maintaining healthy communication between and among teams and departments.
Keep these things in mind when using Google Calendar at Splash:
Log your PTO (VAC), M.E. Days, and any other planned OOO in your individual calendar as well as our Vacation Awareness calendar. Different teams and departments may have additional ways of tracking time OOO. Be sure to review our Guide to Request and Document Time Off.
Meeting hosts should always include agenda details and the purpose of the meeting in calendar invites. We normalize invited meeting guests to inquire about and confirm that their attendance is necessary if it’s not apparently clear why from the meeting invite. See our “Splash Meeting Host Best Practices” guide in the next chapter for more tips on how we meet and gather.
Used as our internal wiki, Confluence pages are leveraged to document and share processes, resources/information, and access to various self-serve information. Ultimately, our use of Confluence empowers both teams and individuals to work autonomously without missing a beat.
Keep these things in mind when using Confluence at Splash:
As you can see, we have a number of core communication tools that we use at Splash. While phone and text messaging are particularly effective for on-site events, offsites, etc., we tend to use our other communication channels (Slack, Gmail, Zoom) more frequently than phone and text message communications. That said, many employees include their cell phone numbers in their Slack and Justworks profiles as a backup way to get in touch (mostly in case of emergency).
Town Halls are a chance for us to come together, showcase work being done across the company, and celebrate our wins. Previously, we hosted these events on Zoom + Splash Virtual Event Page. As of December 2021, we’re excited to begin hosting our Town Halls on Splash Studio — our new solution for virtual and hybrid events
Our quarterly Team Scrum events are a chance for the Executive team to share updates on our strategic direction. From important announcements to progress on major initiatives, these meetings help us make sure we’re all rowing in the same direction. Together, we explore questions like, “Where are we now?”, “Where are we going?”, and “How will we get there?” Plus, with guest speakers, musical performances, and our Sharpie Awards tradition, Team Scrums are one of the most meaningful ways we gather as a team.
What Team Scrums typically include:
Direct feedback is best given 1:1 or peer-to-peer. Sharing constructive feedback in a group setting is generally not the best avenue unless the feedback pertains to the entire group and does not unnecessarily single out one or only a few individuals. We take care to be mindful of this at Splash.
Keep these things in mind when giving or receiving feedback at Splash:
One of the strongest beliefs at the center of our culture is that gathering for a meeting or an event is one of the most powerful and meaningful ways we connect as people. In fact, we believe it’s one of the most profound human experiences we can have: being together.
We start each quarter with a virtual team meeting where we showcase and demo important work being done across the company, and celebrate revenue wins. These internal meetings keep us rowing in the same direction toward our business objectives. In 2022, managers at Splash will get to play a bigger role in producing these events and use them as an opportunity to demo high-impact projects and initiatives to the entire team.
Our beloved quarterly all-hands are an important channel for leadership to share business health updates and communicate our strategic direction. In these meetings, we typically hear from our CEO, Eric Holmen, as well as our Chief People Officer, Liz Hall, and other members of senior leadership who speak to progress made towards our OGSM (our three-year company objectives, goals, strategies, and measures). Team Scrums are also when we celebrate our quarterly and annual award ceremonies. Our chapter on how and what we celebrate breaks down how we honor our peers at Splash.
Managers meet with their direct reports regularly one-on-one to provide coaching and mentorship, and employees are encouraged to connect with peers whether in-person or virtually. Our Coffee with Coworkers Slack integration will randomly pair you with a peer for an informal coffee chat. Looking to brainstorm ideas for a project you’re working on? Invite a peer to join your brainstorm and watch how easily you co-create in a one-on-one or small group meeting.
We can’t lie. We love to have fun. Sometimes we gather to do just that. You’d be surprised by the bonding power of a shared laugh. From company-wide to team-specific programming, we’ve always believed that our just-for-fun events are an important investment in our culture. We aim to offer inclusive programming that considers the growing range of passions and interests of our internal community, and we also encourage people to connect in less formal ways.
Our culture wouldn’t be what it is without the unique event programming we curate every year. But there are two annual events that stand out from the rest:
Designed as a week of virtual programming, Sploffsite offers a range of experiences curated to bring us closer to our business — closer to our mission, our customers, and each other. In 2021, daily sessions featured executive keynotes, guest speakers, and just-for-fun events that ranged from a dazzling magic show to vinyasa yoga, a comedy show, and more. Perhaps the most memorable part of Sploffsite? The epic swag packs. They’re not to be missed.
One of the most cherished events of the year, Splashgiving is our version of a holiday party — minus stuffy corporate vibes, plus all the meaning and intention. Splashgiving is an annual team event that we host in November. Years ago, it started as a way for our team to celebrate the American Thanksgiving holiday — to come together, break bread, and ground ourselves in gratitude. Today, Splashgiving is more than just a fancy dinner. It’s an opportunity to give back and take care of the local communities where we live and work. In 2021, after nearly two years of remote work, we hosted two in-person retreats over two days in Amsterdam and Scottsdale, Arizona.
Understanding that traveling for work is not always the optimal choice for everyone, whether due to health concerns, prior obligations at home, or any other reason, attending Splashgiving is completely optional. While there are times when work travel is necessary for business reasons, this isn't one of them. Splashgiving is intended to be purely a fun experience and, in its essence, a job perk. If, for whatever reason, you prefer to skip it we'll still send you a holiday gift from Splash to help you celebrate in your own style.
As we continue to build a strong remote culture, we know there’s no replacement for the bonds we form when we gather in person. For Splash, the future of remote work includes at least one in-person or hybrid team offsite per year, with virtual accommodations for anyone who cannot reasonably travel to attend in person.
Since the start of the pandemic, one of our top priorities has been keeping our community safe. That means creating policies and following guidelines and protocols that promote the health of our employees, their families, and our extended communities. As of 2021, any employee who wishes to visit one of our physical offices or attend a Splash event must be fully vaccinated and send proof of vaccination to HR. Our policies around mask-wearing indoors, temperature checks, and other precautionary measures have and will continue to follow local government mandates and recommendations from the CDC.
Our Safer Spaces policy is another reflection of our values and culture. It outlines our code of conduct for anyone who attends a Splash event in person or virtually. We’re serious about creating a respectful and inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome and safe.
From our all-hands to team meetings and cultural events, like much of the rest of the world how we meet has shifted largely to a virtual format. While Zoom remains a primary communication tool, Splash Studio — our very own virtual and hybrid event solution — is an exciting new virtual venue and way for us to gather online.
Whether in person, virtual, or hybrid, to make our meetings and events most impactful, we take time to think through and plan for high-touch experiences no matter how many people are in attendance.
First, ask yourself if a discussion is needed, or whether written comms (email, memo, Slack, Google Doc, JIRA ticket, Confluence page, etc.) could work in lieu of a meeting. In some cases, there will be clear benefits to hosting a meeting or event. If you’re not sure, ask your manager or check in with relevant stakeholders.
The best meetings are those that are planned with the attendees in mind. As you prepare to host your next meeting, think through any questions or needs that attendees may have ahead of time. The more you can come prepared to address anticipated questions and needs, the greater the value your meeting will provide to everyone in attendance. In addition to following the steps outlined above, meeting hosts are encouraged to consider these other best practices, including:
Sending a pre-meeting reminder note is a great way to share details like whether attendees are expected to show up with their cameras on, and anything else they should do to prepare for the meeting. See more in our Core Values chapter on how we Show Up to meetings and expectations around being on-camera as a remote attendee.
We want every employee at Splash to grow and develop during their tenure. You invest your time into our business by showing up and executing each day, and Splash is committed to investing back into each and every one of you.
As the needs of our employees shift and evolve over time, so do our strategies for nurturing employee growth. Here’s what we’re doing today to facilitate growth and development across the organization:
Our bi-annual performance reviews provide a clear channel for employees to do a self-review and receive feedback from their managers and peers. Having a strong feedback culture is something we value and intentionally cultivate. The result is a consistently high number of internal promotions and hires that we celebrate each year. Performance reviews and subsequent promotions happen twice a year.
As much as we celebrate becoming a brand-new company every time a new hire joins us, we’re also a brand new company each time someone moves on from Splash. And that’s not a bad thing. We don’t buy into the idea that it’s taboo to outgrow Splash. In fact, in many cases, people move on to new opportunities that they were able to land thanks in large part to the skills they acquired through their time at Splash. Now that’s something to celebrate.
We believe in normalizing the entire employee lifecycle at Splash: from recruiting, to career growth and development, to moving on. That doesn’t mean we don’t do everything we can to retain our employees. We attract top talent to our team, and we strive to nurture that talent. We want each employee to get the most out of their time with us. There are times, though, when your career goals might not completely align with current business needs and objectives. In those cases, direct reports and managers are encouraged to lean into our “be real” and “take care” values and explore solutions that allow everyone to feel supported.
This book is a living document, not a fixed artifact. Our culture will continue to adapt and change, and we will continue to update this Culture Book. If you’re reading this, there’s a high likelihood you’ll have a direct hand in shaping the future of Splash’s one-of-a-kind culture. If you’re interested in becoming more involved in any culture-building activity, resource, or tool, reach out to anyone on the People team or apply to work with us. It's all about co-creation.
