by Kendall Shepherd
Last Tuesday, Opal was recognized by Inc as a “2025 Top Places to Work” for the second year in a row. For anyone in the people management and culture space, this is the equivalent of winning The Oscar!
First and foremost, I need to thank the Opalites who directly gave anonymous feedback to the Inc to determine the winners. The team members at every organization have the most influence over whether or not a company earns recognition – as it should be.
However, I also want to reflect on the choices Opal as a company has made that have enabled this. Although those who aren’t in the field sometimes think that a strong company culture emerges organically, that’s not accurate. A successful company culture is the direct result of an intentional philosophy and principled choices.
I’m going to dig into my philosophies, some actionable steps you can take and what this looks like for Opal.
My Top 7 Cultural Pillars
Before I jump into my list, I want to highlight that culture is an investment. Creating a truly people-first culture can sometimes mean putting the people before the business. If you are in people operations, you know that can entail making your case to leadership for a better culture for the people.
Fortunately though at Opal, our leadership is 100% committed to this mission. They don’t just talk about building a people first culture – they live it just as much as I do.
Without further ado, there are my 7 pillars of a winning culture:
1. Promote Work Life Balance – One of the most essential yet one of the easiest to get wrong. Saying you value work life balance is important. However, at busy organizations, this falls to the wayside if intentional decisions aren’t made to protect it. One of the most important things we do is set the very clear expectation that if you are off – you are NOT responsible for email or slack. The other actionable thing we do to promote work life balance is giving off the first Friday of every month to the whole company. While we do have unlimited PTO, having everyone take off at once removes the dynamic of work FOMO.
2. Give Support for Families – The reason that most of us are here – the reason that most people work – is to support our families. Any good company culture will support an employee and their families. First things first, we establish norms that it is A-okay (in fact its great) to have your kids on Zoom calls and playing in the background. Beyond that, we allow flexible working hours to ensure that you can drop the kids off at school or take them to a doctor’s appointment or anything else.
3. Unlimited PTO (if you do it right) – Unlimited PTO sounds great on paper, but can actually be a net negative for employees if you don’t do it right. Companies have learned that employees with unlimited PTO actually take far less than with a traditional structure. That’s not our style. At Opal, we make sure everyone takes two to three weeks of PTO every year at a minimum. By setting a minimum of PTO you can take we guarantee that everyone takes advantage of this perk.
4. Be a Team – Not a Family – For a while, calling your company “a big family” was the in-vogue way to discuss culture. However, that’s not really accurate or healthy. You don’t have boundaries with your family – you do things for your family that no employer should ever ask. Instead, our culture is the culture of a high-performing sports team with a great clubhouse atmosphere. We have fun together, we share personally, and we’re all working together for the same outcome.
5. Offer Healthcare & Benefits Package – When I said that a winning culture was an investment, this is a big part of that. Ultimately, good benefits are expensive – but they are absolutely worth it. I am incredibly proud that Opal prioritizes healthcare. We offer leading healthcare plans, while covering 100% of the premiums for employees.
6. Remote Always – It’s no secret that remote work is under attack. However, for many employees (for a whole myriad of reasons) remote work can be the healthiest and most personally fulfilling way to work. That is why we have no plans to ever announce an RTO mandate. However, we do offer our PDX employees the option of going to a co-working space where they can see and collaborate with other Opalites who like to work in person.
7. Encourage Everyone to Be Their Full Selves – Of course, Opal says that we are committed to creating a workplace where everyone can be themselves. Opal doesn’t just say it though – we show it. There is a genuine desire to learn more about and celebrate differences. We accomplish this by running a variety of programs that explore and celebrate our diversity. One of the most popular of these are our Lunch and Learn webinars where members of the team present what makes them unique.
Always Committed to Culture
While I am beyond excited that we were recognized by Inc, that doesn’t mean I am going to stop iterating and working to improve the culture of Opal. Building something like this requires consistent work and attention.
If you’re in people ops and like to discuss any of this, please connect with me right here.
