Erin Senior Manager, Operations and Human Resources

Number employee at Medallia:

Four. In the beginning, it was just me and the founders in an office. I remember building my own desk the first day. It was a time of real learning on the fly because we were developing as we went.

Role at Medallia:

Evolving. I’ve worn a lot of hats— from operations to tech support to managing staff. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have NEVER been bored.

Current focus:

HR, especially recruiting and onboarding of new employees. I also do a lot more visa work because our company attracts people from all over the world.

Changes since the early days:

More structure. Today, we have specific departments and additional policies and procedures. But we’re not bureaucratic: we’ve kept the culture of dropping people in and sending them running; we’ve kept the openness to sharing ideas.

Most striking characteristic of Medallia:

It’s openness. You see people milling around, asking questions, throwing out ideas, testing concepts, getting answers, getting feedback. That’s one of the great things about this place: it’s 100 percent open. You don’t ever get someone who is afraid to share information or to want to provide it. One reason for the openness is you’re allowed to make mistakes and learn from them here.

Background:

Former zookeeper, degree in zoology and animal behavior.

Similarities between Medallia and zookeeping:

Some. We joke about it, but in a funny way, some parts of the roles are very similar. In the bird department, we tried to find enrichment activities that kept the birds’ brains occupied. The same goes here. We try to create an environment where people are happy and interested. We keep tabs on how people are doing, how they’re working with others in their different projects.

Onboarding process for new employees:

Depends on the department. On the analyst side, we’ve put in place a hands-on training program that really helps new members get up to speed, which is important because we have a big pipeline of new customers.

Turnover at Medallia:

Really low. The company does a great job matching people to various roles and moving people to new roles as needed.

Reason for low turnover:

The way we hire. The application process is very detailed, with extensive interviews and written challenges that don’t really have right or wrong answers but that help us understand how candidates approach things. Some people may find the process annoying, but it really helps us hire the right people who will fit our culture. This is not a place for everyone—it’s very fast-paced.

Traits most critical to success at Medallia:

Out-of-the-box thinking, intelligence, entrepreneurial spirit. You’ll do very well here if you can hold your own, not in an aggressive sense, but in the sense of getting into the race and running. And that’s a good thing, because you can excel really quickly if you want to, and you’ll be rewarded for doing so.

Unique aspect of the Medallia culture:

We really like each other. We get a lot of participation in company happy hours even though these people talk to each other every day. And some even hang out afterwards. That’s really cool. Outside of happy hours, we have a bunch of people who love to golf together. A new group of tennis players is forming. And I’ve taught a group of interns how to rock climb. Offsite get-togethers happen all the time.