ZoomInfo has been certified by the Great Place to Work Institute for the fifth consecutive year, a designation that recognizes our excellence in several areas of workplace health. Great Place to Work benchmarks thousands of organizations every year, which makes earning its certification a significant achievement.
We are especially proud given that, between organic growth and acquisitions, we have more than doubled our employee population in the past 18 months — from about 1,200 employees to over 2,500. Rapid growth typically comes with growing pains and cultural disruption, but as a company, we’ve worked incredibly hard to preserve and develop a culture that puts employees’ success at the heart of everything we do.
That’s not to say we didn’t face hurdles. Since DiscoverOrg acquired ZoomInfo in 2019 and merged two data powerhouses, we have acquired and integrated seven other companies, varying in size from 15 employees to 150, with offices from coast to coast in the U.S. Our acquisitions have also expanded our international footprint to include offices in Canada, India, and Israel.
The realities of COVID-19 health restrictions also made our 2021 Great Place to Work certification review unique:
- More than half our employees joined ZoomInfo during the pandemic
- Most of our employees had never met each other or their leadership in person
- Our remote workforce was collaborating across 15 time zones
- We had onboarded more than 200 new employees from recent acquisitions
How did we navigate all these barriers as we aimed to scale our culture? First, we started with the basic building blocks of culture: our values.
We Are Values-Driven
Our values guide our decision-making when it comes to programs and practices that affect our employees. We ensure every new employee understands our values even before their first day on the job, so they have a clear idea of what it means to be a ZoomInfo employee. We believe this lays the groundwork for a winning culture, which we then reinforce in our day-to-day work by aligning our behaviors to our values.
- Difference Makers. We embrace innovation and strive to be 1 percent better each day. We want to be the best place to work and the best place to be a customer.
- One Team with One Dream. We are collaborative and inclusive. We don’t waste time on things that don’t add value, nor do we waste talent by burning cycles on bad processes. We recognize exemplary work often and celebrate our successes.
- Define New Possibles. We are willing to take calculated risks. We aren’t siloed. There are no politics. Every day, we look beyond what is possible and define a new path.
- Get Stuff Done. We make data-based decisions but are not paralyzed by perpetual analysis. We work with a bias towards action.
- Our Bar is High. We anticipate our customers’ needs before our customers know what they want. Our work ethic doesn’t end with our customer — we embed these same behaviors in how we work with each other.
Our Great Place to Work survey results strongly indicate that our employees believe in our values. Ninety-four percent of employees say their colleagues are willing to give extra effort to get the job done, and 92 percent agree that when you join ZoomInfo, you’re welcomed, treated with respect, and given responsibility.
We Prioritize DE&I
ZoomInfo works hard to ensure that every employee is a full member of the organization. Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) network, called ZoomInclusion, cultivates an inclusive culture through recruiting, retention, development, community outreach, and diversity education.
The ZoomInclusion network consists of six voluntary, employee-led Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). ERGs strive to create inclusion and awareness through community and conversation:
- Zoom In Color works to create honest spaces to elevate the importance of our community of Black professionals while celebrating individuality.
- ZI Pride furthers the advocacy, mentorship, and education of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, and Questioning colleagues in our workplace with a focus on education surrounding the history, accomplishments, and talents of these communities.
- ZoomInfo WIN works to increase the representation and advancement of women in all roles at ZoomInfo through professional and personal development.
- ZoomInfo Military & Family (Zulu Mike Foxtrot) builds relationships for past, present, and future service members of any global armed forces service, providing resources, fellowship and military-themed events.
- AAPI Allyship Network celebrates Asian cultural diversity, raises awareness surrounding violence and discrimination against the AAPI community, and creates a safe space for AAPI employees to connect.
- ZI Wellness aims to create a safe space for personal growth by providing resources and breaking down stigmas surrounding mental, emotional, and physical health.
These ERGs help develop future leaders, increase employee engagement, and expand our market reach. The events led by our ZoomInclusion groups help make room for authenticity, create transparency, and normalize complex conversations — empowering us all to make real change.
We are proud of our DE&I culture and our survey results show that employees agree: 97 percent agree that people are treated fairly regardless of their sexual orientation, 96 percent agree that people are treated fairly regardless of their race, and 93 percent agree that people are treated fairly regardless of their gender and age.
We Have a Culture of Learning
At ZoomInfo, we believe everyone can build a career with us and we want everyone to find their perfect fit. We have a philosophy of promoting from within wherever possible. We’re proud of the many employees in leadership roles who worked their way up from entry-level positions.
We accomplish this mobility by ensuring everyone has access to training and development opportunities. Our recently deployed learning and development platform, ZoomInforward, offers hundreds of self-paced learning courses and technical training on everything from creating work-life balance, to hosting effective meetings, to giving a stellar presentation.
Our team of learning and development professionals also conducts first-class in-person training. One of their most successful programs has been Engineering Bootcamp, which enables us to accelerate development on key initiatives and provides an exciting new pipeline for onboarding diverse talent into our engineering organization. This six-week immersive training program acclimates participants to the company and products and equips them with the tools, knowledge, and skills to be successful.
For new managers, we offer Management Essentials, which is an orientation to the fundamentals of becoming a successful people leader. The six-session virtual learning program is designed to kick start the journey into being a manager. Sessions include setting clear expectations, managing performance, cultural sensitivity, coaching and feedback.
For more experienced managers, our Management Accelerator is an eight-week hybrid learning program designed to turn today’s managers into tomorrow’s leaders. The program is geared towards managers with a minimum of six months of experience and delivers a leadership toolkit, insights on the latest principles of neuroscience, team assessment strategy, and a peer network. The cohorts are encouraged to help each other solve problems and share best practices.
A select number of high achievers are identified for targeted leadership coaching. This program, called BetterUP, is designed for our director-level team members who are chosen by our leadership team to work one-on-one with a certified coach on any personal or professional challenges. The program is instrumental in preparing our directors to become better leaders.
We Care for Our Employees
In the past year and a half, ZoomInfo has prioritized employee wellness. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. We’ve responded by redoubling our efforts to keep our employees happy and healthy.
To start, we revamped our benefits to include a health savings account (HSA) employer match, an additional HSA-eligible plan, and an EPO plan, which does not require employees to select a primary care provider. This gives employees more flexibility in how they manage their healthcare choices. We also significantly expanded our vision and dental insurance offerings by switching to much larger national carriers, again providing more flexibility and choice to our employees. Finally, we expanded our coverage related to transgender healthcare benefits to ensure all our employees had an equitable experience at ZoomInfo.
To help employees manage their health indicators, we launched a no-cost wellness app called Virgin Pulse to the entire organization. Within Virgin Pulse, employees can start wellness journeys like meditation or mindfulness, sign up to compete in step challenges with their coworkers, keep track of their care calendar, and start healthy habits. Participation in these journeys and challenges can earn users a 5 percent savings in medical insurance premiums.
Caring isn’t just HR-driven. In the GPTW survey, 89 percent of our employees reported that at ZoomInfo, people care about each other.
We Build Employee Pride
Although we are highly competitive, we are also highly supportive. At ZoomInfo, we build each other up and celebrate together. Unlike other sales-focused companies, our individual and team successes are celebrated by everyone. We have Slack channels specifically dedicated to calling out great performers in real time, a weekly email from the CEO highlighting departmental wins, and two distinct recognition programs to celebrate achievements on a daily and quarterly basis.
Finally, a key element that makes ZoomInfo a great place to work is that we are laser-focused on winning. In a recent all-hands meeting, CEO Henry Schuck said, “I’m not here to finish second.” This attitude is pervasive — in all things we aim to win.
Our culture of winning, and celebrating those wins, inspires deep pride in our workforce. In the GPTW survey, we found the following:
- 90% of employees agreed with the statement “My manager recognizes and appreciates my work.”
- 90% reported that they can see how their daily work relates to company objectives.
- 89% are proud to tell others they work at ZoomInfo.
At ZoomInfo you’ll often hear the phrase, “Hit Your Number.” Hitting your number isn’t just meeting your quota — it’s smashing your quota. That’s how we’ve emerged as the leading business-to-business intelligence platform for sales, marketing, and recruiting teams, arming them with software, data, and technology.
And that’s why employees proudly describe the ZoomInfo energy as “addicting.”