The Stellar Development Foundation is Certified as a Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work (GPTW) is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue and increased innovation.

An Index Survey was sent out to collect feedback on employee experience and overall happiness, and 82% of our team participated in this survey. For context, a positive response rate of 65% or greater is needed in order to be certified. We were officially declared a Great Place to Work with an overall positive response rate of 96%! ‍

Based on our semi-annual engagement surveys, it’s no secret to us that SDF is a great place to work. Our engagement surveys are conducted through CultureAmp twice a year to gather key data we need to assess the health of our team, culture, employee engagement and happiness.

Overall, SDF achieved a “favorable” engagement score of 91%. For each question that impacted this score, we scored 11-24% higher than comparable organizations and companies.

Here’s a deeper look at our most recent engagement report (Eo2020):

Understands how work contributes to company goals: 98%

• SDF is a mission-led organization that works to create equitable access to the global financial system. Our organization was founded on the belief that inequities and disenfranchisement from the global financial system must be solved, and we believe technology is part of the answer. This overall score confirms our team's commitment to the mission.

Have confidence in and favor our leadership team: 94%

• The leadership team at SDF demonstrates proactiveness, gathering employee feedback through weekly 1:1s and other discussions. During bi-weekly management meetings, leaders then decide how to best translate this feedback into tangible action items.
• Leadership also collects feedback through more formal processes, such as an engagement survey conducted twice a year. After these surveys are reported out, leadership then embeds feedback-based objectives into their quarterly and yearly goals.
• By compiling all this feedback and acting upon it, leadership is then able to develop new policies and communicate these major updates during SDF’s weekly all-hands meeting. Employees are welcome to ask leadership any questions they have and continue the conversation.

Social Connection: 93% Favorable

• It is of paramount importance at SDF to create an environment where everyone feels included, heard, and treated fairly. This past year has been especially challenging, as much of our team missed having the opportunity to be together in-person. Even with a distributed team, SDF prioritizes team bonding because these opportunities help strengthen teamwork and collaboration. We stay connected through in-person/virtual events, happy hours, learning & development opportunities, and seminars with guest speakers.

Work & Life Blend: 92% Favorable

• We work hard and believe that taking time off from work is essential, both personally and professionally.
• In addition to offering flexible PTO and company-wide holiday breaks, we’re proud to offer employed parents 12 to 26 weeks of leave to bond with their new addition to the family.

Collaboration & Communication: 87% Favorable

• This number increased to 92% when employees took the GPTW Index Survey in May 2021, compared to 87% when this survey was taken at the close of 2020.
• Improving open and proactive communication while remote has been a company-wide effort to keep us connected during the past year.
• Our team members also wrote a piece for our community blog on best practices for working from home and collaborating with virtual teammates. This was a reflection of both our open culture as an organization and a desire to share learnings on what works well for us and why, so that Stellar partners and community members could benefit from that knowledge.
  

These engagement survey results gave us the confidence to apply for the Great Place to Work certification. ‍

According to the results of the GPtW survey, “100% of employees at Stellar Development Foundation say it is a great place to work compared to 59% of employees at a typical U.S.-based company.”

Here are additional results we’re excited to highlight:

• 95% of employees see the impact of their individual contribution to the organization.
• 96% of employees take pride in their work.
• 98% agree that leadership's behavior resonates with the company’s strategy and values.
• 99% of employees strongly agree that there is a balanced treatment for all people in the distribution of tangible and intangible rewards.
• 92% agree with management’s willingness to engage employees in collective efforts.
  

We are proud to be a people-first organization that goes great lengths to provide resources, support, and an environment that sets our team and community up for success. The close parallels between our engagement survey and Survey Index results validate the effort put into making SDF a great place to work.‍

We are at our best when we create an environment where everyone feels included and can be their most authentic selves. These surveys highlight our workplace strengths, but also show us where we can improve. We are continuously listening and looking for new ways to ensure our employees feel great about working at SDF.

If SDF sounds like a team you’d like to be a part of, connect with us!

The Stellar Development Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure.