How OpenWeb Prioritizes its People Despite Rapid Growth

Hot on the heels of a $150 million Series E funding round, OpenWeb is ready to enter the next phase in its growth journey. But according to Director and HR Business Partner Javier Ramos, the idea of evolution doesn’t just apply to the company’s financial coffers, or even its numerous open roles. It also means the organization is going to scale its care for its people, offering them support while allowing them to show up to work as their authentic selves. 

“We’re a company that not only welcomes people and their unique talents, but embraces them,” Ramos said. 

For Ramos, all of this growth is setting OpenWeb up for continual success. And while there’s much to be enthusiastic about regarding the company’s future, there’s one thing that energizes him the most: the opportunity to become better. 

“What excites me the most is all the lessons we’ve learned during this current stage of hyper-growth,” Ramos said. “I’m truly excited to see what unfolds next.”

Built In NYC caught up with Ramos to learn about the company’s plans to increase its headcount and focus more heavily on employees’ well-being. 

Javier Ramos

Director, HR Business Partner • OpenWeb

How does the company support individuality in the workplace?

OpenWeb offers space for people to be their authentic selves. Companies often claim they do this, but then ask employees to leave their cultural identities, native languages and personal conversations at home. Here, we look for cultural adds, rather than people who merely fit a mold. 

What opportunities do employees have to connect with their peers?

We host monthly “safe space group” meetings. These meetings allow team members to discuss a variety of topics, from current events to collaboration solutions, without the presence of senior leaders. Any action items resulting from these meetings are typically passed along to leaders to help enact change. 

Since our office is projected to open at the beginning of 2022, we’ve made an effort to meet with the team at least once per quarter to host events and allow team members to spend time with each other. In August, we took everyone on a cruise around NYC, met up for bowling and rented out a few restaurants for private dinners. We’re hosting more events later this year, including a visit to an escape room, a core values celebration brunch and talks from guest speakers.

What are the company’s current diversity, equity and inclusion goals?

Our teams are constantly thinking of innovative ways to attract and retain diverse talent. Our diversity plan for 2022 is focused on ensuring hiring managers are trained to avoid biases during interviews. We’ve created topics for each step of the interview process to avoid redundancy and ensure managers are assessing on the same topic. We also curate a list of questions that correlate with the interviewer’s topics.

Although the recruitment process is important, OpenWeb also has retention goals for 2022, especially regarding diverse hires. We can retain our top performers by allowing them to grow in a space that supports them in both their current role and future career plans. 

How does the company ensure the recruitment process is clear and fair?

We are highly transparent with our internal teams and candidates. We consider the interview process a two-way street, meaning candidates are learning as much about us as we are about them. Our recruiters generally take all initial calls and prepare candidates for what they can expect throughout the process, such as who they’ll meet, topics they’ll cover and a general timeline. Following all preliminary candidate interviews, we discuss feedback for each applicant. This process creates a form of checks and balances. It ensures hiring managers aren’t merely recruiting former colleagues, friends or family members and also prevents bias from infiltrating the process.

Here, we look for cultural adds, rather than people who merely fit a mold.”

If I’m in an interview loop, I often won’t review a candidate’s resume. I trust the recruitment team is bringing in qualified applicants and try to avoid making assumptions about candidates based on past work experience. Instead, I focus on my specific interview topics, which usually pertain to a candidate’s tenacity and cultural addition to the team, and ask questions surrounding these focus areas. These questions don’t require mention of past employers, college degrees or other resume details that may sway my decision.