Eric Yuan founded Zoom in 2013 with the vision of building a user-friendly video communication platform that is compatible and highly functional on all devices. In April 2019, it went public, and much was made about the successful IPO and profitability. However, Zoom became widely known and used after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak when many people across the world began working from home. The company’s first- time mobile app installations skyrocketing by 728% from 2nd March 2020. Zoom became the go-to platform for families, businesses, friends, and communities to collaborate and communicate.
The Frictionless Video Vision
After working at Webex and Cisco for many years, Eric Yuan was well aware of the customer pains, so he endeavored to act on the issues by creating a video-first product. The frictionless video vision is the focus which the company has developed its product and the basis of its culture. Everything the company does revolves around creating and nurturing convenient and effortless communication with communities, customers, and its team.
Zoom strives to develop an environment where individuals can work smarter. It requests its customers’ opinions and puts the feedback into practice to make the platform much better. The vision that began with creating frictionless video developed into a caring culture that significantly affected employee behavior.
Delivering Happiness
Besides meeting the customer needs, Zoom is committed to delivering happiness. While that sounds like a huge promise, the company has successfully delivered it to its customers, and employees (about 2000) spread worldwide. It encourages its employees to find out and always remember what makes them happy to bring their best versions to work.
New employees are allocated dedicated mentors who guide and teach them everything about the company’s vision and culture. Every Zoom office holds inclusive quarterly meetings to foster stronger bonds and strive to leave positive impacts in the community by offering discounts to non-profits and educational institutions, volunteering, and supporting charity initiatives. Additionally, the company’s volunteering group, the Happy Crew, runs programs, drives events, and comes up with creative ways for recognizing their co-workers.
Employee Satisfaction
Comparably ranked Zoom number 1 for happy employees in the United States in 2019 and its Glassdoor reviews are as follows: 98% CEO approval rate, a friend recommendation rate of 96%, and the employees gave it a 4.7/5.0. Furthermore, Glassdoor ranked the company’s CEO number 1 with an employee approval rating of 99% in 2018 and the second-best place to work in by Glassdoor and Forbes in 2019.
The Correlation between Product Development and Company Cultures
In an interview in 2019, Eric Yuan reiterated the interdependency between product development and company culture. He believes that the product is more or less the result of the company culture. Although you can come up with a good product without a great company culture, it is usually not sustainable.
Zoom’s spirit of giving back was seen during the COVID-19 early days when it gave free Zoom licenses to k-12 educators. While a community-minded, forward-thinking act would render the Zoom team’s life harder, it was the right thing to do.