Our People: 50+ Cultures, One Global Ethos

Many tech companies say that they’re global. But, what does that actually look like, or even mean? I can’t speak for the whole crowd, but at commercetools it means we have employees across five continents in 35 countries. Our team collectively represents 66 nationalities — a melting pot of innumerable cultures, perspectives and experiences.

So what do we do with that? Countless data shows that diversity is key to overall better business performance. McKinsey’s latest Diversity matters even more: The case for holistic impact report found that “Companies with representation of women exceeding 30 percent (and thus in the top quartile) are significantly more likely to financially outperform those with 30 percent or fewer.” 

We’re seeing this at commercetools. As of January 2024, 39% of our total workforce are women, with 36% holding leadership roles within our product and engineering business areas. Our commitment to equity of all kinds is reflected in how our employees view their experience. Just a month ago, we were recognized by Built In for our “emphasis on culture, diversity and inclusion,” as well as the distinct company culture and industry-leading perks we offer that go above what’s expected. I’m really proud of this designation as it’s something we’ve intentionally set out to accomplish.

While that’s great, we want to do more in 2024. We’re investing in leadership development, equality and equity initiatives, and creating more memorable experiences for the commercetools community. These include, but aren’t limited to the following:

• Rolling out commercetools LEAD, our new leadership development program which supports internal leaders throughout their journey. Whether they’re a first-time people manager or a leader of leaders, this program empowers our leaders with the skills and knowledge to manage effectively and make a meaningful impact no matter where they are in their leadership journey.
  
  We understand that we ask a lot from our leaders. They have a higher accountability to deliver, so it’s only fair to equip them with the right tools, know-how, mentorship and coaching opportunities so they can be the best for their teams.
  
  

• Introducing a Women in Leadership program, which is designed for women aspiring to become leaders. Training is only one piece of this program; it’s also focused on empowering our women to overcome some of the issues that hinder their career advancement. We want to give them the tools and the community support that helps them believe they can do it — we want to boost their confidence so that they take those leaps of faith necessary to propel their careers forward.
  
  It’s really important to note that the entire executive team is sponsoring this program, and it’s launching with a lot of support, mentorship and coaching from our male leaders. It’s not only women for women, it’s the entire organization for women. A community coming together and recognizing we can do more to put women into leadership roles.
  
  

• Launching our DEI Advisory Board, co-founded by commercetools and our investor, Insight Partners. The board’s purpose is to provide strategic guidance and help launch public good initiatives throughout Insight Partners’ portfolio companies, and drive meaningful change across the ecosystem and the global communities it serves.
  
  To establish a base for our DEI initiatives, we launched our first DEI Report, which we’re planning to update on an annual basis to ensure we are practicing what we preach, properly monitoring our progress and achieving our milestones.

• Migrating to an in-person onboarding process. According to studies, starting a new job is one of the five biggest stress sources in life, so you cannot take for granted the emotional burden that comes with starting a new job. We want to provide newcomers with the opportunity to meet their peers and executives, to learn about the company and our processes and to build camaraderie early on in their commercetools career journey.
  
  

• Appointing Chief Excitement Officers (CEOs) to build on our sense of community across our offices, hubs and virtual spaces. We created this program to support us in creating fun initiatives that bring our employees together. We asked employees to volunteer for this role: Two local to each office and three for our remote employees. Each group has a budget to curate events and experiences that celebrate being a part of the company and help foster stronger relationships.
  
  

• Investing in equipping our ERGs (employee resource groups) with the tools and resources they need to uplift and support their commercetooler community while making an impact externally. These are so important in supporting the diversity of our organization. 

  We put a lot of focus on the gender balance, and this makes sense because 51% of the population is women. Of course, you want that representation in your organization as well. However, once you have that, diversity becomes very natural and embedded in your practices. It acts as a catalyst — I think the ERGs are a part of that natural progression.

When I became Chief People Officer at commercetools roughly nine months ago, I knew I wanted to be intentional about shaping and maturing the already vibrant culture. I did not want to use fluffy buzzwords without strategies to back them up. My vision included ensuring that we understand how each process or initiative supports the greater business while leading with strong, reliable data. Without it, we’d be guesstimating and hoping for the best rather than listening to what our workforce wants and needs.

commercetools was already a highly employee-centric, bold and distinctive organization. Our people were instinctively cultivating their own communities when I got here. This year, we’re going to continue on that path, but bridge the gap between those communities and increase opportunities for growth for everyone.

Read more about our open roles and the commercetools experience across the globe here.