Company Core Values Examples For Startups: 15 examples for a positive work culture across global tech companies [2022]

Starting a company is an exciting yet frantic time. With so much to do, tasks related to HR, like defining the company's culture and instilling core values, can become secondary to what seem like more pressing matters related to the product or funding.

However, there are real competitive advantages to beginning a business with meaningful company values in place.

From guiding future decisions to creating a positive company brand and offering an excellent employer value proposition to potential hires, company values offer real value to companies that do it right.

So what are company values? Why are they important? And what do successful examples of company values look like?

You can jump straight into our list with the links below.

15 Examples of Company Core Values For Tech Startups:

1. Google
2. TikTok
3. ShopBack
4. Drift
5. Buffer
6. Stripe
7. Student Beans
8. Netflix
9. Slack
10. Microsoft
11. Salesforce
12. Airbnb
13. HubSpot
14. Red Hat
15. LinkedIn

To learn more beyond examples of company core values, let us take you on a tour below of company values, and help you on your way to defining what matters the most to your business.

What Are Company Values?

Company values (also called core values or corporate values) are a set of principles, philosophies, and beliefs that guide a business.

They list what the company values the most, defining both how the company operates and the work culture they produce. Company values inform future decision-making, define how the business interacts with customers and partners, and how they treat, communicate with, set expectations for, and recruit staff.

Common Company Values Examples

While every company is different, there is significant overlap in what they want to be and how they strive to act. Therefore, many themes and topics are present across company values irrespective of their business model or industry.

Examples of common company values include:

• Transparency
• Customer focus
• Integrity
• Respect
• Diversity
• Innovation
• Passion
• Recognition
• Growth
• Curiosity
• Personal development
• Teamwork
• Accountability
• Giving back

It's not hard to see why these core values examples are so prevalent. They represent attributes and practices common in successful people and companies.

The Benefits of Company Values

When taken seriously and promoted successfully by management, company values can affect your entire organization:

HR

In many respects, company values define the entire HR approach for an organization. With company values in mind, HR leaders can shape company culture and boost recruitment efforts by improving the employer brand to retain top talent and get job seekers excited.

But beyond just HR leaders, core values that shape the company culture should be a set of company values which shapes positive employee behavior, with every team member having the same values.

HR leaders can help companies define the company’s mission statement, but the true shaping of a company’s culture is when all employees understand and uphold the common company values and pursue growth in that direction.

Sales

Company values help focus training for sales personnel and define how the company wants to communicate and showcase its products.

Marketing

Marketers can utilize company values when creating a business brand or specific strategies for improving how the business is perceived. Core values help companies define themselves and show the average person, external stakeholders, job seekers, and future hires what the company work environment is about.

Customer Service

Ensures customer service reps know what is expected of them when interacting with clients.

Beyond future hires and job seekers, companies with highly aligned cultures have well defined business goals that resonates with their employees. Companies who succeed in articulating company values will result in higher employee satisfaction, with its employees demonstrating the same values.

This includes displaying positive behaviours aligned to the mission statement - such as having continuous learning, focus on the user, and seek to excel in customer satisfaction.

Research and Development

The values company set can inform decision-making during product development, and when implemented correctly, help boost creativity and innovation.

Accounting

Company values make all employees feel part of one team, boosting engagement and motivation. When staff feels wanted and enjoy both their work and colleagues, they are more productive. This increases the ROI businesses get from their employees, saving them money and increasing value for external stakeholders.

Research on the Effectiveness of Company Values and Positive Culture

These all sound great, right? But don't take our word for it. There is plenty of research out there showing the benefits that effective company values and positive workplace culture can produce.

The National Bureau of Economic Research surveyed 1,348 North American companies. Results show 92% of senior executives believe that improving corporate culture increases company value, and over half say it is in the top three drivers of company value.

Moreover, initiatives like employee recognition programs, team building activities, and regular check ins enhance the Company's DNA, foster innovation, and develops more engaged employees across the entire workforce.

2018 research by LinkedIn shows just how vital culture is to talent. 70% of professionals in the US say they would refuse to work at a leading company if it had a bad workplace culture. Furthermore, 65% say they would rather accept lower pay than have to put up with a poor workplace environment.

Strong company culture generates engaged employees. Research by Gallup lays bare the cost of actively disengaged employees. Analysis from their global database of 35 million workers suggests employees not engaged in their work cost the company the equivalent of 18% of their annual salary.

Another vital factor to consider is company values' effect on potential customers. A survey of 7000 consumers by the Harvard Business Review found 64% of respondents who have a relationship with a brand cite shared values as the primary reason.

So when it comes down to it:

• Executives say company culture increases the value of the company
• Job seekers place significant weight on workplace culture when looking at employers
• You can prevent lost productivity and reduce staffing costs by generating employee engagement
• And consumers are more likely to build brand relationships when they have shared values

Startup Core Company Values

Instilling core company values during startup is a great way to get your business going in the right direction.

Startups are born from motivated, intelligent people with great ideas. When these types of people start a company together, a work culture naturally evolves.

The early team at a startup can feel like a close-knit family (they often spend enough time together to seem like it), and company values may not feel like a priority, or team members may be so like-minded that what matters most to the company is self-evident.

But as the team grows, there are significant benefits to creating company values as early as possible. Take the time to understand what you want to achieve and codify the core values guiding and informing your journey.

At a time of rapid growth, it can be vital to have company values in place to fall back on. They help create well defined business goals, let you know where to focus your energy, and maintain the family spirit that got you this far while adding new people to the team.

By instilling company values from the outset, you can build highly aligned cultures across the entire business with a positive work culture aligned to the company's DNA. Engaged employees' behaviours reflect exactly what a positive team and work environment can do to even the average person.

Plus, the startup phase is a great time to experiment with defining your company and its values. While smaller and more agile, it is easier to adapt your company values to get the most out of your team.

Defining company values early on allows you to try different approaches and adapt if you pivot to a new strategy or feel your company culture requires a subtle shift in focus.

When creating your company's core values, make them unique to your business and the people who make it up. Find what is specific to your company and create core values that reflect that. The best company values for startup businesses introduce them to the world and show how they will be successful.

Let’s dive into some examples of company values in practice, which will be a guide while you create your own list of company values.

15 Real-World Examples of Company Values

1. Google Company Values

The search giant defines its company values and philosophy with a list of "Ten things we know to be true".

Google Core Values:

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.
3. Fast is better than slow.
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
7. There's always more information out there.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn't good enough.

The list has been revised and updated throughout the years, but the original "Ten things" list of company values dates back to when Google was just a few years old.

It is safe to say Google has had some success since then. Google currently boasts almost 140,000 employees worldwide and is regularly discussed for its innovative company culture and extraordinary work environment, including nap pods, games, free food, and even on-site physicians.

In Glassdoor's 2021 Employee's Choice Awards, Google ranked 7th in the US and 18th in the UK for the best place to work. This is helped because Google's "Ten things we know to be true" has tangible effects on the company's culture and employee satisfaction.

"You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer" is more than just a slogan. With the effects of the pandemic, Google has shifted to a hybrid work week where employees spend three days in the office and get to choose where they work for the remaining two. They even released a new tool for employees to estimate their pay and benefits when remote working.

Another example is how their corporate culture influences productivity with "Great just isn't good enough." Google likes to set goals they know may be unreachable. That's because in reaching for them, they can go further than expected, boosting employee engagement and productivity through refusing to settle for the product they've built, even if it is already great.

2. TikTok Company Values

TikTok has taken the online world by storm, growing from 65 million annual users in 2017 to 1 billion in 2021.

But it's not just growth and new users where they are excelling. TikTok US, TikTok UK, and TikTok Singapore are all certified by Great Place to Work, a global authority on workplace culture.

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, brands its company culture as "ByteStyles".

TikTok Company Values:

• Aim for The Highest
• Be Grounded & Courageous
• Always Day 1
• Be Candid & Clear
• Be Open & Humble
• Champion Diversity and Inclusion

Put into action, TikTok asks for a pro-active mindset from every team member, promoting an entrepreneurial spirit and refusing to settle for the status quo.

This means emphasizing continuous learning and growth and articulating company values such that employees can express their ideas and create value through collaboration.

3. ShopBack Company Values

ShopBack is a shopping and cash back reward platform with over 30 million members across Asia and Australia.

ShopBack develops its company culture using #SHOPBACK core values.

ShopBack Company Values:

• Succeed as one
• Honour our customers
• Own the problem
• Pave new roads
• Be better everyday
• Always be curious
• Can’t is not an option
• Keep it real

The core company values that form the #SHOPBACK acronym are used during employee performance reviews and the recruitment process to identify future hires that share the same values.

Mutual respect and openness are critical attributes for all ShopBack employees. The company expects staff to have open and honest relationships, exchanging constructive feedback to help the organization as a whole improve.

An example of a core value in action is "Own the change you seek." To encourage healthy living, ShopBack staff has overseen weekly HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) and yoga sessions themselves.

This is made possible thanks to ShopBack hiring self-starters willing to take tasks upon themselves, and having an organizational culture that values open and honest relationships.

4. Drift Company Values

Drift is a marketing platform used by over 50,000 businesses to begin personalized conversations with potential customers on their terms through chat, email, video, and automated processes.

Drift's presents its company values through its Drift Leadership Principles.

Drift Company Values:

1. Put the customer at the center of everything you do
2. Create a culture of respect and trust
3. Practice extreme ownership
4. Have a bias for action and deliver daily results
5. Seek feedback, not consensus
6. Push for high standards
7. Stay scrappy
8. Be a curious learning machine

Given their industry, it makes sense that Principle #1 is a customer-centric core value. Drift puts the customer over short-term wins or responding to competitors. The company asks all staff, no matter their role, to make every decision with the customer in mind and devote time every day to better understand their customers.

As part of Principle #2, Drift places a significant focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The company is one of only 2% of venture capital funded companies led by Latinx founders. Drift aims to be a role model in tech for underrepresented minorities and shows what the company stands for by supporting a range of ERGs promoting diversity and inclusion.

5. Buffer Company Values

Buffer is a social media management platform, driving engagement and meaningful results for companies marketing on social media. Founded in 2010, the company has grown to deliver services to over 75,000 customers and become an official marketing partner of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Buffer's company values focus on customer satisfaction as well as employee experience and personal growth.

Buffer Company Values:

1. Default to transparency
2. Cultivate positivity
3. Show gratitude
4. Practice reflection
5. Improve consistently
6. Act beyond yourself

Their core values shape the organization's values and company culture.

Transparency reaches every aspect of their corporate values with salary information for the entire workforce, diversity & inclusion data, and pricing made public. Plus, all their code is open source and free for anyone to use.

6. Stripe Company Values

Stripe is a tech company building software to facilitate accepting payments and managing businesses online. Founded in 2011, Stripe has grown to over 4,000 employees and millions of users.

They are one of the pioneer tech companies who understand that corporate culture influences productivity, with Stripe’s core company values driving the point.

Stripe Company Values:

• An Environment Of Growth
• Intentional Communication
• Fast-Paced, Detail-Oriented
• Voraciously Curious

And these have a tremendous effect on employee engagement and the entire organizational culture.

Stripe utilizes a flat structure without titles that gives employees every opportunity to grow based on what they are good at. Examples include people hired to work in accounts beginning a publishing arm, and interns growing to run business units.

The company values inform how they share and communicate. This includes unique communications strategies through Q&As, wikis, emails, internal messaging, and a once-a-week "All Hands" meeting where each team explains last week's work and what they have planned for the upcoming schedule.

Staff is even encouraged to "lurk" in other teams' projects. Stripe believes this helps employees understand what is happening across the entire organization and provide meaningful feedback.

7. Student Beans Company Values

Student Beans is a marketing tech company creating student loyalty programs to help brands connect with the new generation of consumers. Starting in the UK, the company has grown worldwide with offices in the US, Australia, and the Phillippines.

While growing, Student Beans has won awards from Great Place To Work. For medium-sized tech companies in 2021, Student Beans’ core company values helped it rank as the UK's 11th best workplace and 16th best workplace for women.

Student Beans defines its company values with the acronym SHARP.

Student Beans Company Values:

• Speed Wins
• Be Humble
• We are all Accountable
• Deliver Results that Wow
• Choose Positivity

These core values define the company culture and its entire approach to business.

Student Beans offers flexi-time and remote-first as default, allowing staff to work where and when it is best for them, improving work life balance. They also boost employee satisfaction through a perk they call "Flexi-Friyay," where staff can take Friday afternoons off by logging overtime throughout the week.

The core company values shape many other aspects of life at Student Beans, including a wellness allowance and internal recognition through the SHARP Awards. The wellness allowance demonstrates what the company stands for through financial contributions to programs chosen by team members.

8. Netflix Company Values

Over the years, the streaming juggernaut has developed a distinctive and thriving company culture. Netflix's list of company values is:

• Judgment
• Communication
• Curiosity
• Courage
• Passion
• Selflessness
• Innovation
• Inclusion
• Integrity
• Impact

These are the behavior and skills Netflix cares about the most in their employees and look for in future hires to ensure the entire workforce shares the same values and know exactly what the company stands for in terms of common company values.

As well as listing their core values, Netflix's philosophy is "people over process," and what makes their organizational culture special is how much they:

1. encourage independent decision-making by employees
2. share information openly, broadly, and deliberately
3. are extraordinarily candid with each other
4. keep only our highly effective people
5. avoid rules

Following these company core values and philosophies, Netflix believes they create engaged employees that can collaborate effectively, forming a "dream team."

9. Slack Company Values

The company values that Slack lives and works by are:

• Empathy
• Craftsmanship
• Courtesy
• Playfulness
• Thriving
• Solidarity

The company exists for teams to communicate, collaborate, and simplify whatever task they are working on. Through their product and their own company values, Slack wants to boost employee engagement and allow staff to bring more of themselves to their work lives.

Slack's company values play a defining role in their positive work culture through a range of connected, remote-friendly, flexible, and inclusive opportunities.

While shaping the employee experience to build a sustainable business, Slack offers team members access to benefits that have a real effect on work life balance. Including:

• Paid time off for staff to rest and recharge
• Impressive healthcare coverage
• Programs that take a holistic approach to employee well-being, family planning, and more

10. Microsoft Company Values

Microsoft has been around a long time, and there have been numerous shifts in the company's culture.

The company's mission statement is:

"to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more."

In action, this translates to company values of:

• Innovation
• Diversity and inclusion
• Corporate social responsibility
• Trustworthy computing

Two more recent core values focus on AI and Responding to Covid-19 together.

Microsoft's company values emphasize technology as a force for good and building a better future through meaningful innovation strategies, listening to all voices, creating a sustainable future, and delivering secure, private, and reliable computing experiences.

Microsoft has a separate list of corporate values:

• Respect
• Integrity
• Accountability

These show the organization's values and promote a positive team culture while defining how they expect every team member to treat customers, as well as colleagues and partners.

11. Salesforce Company Values

While building one of the most popular CRM tools on the market, Salesforce has also made a name for itself as a great place to work. In Glassdoor's Best Places to Work 2022 Employees' Choice Awards, Salesforce ranks 10th in the US and 4th in the UK.

Salesforce is built on the following core values:

• Trust - We act as trusted advisors.
• Customer Success- When our customers succeed, we succeed.
• Innovation- We innovate together.
• Equality- Everyone deserves equal opportunities.

These company values guide everything Salesforce does as a company - not just fancy words used by HR leaders. They are passionate about stakeholder capitalism, where the company works as a force for good, helping its customers, employees, partners, and communities, as well as the planet and society as a whole.

Salesforce's founders launched the 1-1-1 model, committing 1% of their equity, technology, and employee time to improving education, equality, and the environment. Since its inception, the Pledge 1% movement has gained more than 12,000 companies looking to build sustainable business practices.

12. Airbnb Company Values

Four company values guide Airbnb:

• Champion the Mission - We're united with our community to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.
• Be a Host - We're caring, open, and encouraging to everyone we work with.
• Embrace the Adventure - We're driven by curiosity, optimism, and the belief that every person can grow.
• Be a Cereal Entrepreneur - We're determined and creative in transforming our bold ambitions into reality.

These core values match the company's goals of delivering the perfect holiday for customers, empowering them to find the ideal place to stay and activities to do.

The company values flexibility and personalized experiences for its employees a well as its customers. Airbnb provides an employee experience that promotes healthy living and travel while delivering the financial resources staff need and the ability to give back. Airbnb benefits include paid volunteer time, healthy food and snacks, annual travel credit, and continuous learning and development opportunities.

Airbnb has grown considerably over the years. Whether it is new regions, implementing new technology, or expanding into new businesses, Airbnb relies on its four company core values to meet new challenges creatively.

13. HubSpot Company Values

Marketing and sales company HubSpot has developed a "Culture Code" defining the company's DNA. It explains company values and what it expects from employees using the Acronym HEART:

• Humble
• Empathetic
• Adaptable
• Remarkable
• Transparent

HubSpot also promotes Culture Code Tenets:

• We solve for the customer.
• We work to be remarkably transparent.
• We favor autonomy & accountability.
• We believe our best perk is amazing peers.
• We lean towards long-term impact.

HubSpot believes company culture is a product and should be obsessed over. That is why their company values and culture code are always a work in progress. They periodically update core values to better reflect changes in the company and what they aspire to be. To date, HubSpot has revised its culture code more than 25 times.

14. Red Hat Company Values

Software company Red Hat is defined by its open-source development model. This is reflected in their company values:

• Freedom
• Accountability
• Courage
• Commitment

Freedom and accountability help them promote a free exchange of ideas out in the open to fuel growth and foster innovation. With code available to everyone, Red Hat is free to harness the collective energy of open source communities.

Red Hat believes when given opportunities, people can make a real difference. And their employees strongly agree. As a result, red Hat was ranked 27 on Fortune's 2021 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work and the 6th best workplace in Technology.

15. LinkedIn Company Values

LinkedIn's culture and company values are the foundation of their business. They create a collective personality for the entire organization. LinkedIn makes decisions based on the following core company values:

• Members first
• Relationships matter
• Be open, honest, and constructive
• Inspire excellence
• Take intelligent risks
• Act like an owner of #OneLinkedIn
• Embody diversity, inclusion, and belonging

LinkedIn prides itself on creating a mindful and compassionate workplace focusing on bridging the gap by achieving equal representation, opportunity, and pay for women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups.

While not every risk works out, the company looks for employees who aren't happy with the status quo and want to pursue growth through new innovative strategies.

PraisePal

There is a lot to learn and a lot to gain when it comes to company value.

A recurring aspect found in the company values of many successful businesses is: employee recognition and sharing their successes with the people who made it possible.

Employees are a company's biggest stakeholders, cheerleaders, and their most important resource; it is nice to find a meaningful way to go a step further in repaying them.

Implementing employee recognition programs is a great way to reflect core company values and boost employee engagement.

PraisePal is a simple way to do just that. Our system of employee recognition lets you immediately recognize great work and reinforce positive contributions for the future.

So get in touch today and learn how PraisePal can help you put your company values into action.

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