Like us, you may feel bombarded by bad news from around the world and wish for more stories of hope and positivity. To this end, we reached out to some of our Best Workplaces™ to ask them to share with our Great Place to Work® community the measures they have put in place to support both their people and their business during this difficult time.
What we heard back greatly encourages us. These are businesses and organizations that place people before profits and this commitment shines through at times like this.
In our first installment, we heard from Royal Plaza on Scotts (RP™) who placed first on our 2019 Singapore Best Workplaces™ List and now for our next piece, we shine the spotlight on HubSpot, who placed 4th on the same 2019 list.
Product and Pricing Changes
In the face of a rapidly-evolving pandemic situation where social distancing has become a top priority, HubSpot quickly recognized that many businesses would have to move whole portions of their operations online.
To help businesses adapt, they are in the process of adding multiple free tools to their arsenal. Meetings, quotes, e-signature and 1:1 video creation tools will soon be made completely free for 90 days upon activation.
They then proceeded to temporarily suspend marketing email send limits for their Professional and Enterprise customers and to increase limits on calling to 2,000 minutes/month for Starter and Professional customers of Sales Hub and Service Hub for the next 90 days to help businesses keep in regular contact with their customers and stay connected to their communities,
In strong support of small businesses, they drastically slashed the cost of their Starter Growth Suite by more than half, from $112.50 USD/month to $50 USD/month. Plans to increase the list price of net new Sales Hub Professional seats have also been temporarily shelved.
Alongside such measures, HubSpot pledges to deliver undisrupted 24/7 support and encourage their customers to reach out if they have urgent needs.
Supporting Solutions Partners
To help ease some of the financial pressure facing HubSpot’s solutions partners, any of their Platinum, Diamond, or Elite Solutions Partners can opt to receive a six-month advance on their commissions from HubSpot. HubSpot is currently expediting Q1 commissions for all solutions partners.
Community Programs and Guides
In addition to the policy changes laid out above, HubSpot has assembled a team of educators, community managers, and creators to develop a series of guides and programs for this new era in business.
Virtual Events: Over the coming weeks, customers will be able to join virtual meet-ups and HubSpot user groups where they will be able to talk with HubSpot employees, industry experts, and, most importantly, one another.
Online Community: Customers can connect with other members of the HubSpot Community right now.
Relevant Content: They will also be releasing a series of content examining the times and providing guides on how to rapidly evolve one’s go-to-market. The series will begin with addressing the most urgent need many of their customers have: devising ways to operate more effectively from their homes instead of a central office.
Employee Travel
Within the organization, HubSpot has imposed a ban on all company-related travel until 30th of April, 2020.
At present, employees with pre-planned trips to global HubSpot offices, customer visits, or events are receiving assistance in cancelling their travel. For HubSpot offices in regions with rapid spread and a high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 locally, this has included cancelling in-person new hire training and onboarding.
For personal travel, all employees who have travelled by airplane or cruise ship have been asked to self-quarantine for 14 days upon their return.
Remote Work
HubSpot has always been a strong proponent of remote work, with over 300 employees worldwide working fully remotely. In light of the situation, they are leaning even more heavily into remote work in 2 ways:
- Requiring all employees to work remotely (their global offices are currently closed)
- Sending employees a comprehensive guide to remote work, including an IT preparedness checklist
Events
HubSpot has cancelled several large-scale upcoming events, both internal and external, including their annual Partner Days in both Dublin and Cambridge, MA (attendees can join virtually instead), GROW Tokyo, and the President’s Club trip for Sales employees.
While they are optimistic that the COVID-19 will be contained before their annual INBOUND event, they are also planning for every possibility. As such, they have extended their 100% refund policy to June 1.
Other events, such as the HubSpot User Groups and speaking engagements, for example, will be carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Hiring and Candidate Experience
It would be understandable if recruitment was temporarily halted in these trying times. However, HubSpot remains committed to continue recruiting globally but of course, with a few changes to make it safer for all involved.
Their recruiting and onboarding processes have been adapted to become fully virtual. For the foreseeable future, all candidate interviews will happen via phone or Zoom and their new hire onboarding has been made fully remote, including training sessions, HubSpotter panels, and social activities.
Through and through, the HubSpot approach is one that stems from empathy and urgency. In tune with Great Place to Work Best Practices, even in these challenging times, their topmost priority is still their people – their employees, customers, partners, prospects and candidates. People before profits.
A huge thank you to our Best Workplace, HubSpot, for sharing their story with us. You may also visit their website to know more of how they are responding to COVID-19 and its economic impact.
If you too would like to share with the Great Place to Work® community about your company’s initiatives to combat the virus, please reach out to us at singapore@greatplacetowork.com
