As our VP of People, Caron Cone hasn’t wasted any time getting to know our teammates, building upon our vision, and strategically crafting a Future of Work plan that prioritizes and benefits all of our employees around the world.
During this incredibly exciting time for Hyperscience, [we grew 3x in 2020 and we’re on pace for similar growth in 2021!] Caron knows what it takes to ensure our employees are happy and motivated to keep reaching new heights.
Check out part 2 of our conversation below, and catch up on part 1 here.
We last left off discussing our transparent and open culture. That said, what does the Future of Work look like for Hyperscience?
Our global Future of Work strategy launches on October 1st. With this plan, employees will have the option to primarily work from the office, primarily work from home, or a combination of both — which we’re calling our “flexible office” option.
When developing this plan, we considered the needs of both our business and our employees. We surveyed employees about their preferences for the future of work and found that the majority wanted flexible options.
Looking at the marketplace, we recognized that providing flexibility in our approach would help us accelerate our global expansion strategy and enable us to attract and retain top talent around the world.
At the same time, we wanted to maintain office space and actually grow our physical presence in key locations (like New York and Sofia!) to offer employees workspace, collaboration opportunities, and allow us to service customers.
Work-life symbiosis is an essential value at Hyperscience. As a working parent, how do you strike a balance between your job and time with your family?
Work-life symbiosis means that our employees take care of Hyperscience and Hyperscience takes care of our employees.
This value is core to who we are as a company, and hopefully that commitment energizes all of us to give our best every single day. This mutually beneficial relationship means that our employees know that their investment in the company is valued and reciprocated.
As a working parent, flexibility is key to being able to juggle both personal and professional demands. There are times when I need to step away from work briefly or flex my hours to accommodate something that is going on with my family. I have always prioritized my family’s needs and truly feel that Hyperscience supports my desire to do that by providing flexible work options and great technology that allows me to stay connected to the work when needed — even if I’m on the move.
What advice would you give to young people just starting out in their careers?
There are a number of things I would share with early career professionals that would prove beneficial — particularly if the goal is career progression.
- Deliver excellent performance. Your goal should be to move beyond competence. Excellence should be the standard. Understand the business and know how your role fits into the broader context of the organization. Seek out ways to be impactful and deliver.
- Manage your brand. Be someone who is known for excellence, collaboration, and a willingness to go the extra mile. Make sure your reputation is one that is associated with both delivering and enabling the success of others.
- Make sure you’re known (and it’s for good things!). Actively cultivate relationships at all levels of the organization. Shape the narrative around your performance and impact, and seek out the right opportunities to appropriately share how things are going. Make sure you are top of mind for the decision makers in the company, and enlist your leader’s partnership in creating opportunities for exposure for you.
- Establish and maintain mentoring relationships. Mentors can accelerate your development exponentially because they have already been where you are going. Take advantage of their experience and wisdom. Leverage their expertise and be an engaged, active, and action-oriented mentee. The best relationships are with those who turn from mentors and sounding boards into partners who actively champion your success.
- Have realistic expectations. The desire for promotions often exceeds the number available, and they rarely happen as quickly as any of us would like. There are a number of things that have to come together in order to receive a promotion. Career progression is a very complex mix of desire, preparedness, and opportunity coming together at precisely the right moment to allow someone to achieve what they want to achieve and the business to satisfy a need. The key is to be patient within reason and continue to deliver. Focusing on the things above will position you as someone that has the potential to take on greater responsibility. It is a much more effective approach than repeatedly applying for roles and not getting them.
Finally, what are you most excited about working on during your first six – nine months at Hyperscience?
I am excited to be a part of a growing organization with an exciting future. During the initial months, the People Team and I will focus on scaling our processes and programs. More specifically, we will launch our Future of Work approach, continue the work to shape a great culture, formalize our approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and create a Strategic Workplace Planning approach that will position us to have the right talent in the right roles with the right skills at the right time. All of this work is exciting and impactful to the business.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for the opportunity to share my journey and highlight some of the many great things happening at Hyperscience! This is an amazing company with brilliant, kind people with exciting and impactful things ahead. Please follow us on LinkedIn and keep an eye out for the many great opportunities to join our team.
Thank you to Caron for your time and insights! You can connect with her on LinkedIn here, and learn more about our innovative team and culture here.
