Note: AdRoll Group rebranded as NextRoll in September 2019.

We are thrilled to be recognized as one of the top companies in the Bay Area for the seventh time by San Francisco Business Times’ Best Places to Work. As you’ve heard me relay before, at AdRoll Group, we pride ourselves on building a culture that is true to our core values of hiring great people and helping them grow, being open and authentic, and doing right by the customer and our community. In a recent employee survey, one of our Rollers said it best: “The culture is one of a kind. It’s not trying to be ‘fun and cool’ like every second tech company in the Bay. It genuinely is.”

Culture

We truly believe our AdRoll Group culture is what sets us apart from other companies. Our core values are embodied by six animals:

• The Owl reflects wisdom and a focus on hiring great people and helping them grow.

• The Dog demonstrates loyalty and doing right by the customer and our community.

• The Bee represents innovation and building products that work for everyone.

• The Beaver shows a focus on being industrious and doing more with less.

• The Monkey embodies fun and a mantra of taking work, but not ourselves, seriously.

• The Jellyfish represents transparency and being open and authentic with those around us.

Here are a few examples of how we live our values at AdRoll Group.

Owl: Hire great people and help them grow

We believe that wellness is a key ingredient to success, so we support our Rollers in being their best selves by promoting physical and emotional wellness. That is why, two years ago, we introduced “RollWell,” our health and wellness program focused on improving wellness through activity and education. Last year, we collectively moved over 200,000 miles, with the executive team leading from the front. We launched the Movecoach app to track individual and collective progress, providing perks and prizes for hitting milestones along the way, with the overall goal of getting everyone up and active. We also host on-site fitness classes like Krav Maga and yoga, and an educational speaker series on topics such as stress management, mindfulness, and nutrition.

Additionally, we provide annual flu shots and biometric screenings on-site and cover 100% of employee premiums for top-tier health, vision, and dental insurance. We also believe that part of overall health and wellness is supporting Rollers outside of work. We are proud to say that we cover 12 weeks of paid leave for new mothers and 6 weeks of paid leave for fathers, co-parents, and adoptive parents.

“RollWell has been an amazing addition. Both mental and physical health are very important to succeeding in the day-to-day role.”
-Anonymous Roller, annual Engagement Survey

Jellyfish: be open and authentic

Our vision is to reflect the diverse communities in which we live and work, to create a strong sense of belonging, and to harness Rollers’ diverse talents to drive innovation and sustainable growth for our business. That is why we created a global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program—and we are proud of the impact it’s had so far. Since its inception, we have increased the representation of women in leadership roles across AdRoll Group from 30% to 38% and the overall representation of underrepresented minorities within our US offices from 7% to 11%.

Additionally, we have seen the organic founding of six employee-driven resource groups (ERGs), which work to advance their communities, both within and outside of AdRoll Group. Our ERGs sponsor book drives for local schools, host walking tours of the Castro, lead internal educational dialogues on historically important topics like Juneteenth, and hold fireside chats with external experts in the field—including a discussion with Blair Imani on the interconnected and intricate nature of social categorizations such as race, class, gender, and religion.

Our DEI Initiative has three overarching pillars:

• Hiring: Identifying and nurturing sources of diverse talent

• Inclusion and Belonging: Fostering an inclusive work environment for all Rollers

• Equity: Ensuring all Rollers have the opportunity to grow, contribute, develop, and be successful at AdRoll Group

Within each pillar, we have set ambitious goals for 2019. For example, our Inclusion and Belonging goal is to achieve at least 80% agreement on self-reported sense of belonging for groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in the tech community. We use the results of our annual DEI Survey and focus groups to drive programming and action toward making AdRoll Group a more diverse and inclusive workplace for all Rollers. As part of that programming, we offer quarterly Roller-led Unconscious Bias Trainings and Ally Skills Workshops. Additionally, we bring in external experts to facilitate conversations such as “Beyond Blame and Shame: New Ideas for Engaging Difference.”

“We put a strong emphasis on culture, environment, DEI… All of that contributes to feeling comfortable at work, which then contributes to feeling more genuine and genuinely participating with and for the company.”
-Anonymous Roller, annual Engagement Survey

Dog: do right by the customer and our community

Our commitment to the community is a foundational element of AdRoll Group’s culture. We give all Rollers the time and opportunity to give back through volunteer efforts that focus mainly on education, professional development, and community support. We call these efforts AdRoll Gives Back and have a volunteer group of Rollers who coordinate activities across the globe.

In building out the scale and reach of AdRoll Gives Back, we have made the choice to work with a handful of key partners so that we can have a deep and lasting impact. One of our longest-standing partners is June Jordan School for Equity (JJSE), which is part of the Circle the Schools program, an initiative that pairs tech companies with underserved public schools across San Francisco. The program introduces students to opportunities in tech and builds a relationship between local schools and the tech community. JJSE is the perfect partner for us: they’re a social justice–oriented school that lives their values of respect, integrity, courage, and humility, which strongly resonate with us.

We are in our fifth year of partnering with JJSE, and in that time we’ve built a deep relationship with the students, teachers, and administrators, which has allowed us to focus support and resources where they are needed most. We’ve also partnered with the SF Future Grads program, hosting more than 20 student interns throughout the years. These internships are a tangible means of demonstrating that a career in tech is a real possibility for the students, and that they are welcome at AdRoll Group.

In addition to hosting interns, we have partnered with JJSE in many other ways, from providing breakfast before tests, to helping teachers set up their classrooms and supporting seniors with college applications. We have also had the unique opportunity to have thought-provoking conversations with students around topics such as the effect gentrification is having on them as San Francisco students and what our role as a tech company is in addressing that. We’ve found that the relationship with JJSE has helped to foster an open and honest environment in which mutual understanding can be built.

Perhaps the most rewarding thing about this partnership is that it really is a two-way street. We have skills, knowledge, and networks to share with the students, and they have helped us reflect on our role in making this city great.

“I love AGB events. It’s great that we’re trying to give back as much as we can and becoming an inclusive workplace.”
-Anonymous Roller, annual Engagement Survey

If you are interested in being part of a culture where you can be open and authentic, make a real impact, and grow your career, join us!