At Archlet, we are all designers of culture

Summarizing culture —what it is and how it is created —into one short blog post, is no easy task. What is it that makes Archlet’s culture so special? The reason it is so difficult to describe is because culture is lived constantly, in every interaction, in every task, in every decision. Everyone at Archlet is an active creator of culture, not a passive consumer. Culture is not a project that a task force can design and then implement across a company. Instead, we believe culture is co-created, every day, by everyone. I once read a CEO say that "I’ve always believed that you design the culture you want, or it will be designed for you". The latter, however, is exactly what we strive for; we want everyone at Archlet to be an active designer of our culture. In order to achieve this, we aim to hire fantastic people whose values align with our own and who we know will bring about great culture and continue to make Archlet such a special place.

The cornerstones of our values is to always act ‘Mit Härz’ (literal translation from Swiss German: ‘with heart’). No matter the situation or how difficult the conversation, we communicate and act with empathy and kindness and make sure the words we choose create a safe and constructive environment. People who share this value care about others and bring passion and heart to anything they do. Every day, I see dozens of small acts of kindness. People offering support and going out of their way to help, whether it is taking out the recycling, helping someone in a different team with a tricky Excel formula, replacing the milk in the coffee machine, or staying behind to help tidy up after an event. We believe that people who aim to help others, rather than help themselves are those that create great culture and make Archlet such a special place.

Members of the A-Team have so much drive, love taking ownership and making an impact. We give each other the space and freedom to bring new ideas and try them out, not just within our specific roles but also more generally at Archlet. Our A-Team heroes have created and built so many amazing things out of their own initiative, from a weekly book club, to aFormula 1 Fantasy League, to a fully volunteer-based event committee in charge of all our events, big or small. It is these acts of initiative and the people behind them that create great culture and make Archlet such a special place.

Being a Swiss company, we also proudly consider ourselves true ‘Mountain Climbers’, who love the climb and the hard work that comes with it. One of the biggest threats to culture is resignation after a moment of failure, mistake, or set-back, whether it is not closing a client ora feature delay. True mountain climbers dust themselves off, get back up, come in the next day, energized, with a smile on their face, ready to brainstorm ideas on how to be better next time. They are the type of people that create great culture and make Archlet such a special place.  

Finally, we believe that these values can be found in anyone, no matter their background, gender, race, or any other aspect that makes people wonderfully unique. We look for people who share our values but who are different in nearly every other way, so that we can learn from each other, be innovative in completely new ways, and create an environment where everyone feels welcome. It is in bringing together people from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, each with their own unique perspectives, that creates a great culture and makes Archlet such a special place.  

At Archlet, we are all designers of culture. It is the people that create the wonderfully diverse, active, and kind community we have at Archlet. By having a smile on our face, by organizing spontaneous lunches by the river, by sharing playlists in our #music channel on Slack, by being curious and driven, by taking ownership and showing an appreciation for self-reflection, together we create culture, every day, one small act at a time.