The InterWorks culture shapes our work, identity and aspirations. While the array of offerings, people and locations may seem complex, the simplicity of who we are is found in delivering the best work, with the best people, for the best clients. You’ll hear this phrase, often described as our mantra, many times during your tenure at InterWorks. Now, we’ll take a moment to break down “who we are” and where you fit into this recipe.
In this first section of the handbook, we will establish our foundation by sharing the values, standards and responsibilities that make us w we are. This foundation of our culture fosters a secure and equitable environment for all, where work, play and global citizenship are part of everyday life together.
We’ve used Best People, Best Clients, Best Work as our mantra fro years, but that’s not really a starting point. The three bests come from certain values that make us who we are as individuals, teams and an organization. The elements of our values are the basis for who we hire, how we engage with clients and how we grow together. Let’s go through each:
We wholeheartedly embrace these core values at InterWorks. You are encouraged to see these as guidance and establish examples of how they resonate with you personally and professionally.
FROM THE CEO: Embracing Our Timeless Core: Relationships, Service and Excellence
Since the inception of InterWorks, we have stood firmly on the ground of core values that have steered us through every triumph and challenge. Relationships, Service and Excellence are more than mere words; they are the pillars that have carried us from the very start, propelling our success and distinguishing us in the field. These values are timeless. They are our greatest assets and transcend the evolution of technology from our beginnings in 1996 to the present day. As we move forward, it remains imperative to continuously remind ourselves of the unique qualities that define us.
Behfar Jahanshahi, CEO
February 2024
InterWorks is home to a diverse group of people serving a diverse group of clients. This means each of us will make a diverse set of decisions every day as we go about our jobs. That’s a lot of diverse thinking — or it should be.
We work hard to ensure that InterWorks is fair and supportive for everyone here, as well as for those seeking to join us. Quite frankly, we believe that this inclusion and diversity make us a stronger and more vibrant organization. We are committed to creating and maintaining a workplace in which all employees have an opportunity to participate and contribute to the success of the business and are valued for their skills, experience, and unique perspectives. We are constantly striving to excel in this regard, and we need your help to keep InterWorks a welcome and equitable place for years to come.
FROM THE CEO: Reflection on Inclusion and Authenticity
InterWorks is rooted in technology + people. Our business simply would not be here today without each of you and everyone who has joined this team in the last 25+ years. We are more than a global consulting company; we are a community that values each member’s uniqueness and potential. We cherish the individual perspectives and backgrounds that each one of you brings to our table, and we thrive on the rich tapestry of ideas that this diversity encompasses.
We believe in an environment where everyone feels they belong, where every voice matters, and where we welcome and respect each other’s differences. Kindness and respect are not optional extras at InterWorks; they are part of our DNA. InterWorks should be a place for you to be you.
We measure our success not just by the excellence of our work, but also by the warmth of our interactions, the integrity of our actions, and the strength of our relationships. We understand that you are more than your role, more than your job. You are human beings, each with unique experiences, aspirations, and needs.
I encourage all of us to reflect on how we can bring more kindness and respect into the world. Kindness, respect and the quality of our work is the combination of values that will move us forward no matter the circumstance. Let’s value each other for who we are, respect our differences, and celebrate our shared commitment to creating a better world.
Behfar Jahanshahi, CEO
June 2023
We want to foster a casual atmosphere where you and your coworkers can accomplish great work in a friendly and fun-loving environment. We are not interested in bureaucracy or in trying to create a long list of rules to cover every situation, but we do want to give you some guidelines on what mutual responsibility looks like at InterWorks. To accomplish our goal, it’s up to each person to commit to behaving in a mature, respectful and responsible manner. This applies at the office, on client sites and at any company-initiated or -sponsored activity, be it social, recreational or travel. There are some no-brainers when it comes to unacceptable behavior toward your coworkers or anyone else you deal with here at InterWorks:
There are other areas of behavior that may not be as obvious but are just as important to maintaining our standards of responsibility. We expect that:
Most of all, it’s your responsibility to conduct yourself as a mature and responsible adult. If you have any questions about whether something falls within the boundaries of responsible behavior around here, ask a manager or someone in HR. Please don’t assume something is acceptable because you saw someone else do it, or because it was okay at another job, or because it was okay on a client site. If you do something that falls outside of the bounds of reasonable responsibility, we will take disciplinary action as appropriate, which could include termination of your employment. If you do see or experience something that you think falls outside of this policy, please refer to “Handling Lapses in Responsibility” below.
If you feel that a violation of the Standards of Mutual Responsibility has occurred, we ask that you inform hr@interworks.com in writing as soon as possible. Include as many details as you can. Managers should immediately forward any reports of violations of these policies to hr@interworks.com, too. If the situation you are reporting is sensitive in nature, contact the Global People Operations Lead directly at Kelley.Trout@interworks.com.
The InterWorks offices are great places to work, with abundant snacks, drinks, games and people. Please treat the office as you would your own domain (or even better if you’re not that neat at home). We spend a lot of time here together during the day, and everyone is happier when they have good roommates. So, do your own dishes, make coffee when you take the last cup, keep your area clean, wipe up your spills, etc. Please don’t be that houseguest that no one wants to invite over again.
While we’re asking you to be a good roommate and neighbor, this is a great time to introduce you to all of your new roommates and neighbors. Our org chart covers every soul here, so it’s much too large to just drop in place. We’ve built an interactive version on our Reporting Portal, go check it out: The InterWorks Org Chart
A Quick Note on Hierarchy
It’s worth sharing a little extra context about InterWorks’ organizational structure. While we do have the Org Chart to show official reporting and review structures, we feel like a much flatter organization in practice. That means we put less emphasis on hierarchy and more emphasis on enabling you to manage the work you do. You’ll find that role definitions and traditional power structures don’t hold as much sway as in other places, we find that to be both empowering and a bit comforting.
Being a good neighbor isn’t just about the folks sitting next to you. We believe that everyone has a part to play in making the world a better place. At our large meetups, you’ll often find us setting up volunteer opportunities where our folks can dive in and help to improve things a bit.
Outside of planned group volunteerism, we know that many of you support causes close to your heart. When possible, we want to help.
How can we practically contribute to the causes we hold dear and the communities we call home? Our IW Gives Back program offers two days (16 hours) per year to each employee to use as they see fit, whether coordinated group work with your fellow InterWorkers or solo efforts on a cause you’re personally interested in supporting.
The process is simple:
Finally, if you have used your annual two days of IW Gives Back time and have another opportunity to serve, please talk to your manager to see if it can be approved. We want people to support great causes, so just let us know what you’re thinking about.
We are happy and excited to help, but there are some loose guidelines to keep in mind when attaching InterWorks’ name to a cause or organization:
Generally speaking, we tend to avoid political, religious or controversial affiliations. These can be slippery definitions, often by design, so don’t hesitate to ask your manager or HR about it.
At InterWorks, your voice is important to us. From day-to-day discussion to annual check-ins, we want our employees to know they have every opportunity to get that great idea out of their head and in front of us all. Let’s quickly touch on a few of the primary tools you’ll have at your fingertips.
While we probably don’t need to give you an intro to this thing called email, it’s important to know where it stands at InterWorks among the many options for communication. If you have a message that must be read and dealt with in some manner, the standard method should be considered email. While Slack, text messages, Post-it® Notes and even your trusty ham radio all offer great means of getting a note across, email is best at staying front and center until you’ve handled it.
Still within Outlook, let’s all spend a minute on your calendar. We all maintain a calendar of our appointments and meetings, along with various personal methods for blocking time for work, focus and personal time. While this is the right tool to stay organized with our individual schedules, it’s also an important part of being a “good neighbor” here. If someone would like to meet with you, they should only have to open up Outlook and find an open spot on your calendar — so keep that calendar up to date!
We have set Microsoft 365’s default calendar settings to keep the title and location of events visible to everyone within our InterWorks domain. We’ve found this helps in scheduling meetings if others have some context about what’s already on your calendar. Since many track personal events as well as work events on the same IW calendar, it’s just a click of a button to make any of your events private.
Slack is our company-wide messaging app, handling everything from global announcements to team chats. There are channels for just about every aspect of our business and our people. Most projects and clients will have a channel for those involved — and when you’ve had all the work chat you can take, the hobby channels are endless. If you have an interest, there’s most likely a channel for it.
We have some basic rules around Slack. For a full understanding of Slack and its use at InterWorks, head over to our Slack Basics & Rules page on The Library.
Speaking of The Library, we have one of those! While our Employee Handbook is meant to cover the general policies associated with your working here, The Library is often where things get much more granular. While it’s always under construction and always full of some older stuff we should just burn away, it’s a great place to search if your looking for details on anything from connecting your phone to Office 365, to gaining a better understanding of certain team structures — and everything in between. It’s a lot, no doubt, but we have a lot of things going on around here.
Zoom is our chosen video conferencing application for one-on-one meetings, all-hands monthly calls and marketing webinars. In addition, Zoom’s unified communications platform is also our chosen VOIP phone system.
Each employee has a Zoom basic account that allows for video conferencing. There are a variety of Zoom plans that bring different functions, all chosen based on your job role. You’ll learn more about how your Zoom account will work during your onboarding week.
One other note on our use of Zoom: You’ll find many other tools (e.g., Team Chat, Whiteboard, Calendar, etc.) that we may not have selected as our standard. Once you’ve settled in, talk to your manager about any other Zoom tools that your team or group may be using.
15Five is our employee engagement platform that allows for biweekly “pulse checks” to see how things are going for everyone. Your responses are seen by your manager and Behfar — each can comment and react to the information. We also use 15Five to handle our EOY Reviews, Midyear Check-Ins and, depending on your team and manager, may also be used to track team objectives and key results.
We offer an Ask Me Anything form at interworks.com/ama. These questions go directly to Behfar and he’ll often post the answers for everyone to read. While the AMA form doesn’t require you to enter your name, we have much better context to the question if you do. Anonymous questions may go unanswered due to this lack of context and there’s no way to contact you for additional information.
Whether we’re in the golden age of human and digital communications, or we’re embarking on a brave new world together, there are tools popping up every day. Most of us at InterWorks love new tech and check out every new application, so just be ready to hear about the “great new thing” on a fairly regular basis. All we ask is for you to be that great neighbor and remember that any official tool is being used by many people to get their tasks accomplished. If you are testing something new and potentially amazing, be sure you aren’t forcing that on others.
If you find something that is amazing, share it! We do love new tech and will be happy to give it a look.
We get together whenever we can. It’s just part of our thing and always has been, so you’ll be invited to various events throughout the year. There are purely fun events that are 100% optional (e.g., Holiday Party, Camping Trips, Meetups), but there are some that may be part of your job (e.g., Lunch and Learns, Conferences and Webinars). Here is the rundown on each of these event types and some details around your participation:
We generally have a holiday party and a large meetup each year. We’ve done trips to the zoo, camping trips, cycling events and lots of other fun outings in the past. Some may include invitations for your family to attend as well. While we love to have as many people as we can at these events, the fun or cultural portion of these events are all completely optional.
Some events may have important meetings or gatherings as part of the agenda, be sure you speak with your manager about anything that may be required.
You may be asked to attend a conference, a meeting off-site or a partner gathering at their offices — your manager will clearly let you know that it is a work requirement. While the conference or meeting may be considered a work-related activity, any activities you choose to participate in outside of the regular business of the event are optional and not part of your job. Because these events and gatherings are optional and voluntary on your part, nothing that happens at the event will be considered to have occurred “at work.” That means InterWorks won’t be liable for any accident, injury or other incident that occurs. And, since we’re all adults here, you are responsible for your own behavior and actions at these events.
InterWorks likes to celebrate. We take every chance that we can get. On your birthday, you may be surprised by a card and a treat. Come on, let us spoil you a little! We also like to celebrate your InterWorks “Anniversary Date.” This is the first day you report to work or the first day that you were paid by InterWorks as an employee. In cases where the employee started as an intern or part-time, the Anniversary Date is when they went from part-time to full-time status. Certain benefits and other employment matters here are based on your Anniversary Date, so there’s especially cause to celebrate this event each year.
Please be aware of how your behavior reflects upon InterWorks. In cases where alcohol is available or served, please be responsible and considerate to your coworkers and their families who may also be there. Even though an event may not be work-related, your actions or behavior at a holiday party, for example, can adversely affect your employment.
To be able to work here at InterWorks, we need you to acknowledge and agree that your participation in the above-described events is voluntary and not a mandated part of your job, and to agree that you will not seek to hold InterWorks liable or responsible for any accident, injury, illness or other occurrence at such event. We’ll assume you agree if you keep showing up to work.
Now that you know a bit more about us and some of our cultural basics, maybe you’d like to dress like all the cool kids? Go check out our store! InterWorks will pay 50% of the cost of up to five InterWorks-branded clothing items in your first year. Head to the InterWorks Online Store for the full catalog.