Xactly was founded 16 years ago on our 4 C.A.R.E. values. Get to know Xactly's core culture in this post about one of our C.A.R.E. values—"R" for Respect.
Xactly’s offices across the globe are participating in the company’s inaugural C.A.R.E. Week. From San Jose and Denver to Canada, Europe and India, every team member will be participating in both internal and community service events that celebrate our culture and commitment to each other and the areas in which we work and live. Xactly founder and CEO, Christopher Cabrera is kicking off each day talking about how C.A.R.E. was established as Xactly’s core values and what each letter means to the company. Read more about Customer Focus and Accountability.
The third company value in Xactly C.A.R.E. is respect. We respect our peers, our customers, and our partners.
We respect diversity and openness. These seem like simple principles everyone should embrace, right? The problem is you can scarcely open a newspaper or website today without seeing quite the opposite. As a young professional, I used to marvel at the amazing stories of Silicon Valley innovation and perseverance that would grace the covers of every major tech and business publication.
I was proud to be building my career, company and raising a family in what appeared to be the land of endless possibility. But behind the stories of 20-year-old college dropouts becoming billionaires, and scrappy startups overtaking some of tech’s most iconic brands were skeletons in the closet; tales of rampant inequality and sexism that few spoke about.
As an entrepreneur, I strived to create an environment that would not tolerate discrimination – for any reason. Respect was one of just four core values at Xactly. There was just one problem with this equation – pay inequality was happening at my own company, and I didn’t realize it.
It wasn't purposeful or calculated, and our fair-and-open culture didn't cause or propagate it. We simply weren't asking the right questions about our data and, as a result, we didn't initially see the issue. Once we dug through our data, we found that there were, in fact, some pay inequality issues in our business.
Fortunately, it only impacted a small number of people in our organization, and we were able to quickly remedy the issue. So why share this story while I am espousing the merits of unwavering respect in an organization? Because I fundamentally believe this is a common scenario. Leaders with even the best intentions can have these kinds of issues hiding beneath the surface and these instances of inequity will continue to thrive until someone questions the status quo and takes action. I could have fixed the issue and went about my day.
However, I stood in front of the company and discussed the problem and our solution with transparency and accountability. The response from employees was tremendous and showed that at every level of the company, we are living our values of C.A.R.E. In an organization, its everyone's job to reinforce that discrimination will not be tolerated – in setting compensation, hiring, promoting, rewarding talent, and any situation in-between. That is what respect is all about, it’s not only what is expected but demanded at Xactly.
