It's All About the People

By Ed Hutner, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Deltek.

Creating A Workplace That Our Employees Can Be Proud Of

Any company can buy advertising to sell an image of how great it is to work there. What’s harder is creating an environment that your own employees think is great—a workplace with a culture that fosters loyalty and inspires pride. 

That’s why we are so honored that Deltek has been named among the 2019 Top Workplaces by The Washington Post—a distinction based solely on the results of employee feedback.

Deltek ranked #14 among the Top 25 Large Companies in the region, holding firm on our #14 ranking in 2017 and up from #17 in 2015. Overall, the Top Workplaces list recognized 152 companies of all sizes throughout the Washington, D.C. area.

Several key aspects of workplace culture were measured, including alignment, execution, and connection, among others. But we understand that all of these things boil down to one thing: how our employees feel. 

At Deltek, we put a lot of effort, time and energy into creating a values-driven environment in which team members are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work each day. It’s important to us that every employee understands that they will be treated with respect, inclusivity and appreciation, and that they have opportunities to pursue their professional interests and grow their careers.

We don’t focus on our culture because we want recognition. Instead, we do it because we want to build a company that can succeed year after year—and we know that the only way to accomplish that is to invest in our people.

So, how do we go about that at Deltek? We have found these four steps to be the most critical in getting us there.

1. Build The Right Team

It’s all about the people we hire! Who you bring onto your team matters and we are committed to attracting and retaining the best and brightest people. Our HR team spends a lot of time screening candidates to ensure that they not only have the experience and skills necessary to succeed, but that they also are a good fit for our culture and will embrace our inclusive, collaborative, customer-focused environment.

2. Invest In People

Once employees join Team Deltek, our focus shifts to how we are nurturing their talents. We offer an array of professional development programs and learning assets, including company-wide access to LinkedIn Learning, to allow employees to develop their careers at their own pace. Additionally, our global Well-Living program offers employees a range of opportunities to reduce stress and maintain a healthier, more active lifestyle—investing in the personal, as well as the professional.

3. Work Together

Our company is driven by our commitment to nine key values, such as collaboration—which includes working together across all levels of our organization. Yes, as at most companies, we all have titles and a clearly defined leadership team. But our commitment to collaboration helps create an environment in which employees can ask questions, reach out and speak with any colleague to solve a problem. You can even see that in how our office is designed—every employee, including our executives, sit in cubicles with their respective teams. Gatekeeping behaviors simply aren’t tolerated; instead, we want inquisitive, motivated people who can work together.

4. Listen, Then Act

A final critical element is listening to our employees and constantly seeking opportunities for improvement. We rely on a variety of methods to get feedback from our team, including a recurring engagement survey sent to every Deltek employee around the globe. Their responses are reviewed by our leadership and spark change when change is needed within the organization. Critical programs, including the creation of new learning assets, are a direct result of employee feedback.

Ultimately, I credit every single one of our employees, starting with our President & CEO Mike Corkery and his leadership team, with making our corporate culture a priority. Am I biased? Yes, probably! But I think that together we’ve created a very cool place to work. It feels good to know that our employees think so, too.