Warby Parker is a billion-dollar company that creates prescription and non-perscription glasses of all sorts. According to a recent interview, the company is very religious when it comes to handing gifts to new employees. Giving new gifts to employees is not something new. However, Warby Parker isn't quite handing out new pens, pencils, and mugs with the company logo.
Instead, Warby Parker gives out these weird, but awesome gifts - a copy of "Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac and pretzels by Martin’s handmade pretzel company in Union Square Greenmarket.
So, what's the story behind these not-so-common corporate gifts? Well, these gifts are vital for building the company culture, according to Warby Parker's founders.
Business Insider regularly does these podcasts entitled, "Success! How I Did It.” The program follows the career paths of some of today's most successful individuals. In a recent program, Alyson Shontell spoke to Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal, founders of Warby Parker. Alyson Shontell is also Business Insider's editor in chief for the US department.
During the interview, Shontell asked how the founders managed to foster a strong company culture despite growing to 1,000 employees in only seven years. Blumenthal replied that the first step was all about changing the point of view of the company's employees. Specifically, Blumenthal wanted the employees to view the brand as more than just a logo.
Then, Blumenthal explained the reasons behind the not-so-common gifts. The new hires get a copy of Dharma Bums because it's where the company’s name “Warby Parker” comes from. In the book, there are two characters named Zagg Parker and Warby Pepper. As for the handmade pretzels that they get from Martin in the Union Square farmer's market, they give them out because Union Square is the place where they traditionally get pretzels as it was within the first block of the company's very first office. The founders of the company also added that they established other rituals and they can go on and on. The most important thing is that these rituals reflect the values of the company that the founders are trying to build.
Gilboa also added that establishing values and culture was a team effort.
He says that this started back in the time when the company employed 20 or 25 people. The founders hired individuals that reminded them of themselves. However, at the time, the values were not yet articulated.
The founders then asked the employees to list down values that were very important to them. They got more than 200 values. Then, after a series of discussions, the founders sorted out the values according to their level of importance.
This is how the company extracted and established the values that represent the company today. The founders added that they are looking for individuals who do not simply view the company as a job, but rather people who are passionate about building something and being part of the team. The rituals and not-so-common gifts are just there to tell new employees that they don't see them as mere employees, but people who are special.