At Qualtrics we live, breathe, and sometimes eat TACOS. They represent who we are as a company, and who we strive to be. We are so excited about our TACOS that we even have them printed on pillars as soon as you enter our grand entrance at the Provo HQ. You could say we’re probably TACOS-obsessed.
But what are TACOS, and what do they actually mean to us as a company? Last year we explored how individual TACOS impacted and drove key company leaders. With conversations this year focusing on understanding and impact, we wanted to focus our TACOS conversation around our Q-mmunity, including the QGroups (known more corporately as employee resource groups), 5 For the Fight, and Green Team.
Transparency
Being open, authentic, truthful, and ensuring your decisions are data-based will get you far in this company. These attributes are also key to getting the greatest amount of productivity from your people. The more transparent you are the easier it will be to get buy-in from everyone. - Tamara
At the highest level, our Q-Groups help TACOS thrive, and continue to push us to be better in how we carry these values out. This is evident in how each group functions. It’s clear in how our Women’s Leadership Development group is creating new levels of transparency with how we make progress towards on our hiring goals each year; how our MosaiQ group has helped us shape the conversation around what it means to be “all in” on conversations around racial equity and belonging; how Q&Able has helped raise our awareness of the differences in abilities that will ultimately impact how our product can be better for our customers; how Q-Salute is helping us be a company that brings in military talent and accelerates their careers, both at Qualtrics and in the external community; or how our Q-Pride group has grown from a scrappy last-minute entrance into Pride parades to one of the marquee celebration events of the year.
While each part of our Q-mmunity helps exemplify each of our TACOS, we figured they must have a favorite, so we asked what the TACOS mean to them, and what TACOS they were excited about this year. Here’s what some of them had to say.
All In
To me, this means that regardless of whether you are in one of your greatest moments or one of your hardest moments in your career at Qualtrics, you are still all in. Not 55%. Not 97%. But still 100%+ all in. - Tiffany
Women’s Leadership Development
TACOS helps us all envision our goals as a community. In the Women’s Leadership Development (WLD) group, our key TACOS focus this year has been on Transparency and Scrappiness. As a group, our mission statement starts “We empower ALL Women at Qualtrics globally to thrive by attracting diverse women’s talent, developing & retaining women to all our teams ...” We knew in order to make this a reality, we had to know where we stood and how to get where we wanted to go.
We’ve embraced the value of transparency by working with our People Ops team to know and understand our numbers around hiring and retention and making sure those numbers are understood by our membership. We’ve also seen our leadership model transparency with fireside chats about key topics important to our group. Of course, we would be remiss not to mention how much of this year has been about “Scrappiness”. With the transition of our employees out of the office, WLD, as with the other Q-Groups, has had to adapt to a world where we can no longer have physical events. I actually think that has helped make our group stronger in how we can connect to each other and how we’ve grown to better involve our remote colleagues.
— Chelsea Hunersen, Membership Chair, WLD
Customer Obsessed
With us being the Experience Management company, It doesn’t matter whether you have an externally focused role focusing on our actual customer, or an internal role focused on our employees, your customers rely on you consistently delivering a superior experience at every crucial moment. - Josiah
MosaiQ
MosaiQ has really adopted and lived TACOS since the beginning. Although these values are embedded in our foundation, MosaiQ has really leaned into being All-In and having complete Transparency. Our goal has always been to attract, promote, and retain people of color, but to also create a culture that sets ALL employees up for success regardless of race or ethnicity.
We have made it very clear that not only do we condemn racism, but we are an Anti-Racist organization in an Anti-Racist company. Being All-In on this has helped foster an environment where our employees know they are supported, protected, and valued in MosaiQ and Qualtrics. At the same time, we are transparent in the sense that we as an organization and human beings operate with clumsy curiosity. We’ve encouraged our members to be transparent about their journey to allyship, their mistakes along the way, and everything in between.
MosaiQ grows because Qualtrics has given us and all Q-Groups the space to do so. If Qualtrics is the shell of the taco, all the Q-Groups are the toppings and fillings that make a great taco.
- Jasmine Chen, Communications Chair, MosaiQ
One Team
I firmly believe that the business is most successful when everyone is doing what they can to help each other win... when people are more concerned about ensuring the success of their teammates than ensuring their own success. If you build a team on that principle (or a whole organization) then people are actually energized at the end of a big quarter, not exhausted. - Will
5 For The Fight
ALL IN is what makes 5 For The Fight tick. How powerful is it that Qualtrics decided at the company's founding that we would go all in on one cause: cancer? This focus has led to a foundation and the start of a movement, and the results are $25M for cancer researchers with a new 5 For The Fight Cancer Research Fellowship established in 2020 to increase the pipeline for young scientists.
Why cancer? Without cancer, Qualtrics may not even exist.
One of our founders, Scott Smith, a market research professor at BYU started it all. Scott's cancer diagnosis changed the trajectory forever because his son, Ryan Smith came home to spend time with his dad. Instead of tinkering on a Mustang, they built a tech company in their basement. From the start, Qualtrics dedicated some of its resources to cancer research.
Then came this crazy idea-- what if we invited everyone to give $5 for the fight against cancer?
5 For The Fight was born. When the jersey patch sponsorship became available through the NBA in 2017, Qualtrics was ALL IN and formalized 5 For The Fight as a crowdfunding nonprofit. Qualtrics recently extended the partnership through the 2022-2023 season. We rolled out a store where people could "rep the patch" like the players. The commercial that ran during games in the arena and on TV helped share the message of how this was everyone's cause and included the synergy of 5 jerseys, 5 patients, and 5 players. But 5 For The Fight extends well beyond basketball.
But now it’s worldwide
Across the globe, 5 For The Fight unites us as ONE TEAM. We have been able to hire 12 researchers starting with a team of 3 in Ireland and now 9 more in the U.S. This is thanks to major donors, partners, but at the base of it all is the one team of Qualtrics employees around the world who carve out $5 per pay period. Now, other companies are following suit and we have 39 partners doing a 5 For The Fight product or employee giving campaign. Each May, 5 For The Fight Month, we unite for the 5K For The Fight, which was created by our 5 For The Fight EMEA team. This year, we saw 2100 people from 50 countries give $5 and run, walk, ride, or do 5, 50, or 500 of any physical challenge in honor or memory of someone they loved with cancer. And we write their names on our hands. Every single name on every hand is why we fight.
- Lori Morency Kun, Head of Social Impact
Scrappy
When I think about Qualtrics, this is what comes to mind first. An imperfect solution now is much more valuable than a perfect solution somewhere down the road. You can always iterate on your first attempt. - Chris
While the TACOS belong to, and guide, every Qualtrician, the role of the Q-mmunity in the development of our company culture continues to help us stay true to these principles. Principles such as the TACOS are only useful as long as a company commits to upholding them and being held up to them. By holding each other accountable to these principles on a daily basis, we continue the growth and evolution of the company culture at Qualtrics.
Qualtrics is growing, and if you're ready to find your "why" at a place like this, you can explore our open opportunities at any time by visiting our career page or by joining our talent community.
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