According to the Fortune survey, 95% percent of PagerDuty employees said we are a great place to work. Said one respondent: “Management always strives to find out what their employees are interested in and are always looking to find opportunities to grow. I think this company definitely values the opinions of their employees and makes everyone feel like they have a voice!” 

Awards like these provide us a sense of achievement and pride, reflective of the passion and commitment of our Dutonians and the inclusive culture we’ve created together. Our mission-driven approach–providing value for customers but also recognizing that there’s no way we can support our customers unless we’re taking care of our employees–is why I joined PagerDuty and why I stay. We have a big vision and bigger ambitions, and we pursue them always with kindness, empathy, conviction, and collaboration. Here’s just some of the ways we’re living up to our ‘Best Place’ recognitions. 

Showing up for one another

Building a work model for the future and harnessing the power of Generative AI to accelerate our internal work and the power of the PagerDuty Operations Cloud are some of the ways we show up for our people and our customers. We support people inside and outside the workplace, with Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (ID&E) at the core of our identity and business strategy, supported by our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).

But most of all, we simply like and respect each other–no matter who you are or where you sit in the organization. When called upon, we show up. 

We show up for conferences and recruitment events. We show up for innovation around generative AI and host hackathons. We encourage experimentation and challenging conventions. 

“Pop-Ups” bring back in-person interaction

We want to provide employees with flexibility in how and where they work. But we also understand the importance of bringing people together in meaningful ways. In-person connections can enhance learning, decision-making, and innovation, not to mention deepen relationships across the team. 

It was in service to these principles that the PagerDuty Pop-Up program was born. We set out to create a low-cost, low-friction experience for employees at all levels to engage with colleagues. The ensuing day-long sessions consist of modules highlighting the business and our values, as well as local social impact and cultural experiences curated for each particular geographic area.  

The Pop-Ups are designed to build a greater sense of community among all Dutonians, whether they are direct colleagues or just meeting for the first time. You get a mix of business updates and camaraderie; peers sharing their expertise and problem solving in real-time. On multiple occasions these interactions have led to substantive changes in practices, products, and the way teams communicate across PagerDuty.

So far we have hosted fourteen events across eleven cities throughout the US and Portugal, impacting more than 300 Dutonians across 25 teams. We have expanded the scope of the program, including increasing the number of events to cover every major region we work in including EMEA, and APJ. As we continue to experiment with this model a few changes will be made to scale and mature our approach, adding more subject matter experts; planning longer days with more social time; and using the events as an incubator for creativity.

PagerDuty is where great humans work 

One other defining characteristic of PagerDuty is that we are very self aware, even self critical at times. We know we’re not done yet, that we can get better and improve the way we operate. This is empowering and motivating–it’s one one of the many reasons I love to get up every day and do my part to move PagerDuty forward. 

I’m therefore not surprised that we’ve been recognized as not just a great place to work, but an inspirational place, too. Anyone can come to PagerDuty and be their best selves without reservation or apology. Everyone has an opportunity to be successful, regardless of their personal background or experiences. 

Not every job gives you the ability to make an impact on the business or on people’s lives. Not every place allows you to develop your career while being surrounded by great humans. 

Not every company is like PagerDuty–in fact, no company is like us. We are PagerDuty. 

The post An Honor that Deserves Repeating: PagerDuty Once Again Earns ‘Best Workplaces’ Accolades appeared first on PagerDuty.

However, any realistic accounting of this work must recognize that we are still in the initial stages of this journey as an industry, and there is much more that needs to be done to close equity gaps in the workplace. There is no such thing as a “set it and forget it” ID&E initiative. Making ID&E a business priority requires personal commitments from employees and leadership, a new mindset and operating model for the organization, and full integration into business strategy and company culture. It also requires agile planning, and a willingness to acknowledge where progress must go further.

PagerDuty’s third annual ID&E report is a testament to our company’s commitment and dedication as we continue to build toward positive and progressive change. But this report is not intended solely as a celebration of progress; it is an important vehicle to hold ourselves accountable as an organization, and an opportunity to outline our key areas of focus for the coming year. That’s why our key initiatives in 2023 will focus on upskilling Dutonians to establish a universal understanding of an ID&E mindset; creating strategic mechanisms of accountability, starting with our executive leadership; and ensuring we outline objective measures toward the outcomes that will drive the true, and lasting, change required for our company and industry. 

Key findings 

“Bring Your Self” and “Run Together” are core PagerDuty values, and central to our ID&E work. But equally as important are two other PagerDuty values: “Take the Lead,” and “Ack & Own.” Taking the Lead requires holding ourselves both out as an example, and to a higher and evolving standard; Acking and Owning requires us to rigorously measure our progress in hiring, retention, and leadership composition year-round, and own both our successes and our challenges. In FY23, PagerDuty has hit its business targets and got to Non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) profitability ahead of schedule. And as the report demonstrates, we’ve achieved this success while still centering our ID&E goals. 

Some key findings from the report: 

• Board diversity: two-thirds of the board is classified as non-white, with women making up nearly half of all board members
• U.S. race/ethnicity: 61.6% identify as white, the remainder as non-white. Senior U.S. leadership (VP and above) falls along the same lines
• LGBTQ+: nine percent of Dutonians identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community

Putting “People First”

These results aren’t just numbers to us, or a matter of simply checking a corporate responsibility “box.” Our goal is to foster internal accountability and external transparency across all things ID&E – and that begins with living our methods of putting people first. 

Our culture binds us together and guides our decisions. Unique employee backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives give us our competitive edge, allowing us to remain the most innovative, efficient, and trusted digital operations management partner for our customers. 

That also means our ID&E work is inevitably tied to both our business success, and our team’s Impact Work. Over the last several years, we have:

• Created six different ERGs, with 2022 ERG membership growth reaching an incredible 80%
• Distributed $2 million since 2019 in unrestricted funding to organizations like Trek Medics International, Nexleaf Analytics, and SIRUM, and deployed $1 million to close the global vaccine equity gap
• Launched a climate equity fund in 2022 with initial investments in organizations that are building solutions to the climate crisis
• Created an ID&E Ambassador Program, which provides a global perspective on cultural and business norms for every region
• Added an ID&E session to The Dutonian Experience employee onboarding program
• Developed an Executive Leadership Development Series (ELDS) with a focus on emotional intelligence and global awareness

The road ahead – accountability is critical

We are all proud of what we’ve accomplished so far. The collective commitment to these principles and to building an inclusive culture of belonging will ensure that equitable representation and opportunity exist for all. 

But this report is a milestone – an early milestone – on our journey. We must continue to push forward in 2023 by furthering our inclusive hiring program, elevating pay practices and policies, and ensuring that pay philosophy is built on the foundation of equity. We’ve already expanded  the compensation team’s resources and tools to align pay equity strategy with diversity representation, and have expanded pay transparency.

Continuing to expand and support ERGs will also be a key priority in 2023. We are providing ERGs with increased opportunities to support PagerDuty’s diversity goals and help them create structure, consistency, transparency, and global scalability. During Q1 we will debut Elevate, a new ERG that aims to foster a more inclusive and equitable community where women are empowered to own and excel in their career development. 

Finally, we will continue raising the bar within our ID&E training and development series, building inclusive leadership with accountability to diverse representation, and upskilling to establish a universal mindset of ID&E within PagerDuty.

From executive leaders to Dutonians worldwide, we all have a responsibility to ensure that our organization is truly inclusive, diverse, and equitable. We must be accountable to ourselves, to each other, and to our customers and partners. Our role as a company is greater than the sum of our parts – we must push ourselves beyond the boundaries of our own business to support and advance a more equitable world. This is the spirit behind the newly developed Dutonian Accountability Plan, which provides Dutonians with a baseline understanding of ID&E, while holding our executive leadership accountable for improving our diverse representation, and defining how inclusion drives innovation within each business unit. Together, these initiatives will drive a greater sense of global belonging as we continue to understand how to best serve and support the communities where we live and operate.

I encourage you to read the report and see for yourself why PagerDuty is a great place to work and thrive. The full report is available to read here.

The post The Value – and Challenge – of Accountability: PagerDuty Releases Our Third Annual Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity (ID&E) Report appeared first on PagerDuty.

We’re extremely proud of this award because it is reflective of our amazing people and special culture. A people-driven culture is in our DNA. Our employees own their work, career growth, and development, with support from a global team. We take pride in putting users first, while enjoying the freedom to learn, create, and take risks. 

But what actually makes PagerDuty so special?  

A company where culture counts 

As we’ve grown  – over 40% since March 2020 – we’ve never strayed from our People First mindset, and have been intentional about preserving the strongest parts of our culture, while evolving it to achieve our desired future state, aligned to the direction of our business and the needs of our customers. 

To do this, we formed our Culture and Strategy team at the beginning of this year. The mission of the Culture and Strategy team is to increase employee engagement throughout the entire employee lifecycle through intentional listening, activating our company values and practices, and communicating our employee value proposition to employees, customers, and partners. 

Cultivating a strong and sustainable company culture, especially when employees are distributed, was never a ‘nice to have’ for us, but a company imperative to connect employees to our goals, purpose, vision and mission, and each other. As we continue to grow and scale, rooting our behaviors, norms and people in our values is essential. 

Employee experience is a shared responsibility between the organization, our leaders and employees, and the Culture and Strategy team. Through its key pillars: listening, engagement, communications, the team is driving key programs and initiatives that support its mission and drive lasting change across the business. 

Supporting Dutonians outside of work 

We all felt the tectonic shift to working remotely – virtually no one was immune to the challenges of balancing work with family in a shared working space, assisting children with virtual learning, coping with isolation, and burnout. We knew we needed to adapt our benefits to help employees cope and thrive outside of the workplace.

We added new mental health services to our existing Employee Assistance Programs, including 24/7 emotional support, live behavioral coaching, and counseling. We also introduced Dutonian Wellness Days and Wellness Week – company-wide paid time off where all employees can unplug and recharge – and added paid time off for COVID-19 related illness and caregiving needs beyond what legislation required. 

Being your “whole self” both inside and outside of work is a core PagerDuty value. That’s why these and other offerings to support employee mental wellness and work-life balance will continue indefinitely. 

Inclusion, Diversity & Equity

At PagerDuty, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (ID&E) is central to our commitment to a workplace where everyone belongs and can succeed. The ability to bring yourself to work is core to our business strategy, and our long-term success requires that we build a workforce and culture representative of all the various communities and identities we serve. 

ID&E is also critical to attract, develop, and retain diverse talent. Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) give underrepresented communities a greater sense of inclusion and belonging. 

Social Impact

Our impact extends far beyond our company. Through PagerDuty.org, we help activate Dutonians as agents of change across myriad communities. For example:

• We provide 20 hours of Volunteer Time Off (VTO) annually for employees to volunteer, vote or participate in nonpartisan voter engagement, and we offer giving credits for new hires, employees who log 5+ volunteer hours annually, and on each Giving Tuesday.
  
• We lead monthly volunteer events, focused on advancing equity and justice and helping our nonprofit customers expand their reach 
• We run a global council of impact ambassadors, and partner closely with our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) through volunteering, match campaigns, and an ERG grant program. 
• In 2020, 93% of Dutonians gave back through volunteering or financial contributions, totaling 2,860+ tracked volunteer hours for 110+ organizations, and nearly $196,000 donated through employee contributions and our employee matching program

We also launched a technical skill-based volunteer initiative to help PagerDuty grant partners and customers implement our platform in their mission-critical work. Working with partners like TrekMedics, PagerDuty plays a pivotal role in curing delays and improving outcomes in emergency response and healthcare for the most underserved populations. 

PagerDuty enables the right response at the right moment. We do this for our customers every day, and we also strive to do the same for our employees. It’s no wonder we’ve been recognized as one of the best workplaces in the Bay Area, and in the entire country and world as we extend our international presence.  

By supporting each other, caring about people’s lives outside of our jobs, and encouraging everyone to celebrate diversity and be their true selves, we are sure to remain a Great Place to Work for a very long time! Interested in working at PagerDuty? We’re hiring across the business.

The post PagerDuty Earns “Best Workplaces in the Bay Area” Recognition appeared first on PagerDuty.

This is critical. Research from McKinsey shows that organizations that maintain an innovation focus even through a crisis outperform the market by as much as 30% in post-crisis years. In the competitive landscape of digital services, standing still is not an option. So, how can organizations accelerate digital innovation and thrive in 2022? 

The key is to pick innovation-related investments that concretely improve developer productivity and reduce complexity. And to do that, there are three clear angles of attack. Leading companies will focus on developer support, be pragmatic about infrastructure and be realistic about “complexity”. Let’s explore these areas.

1. Invest in developer productivity

Developers are the powerhouses of digital innovation. Yet, they are often stuck using unwieldy tools that require considerable manual configuration and management. Leading companies are tackling this, by investing in boosting developer productivity, often through new “developer tools” teams. These teams’ initiatives include transitioning developers off laptops to cloud-based DevOps and CI/CD platforms like GitLab/GitHub and features like GitHub Actions and Codespaces. Why? Because application architectures are too complex and compute power demands are too great to continue with the way things are today.

A recurring issue for developers is something that “works on my laptop but not in production.” New cloud-based developer environments solve this issue. They give organizations the same size of complex system in the cloud as might exist in production, and performance and power equal or better than to any developer’s souped-up laptop. What’s more, cloud-based environments will help to ease a company’s path towards continuous delivery, not just continuous integration — a thorny challenge that still persists.

The key takeaway is that if you invest in developer productivity you also boost your bottom line. Research shows firms with higher “developer velocity” reap revenue growth up to five times greater than their lower velocity peers.

2. Avoid over-engineering “infrastructure”

Research finds that 92% of enterprises now have a multi-cloud strategy. Yet, in many instances, this doesn’t result in a competitive advantage, nor does it contribute to better innovation. IDC says that 79% of organizations are struggling to realize the benefits of multi-cloud, with workloads remaining locked in silos.

This happens when companies approach multi-cloud by selecting vendors based on the wrong reasons – that is, avoiding “lock-in” rather than picking best-of-breed features. The organizations that recognize the future is largely hybrid cloud, rather than multi-cloud, are those that will thrive in 2022 and beyond. 

Here is where a healthy dose of pragmatism is needed. Savvy engineering leaders will choose the infrastructure environment that is right for their code based on the features available in it, rather than succumbing to worries about “vendor lock-in.” In this way, organizations also make the most of the often-limited skills available to them in-house, and can get on with innovating rather than spending precious engineering time replicating multiple identical environments across cloud providers.

3. Ruthlessly reduce complexity

The demand for more innovative customer experiences is only going to increase. But on the flip side, complexity cannot keep increasing. Modern enterprises are already running thousands of digital services with millions of dependencies, alongside a web of micro-services, containers, server-less architectures and orchestration platforms.

There is a “Dunbar’s Number” for system complexity, and we are fast approaching it. We’re seeing the first signs of a backlash against some approaches. Take Kubernetes, for example, which requires a lot of surface area to deliver business value. More organizations are also adopting managed services offered by CSPs. These services deliver scalability, reliability, and redundancy from the get-go, without needing to be engineered by the organization.

Two other key factors help to combat complexity. First, investing in real-time dependency management to give engineers a clear picture of how digital systems are related. Second, to invest in automation to “hide the inner complexity” from those who need to perform tasks. This allows teams to monitor, manage and remediate digital incidents in real-time. PagerDuty research shows that 73% of tech leaders have invested or plan to invest in automation to tackle complexity and the rising pressure on digital services.

Empowering innovation

To successfully accelerate digital innovation in 2022, organizations must free up developers’ time so that they can do what they do best and innovate, rather than simply “keeping the lights on”. For companies seeking to become leaders, these three areas are the blueprint for success.

To find out how PagerDuty can help you accelerate digital innovation – from DevOps support to cloud strategy, to automation – visit https://www.pagerduty.com/.

The post Want to accelerate your organization’s digital innovation in 2022? Here’s three ways to do it. appeared first on PagerDuty.

Putting People First is in Our DNA

What does a People First culture look like? It starts with our people-centric values —”Bring Your Self” and “Run Together.” Our values guide our work, including how we hire and develop employees. As a leadership team, we put our values into action every day. People First is a journey, not a destination.

Here’s a look at how we strive to go above and beyond the standard compensation and benefits package to support and nurture our employees from day one at PagerDuty.

1. Vesting Equity Faster

All Dutonians (PagerDuty employees) are owners in the company and we are proud to offer competitive RSU (restricted stock unit) grants to every new hire. New hires that started October 2021 or later can look forward to vesting their equity faster, with RSUs vesting quarterly, removing the previous 1-year cliff vesting. This equity change demonstrates to our new hires globally how much we value their contributions and decision to bring their talents to PagerDuty.

Want to tap into more equity? All Dutonians can buy PagerDuty stock at a 15% discount through our Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP) which includes a 24-month look back period, which means a greater discount is possible over time (15% at a minimum).

2. Leaning into Flexible Work

PagerDuty has been recognized as a Great Place To Work®. The majority — 94% of employees — say they feel encouraged to balance their work lives and personal lives. That’s no coincidence.

Work-life integration starts during the hiring process. All candidate job interviews are now conducted virtually, offering more flexibility and control. The virtual interview also gives candidates a preview of what it’s like to work with our distributed teams.

Being distributive is our native state, and we’re leveraging lessons learned over the past year to provide every Dutonian with an excellent experience, connected not only to their team, but to the values and culture that make PagerDuty a truly special place to work.

Once a new hire starts, they choose how and where they want to work: in-office, hybrid, or anywhere. This flexibility makes it easier to manage life’s responsibilities.

While we have adopted a flexible working strategy, there are some roles that need to be in an office, or benefit greatly when individual work is conducted from an office. We make sure that expectations are clear to both employees and candidates about their choices in work mode.

3. Hiring Inclusively

We want to invoke change not only in the tech industry, but in the world. PagerDuty partners with Women Who Code, People of Color in Tech, Out 4 Undergrad, PowerToFly, and Latinas in Tech to find the best underrepresented talent in technology. However, attracting diverse candidates is just the start. Feeling comfortable bringing yourself to work matters at PagerDuty. In order to help our candidates really see themselves at PagerDuty, we now offer on-demand videos and resources from our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and even a chance to meet with our ERG members through informal, non-evaluative conversations at a late stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure every candidate leaves feeling that PagerDuty offers an environment where they will feel valued, included, and like they belong.

PagerDuty has six ERGs: PagerDuty Array (Black and Latinx employees), PageAble (visible and invisible disabilities), PatriotDuty (military veterans), RainbowDuty (promoting gender identity and sexual orientation diversity), Illuminate (Asian and Pacific Islander), and SisterDuty (women and allies).

4. Improving Our Communities

Our People First commitment extends far beyond ourselves. To introduce new hires to our giving culture, they receive a $25 USD (or local currency equivalent) credit to donate to a charity of their choosing in their first week at PagerDuty.

Beyond donations, PagerDuty believes in supporting community volunteering. PagerDuty gives employees 20 hours of paid volunteer time off (VTO) each year to give back to organizations and causes that are meaningful to them. Additionally, all global voting-related activities (including voting in-person, mailing your ballot, and volunteering as a poll-worker) are eligible for VTO. At PagerDuty, we believe that voting, and supporting a democracy where all voices are counted, is one of our most important rights and responsibilities, and a way for every individual to drive social impact.

While we are constantly evolving our Social Impact program, these recent efforts have roots going back several years. Since 2017, PagerDuty has been a member of the Pledge 1% movement. That means we commit 1% of equity, 1% of product, and 1% of employee time to help our communities and support employee volunteerism. We’ll be sharing lots of new and innovative ways that we’re supporting our employees over the next several months and we’re excited to offer these additional benefits and perks!

Interested in Joining the PagerDuty Team?

People First is core to PagerDuty’s success. We hold ourselves to the highest standards and strive to be a best-in-class company that our employees love!
PagerDuty is hiring for a variety of positions. For up-to-date information about available positions, please visit the Careers page. In addition to locations in Atlanta, Lisbon, London, San Francisco, Sydney, and Toronto, PagerDuty supports work from various remote locations around the world!

The post PagerDuty’s Commitment to People First appeared first on PagerDuty.

At PagerDuty, we know that Dutonians (our employees) are our greatest asset, and we’ve always strived to put our people first. This certification shows that the effort we put into creating a welcoming, engaging, and exciting environment is working. Here’s what our Dutonians had to say:

• 94% said that management is honest and ethical in its business practices
• 94% said employees are encouraged to balance their work life and their personal life
• 94% said they feel good about the ways PagerDuty contributes to the community
• 95% said that, when joining the company, they are made to feel welcome

One of our core values at PagerDuty is to Run Together—to create belonging and strong bonds within teams. These survey findings tell us that we are doing our part and continuing to embody this value.

Dutonian wellness comes first

In response to the pandemic, many Dutonians adapted quickly to working remotely for the first time. Nonetheless, with that shift came new challenges: balancing work with family in a shared working space, assisting children with remote learning, and coping with stress, isolation, and burnout. We listened to our employees’ concerns and evolved our benefits to increase our focus on mental wellness, including introducing Dutonian Wellness Days, an additional day off each month for all employees to unplug and recharge.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback shared in this survey on the initiative, I’m happy to announce that Dutonian Wellness Days are no longer a temporary COVID-19 benefit, but a permanent element of the Dutonian experience.

Time outdoors is one of the most popular ways that Dutonians spend their Wellness Days, like Chelsea, pictured here boating on Lake Ontario.

Dutonians are our compass for change

From the challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the opportunity arose to reinvent how and where we work as a distributed organization. This has led us to establish Distributed by Design, an intentional hybrid work model that empowers employees with flexibility to prioritize balance in their personal lives without compromising professional development. This model gives our employees a choice between remote “anywhere” work or a hybrid in-office option.

Being distributive is our native state. We’re leveraging lessons learned over the past 18 months to make sure every Dutonian has an excellent experience, connected not only to their team but to the traditions and rituals that make PagerDuty a truly special place to work. We’re proud to enable employees to bring their best selves to work—from wherever they are.

Distributed by Design also enables Dutonians to do the best for our customers, and to embrace the Customer Devotion mindset, from wherever they are working. When our customers succeed, we succeed. And when we work better, we can serve our customers better. Over the coming months, we will continue driving forward Distributed by Design to make PagerDuty an even greater place to work.

Whether it’s safely gathering for an in-person meetup, or participating in a Zoom “donut chat,” Dutonians find ways to connect and build relationships with each other, whichever work mode they choose.

Want to join us?

Interested in joining PagerDuty? Learn more about our company values and explore career-making opportunities around the world.

For more on PagerDuty’s Great Place to Work certification, visit our company profile.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place to Work helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. Their unparalleled benchmark data is used to recognize Great Place to Work-Certified companies and the Best Workplaces in the US and more than 60 countries, including the 100 Best Companies to Work For® and World’s Best Workplaces lists published annually in Fortune. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a Great Place to Work For All.

To learn more, visit greatplacetowork.com, listen to the podcast Better by Great Place to Work, and read “A Great Place to Work for All.” Join the community on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

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PagerDuty commissioned a study with IDC to assess the current state of CloudOps. The survey of 802 global enterprises explored CloudOps and incident management, their impact on IT, and how organizations can develop their maturity when operating in the cloud. The study identified four distinct CloudOps maturity phases organizations evolve through as they begin to operate in a cloud model: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert (read a full definition of each here).

In this blog series, we will dive into some of the findings and explain the key changes that occur as organizations progress through the stages. We’ll begin with a look at one of the most critical elements in making CloudOps a success: the people involved.

Creating a CloudOps Culture

The IDC study found that there are multiple drivers towards CloudOps. These drivers included the need to save costs, achieve greater agility, and align with wider corporate and IT restructuring (fig.1). Whatever the specific driver (or combination thereof), the common factor is people. People are at the center of any successful digital transformation journey that enables organizations to be more resilient, adaptable, and innovative.

Adopting CloudOps is no different. It represents a significant cultural shift that goes beyond simply implementing new tools to requiring a new way of operating and making decisions. To be successful, there needs to be strong leadership and a clear vision from the top to engender the support of those on the ground. Two of the study’s key findings were that, “a mandate for leadership-driven cultural change is needed” and, “collaborative leadership skills are necessary.”

Building a Team for Success

Just as leadership must make changes for success at each phase of the CloudOps maturity journey, the team and people dynamics must also evolve. The study states that, “The degree of organizational, personal, and cognitive change required to achieve a high level of CloudOps maturity should not be underestimated.” It goes on to say, “Logically, as the technical environment becomes increasingly complex, the organization that supports it needs to be able to both specialize in specific skills and make decisions quickly.”

It’s vital to build knowledge across the organization, invest in training and development, and have the right mix of experience in place. In this blog, we discussed the three main accelerators for CloudOps maturity. Let’s look at how each accelerator impacts people and teams:

• Take a hybrid approach: To accelerate their maturity journey, organizations can reap the benefits of rules-based automation combined with the intelligence of AI supported by ML. However, it’s important to ensure that this change does not move so fast that the rest of the organization is left behind. Organizations must take teams on an incremental journey, investing in people and training to enable that hybrid approach. At the Beginner level, we found that initial efforts include creating CloudOps positions (41%) and training in CloudOps software (32%). At the Intermediate level, this is joined by DevOps training (31%) and, at the Advanced level, the creation of a CloudOps (44%) or DevOps (41%) Center of Excellence.
• Pursue top-down cultural change: Reaching digital maturity is not just an IT change, but a corporate change, and requires a major top-down shift driven by people. Advanced organizations have created a dedicated CloudOps team, and have staffed teams with experienced CloudOps, DevOps, and Cloud Architecture Specialists. At the Expert level, this goes further; CloudOps is a strategic differentiator driven by leaders and permeating the entire organization.
• Implement full-service ownership: A common characteristic of Expert organizations is a culture of accountability. This is underlined by the prevalence of full-service ownership (FSO). FSO enables software teams to build increasingly reliable and efficient applications, while also deploying code even faster and more frequently. FSO is designated by our IDC study as a “hallmark of CloudOps maturity.” Sixty percent (60%) of Expert organizations said that encouraging people to adopt an FSO mindset helped to support their cloud operating models.

Reaping the Rewards

As outlined in this blog on CloudOps, reaching Expert-level maturity is a challenging process. It takes time and requires significant investment in people and teams. But the hard work pays off. Over a sustained period of two years, Expert-level organizations reap considerable rewards such as:

● 44% improvement in downtime avoidance and revenue protection,
● 40% improvement in employee productivity, and
● 39% shorter time to market for new products and services.

In the next blog post in this series, I’ll look at the technology developments required to evolve CloudOps maturity. To read the full report, download the IDC White Paper, “Cloud Operations Maturity Assessment, 2021: Key Attributes and Behaviors that Differentiate Beginners from Experts.”

** IDC White Paper, sponsored by PagerDuty, Cloud Operations Maturity Assessment, 2021: Key Attributes and Behaviors that Differentiate Beginners from Experts, 2021, Doc. #US47638121, June 2021.

The post Evolving in CloudOps Maturity? Investing in People and Teams Pays Off appeared first on PagerDuty.

While the United States and other high-income countries are rolling out vaccinations and relaxing restrictions, many low-income countries are still deep in crisis. The pandemic has exposed inequalities between populations in access to healthcare and vaccines, and the gap continues to grow. In fact, 84% of shots that have gone into arms worldwide have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Only 0.3% of doses have been administered in low-income countries.

To end the pandemic everywhere, we must take a global and proactive approach to ensure that everyone can access life-saving vaccines now—and with urgency. COVID-19 knows no borders, and neither should the vaccine. That’s why PagerDuty and our partners are supporting the Go Give One campaign to ensure COVID-19 vaccinations are distributed to the hardest-to-reach communities.

Close the Global Vaccine Equity Gap

Go Give One is a campaign with no borders—created by the WHO Foundation to raise funds for COVID-19 vaccines. An ambitious target to deliver two billion doses by early 2022 has been set. That’s enough to vaccinate nearly 30% of the adult population in the 92 countries identified as low- and middle-income economies by the campaign organizers.

This target would not be achievable without public-private support. So, we are proud that PagerDuty has joined forces with other founding campaign partners Russell Reynolds Associates, Salesforce, Workday, and Pledge 1% in a coalition to support the Give One $5 million USD challenge campaign. We are committed to helping create a responsive world where everyone has access to healthcare that allows them to thrive—including and especially those who have historically been economically or socially marginalized.

The funding raised will go to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), an innovative financial mechanism to ensure that the poorest countries receive COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of their ability to pay. The COVAX AMC is managed by COVAX, a worldwide initiative directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization.

A Collective Impact

We are calling on everyone to come together to ensure anyone can receive the vaccine, independent of nationality or income. The Go Give One campaign aims to get 50 million people to take part, and PagerDuty invites our employees, customers, and partners to donate $5, the cost of a single vaccine. PagerDuty.org is matching employee donations, and will also match donations by attendees of PagerDuty’s Summit event up to $50,000. Together, we can help vaccinate millions of people around the world, protecting everyone’s loved ones and safeguarding our communities.

PagerDuty.org’s Commitment to Time-Critical Health

The mission of PagerDuty.org’s Time-Critical Health initiative is to meet urgent needs faster to advance justice and health. To date, we have deployed close to $750,000 in funding and product support for nonprofits working in time-critical health, and in April 2021 we launched a $1 million open call for funding to ensure the COVID-19 vaccination reaches the most marginalized communities around the globe. Our investments in Time-Critical Health is one part of our commitment to drive positive social impact. PagerDuty is a Pledge 1% company, meaning that as a company, we have committed 1% each of equity, employee volunteer time, and our product to accelerate social impact.

Together We Can Win Against COVID-19

We can end the pandemic if we Go Give One together. This virus knows no boundaries and we can only be free when everyone is protected. Visit the Go Give One website today and follow hashtags #COVID19 and #GoGiveOne on social media to join us in helping to vaccinate the world.

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Burnout in the workplace can tarnish careers and negatively impact work-life balance. And as our work environment becomes increasingly more remote, people are starting to re-examine the modern problems of burnout at work.

The World Health Organization (WHO) officially classifies burnout as an “occupational phenomenon,” resulting from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”

Its decision not only to define the condition, but also develop evidence-based guidelines on mental wellbeing in the workplace reflects just how serious the problem appears to be. But because the classification is so new, it means current research on the extent of the problem is limited.

However, according to Karen Meager, Co-Founder of Monkey Puzzle Training & Consultancy, who studied the burnout recovery process in partnership with Coventry University, the condition is currently believed to affect between 10% and 18% of the total working population. This figure rises to between 25% and 30% in the caring professions and peaks at between 50% and 60% among mental health practitioners.

While the situation seems to have worsened over the last few years, the arrival of COVID-19 has undoubtedly taken it to a new level. As Meager says: “With the pandemic, people are fatigued in a way I’ve not seen before—it’s very worrying.”

So what is going on and why have things become so bad? The answer is complex in that it comes down to a mixture of individual, emotional responses and other external factors.

On the one hand, explained Meager, many staff are more invested in their work than they were 25 years ago. For such employees, work has moved beyond being a means to an end to feed the family towards providing their life with meaning, which makes it harder to switch off— particularly in a digital world.

Character traits, such as perfectionism and competitiveness, can compound the situation, as does the fact that many jobs are less physical than they were in the past. Because workers tend to be more sedentary means they have fewer opportunities to burn off cortisol and other stress hormones—particularly when working from home—which results in the strain starting to tell more quickly.

Impact of External Influences

In addition to these internal factors, there are external influences, too. According to Dr. Shainaz Firfiray, Associate Professor of Human Resources Management at Warwick Business School, these factors can range from a lack of autonomy and clarity in job roles to expectations that people will take on heavier workloads with fewer resources and less support. This situation is particularly damaging in difficult economic times due to an atmosphere of general uncertainty and job security fears.

Just as damaging though, are inept management practices, high-pressure, and toxic workplace cultures. In fact, O.C. Tanner’s 2020 Global Culture Report indicates that a “poor company culture” increases the incidence rate of moderate-to-severe burnout by 157%.

Robert Ordever, Managing Director of Employee Recognition and Reward Specialist’s European Operations, defines this kind of poor culture as being, among other things, one in which there is a lack of trust in the leadership team, insufficient progression opportunities, and an uninspiring company purpose.

“There’s a common misconception that burnout is all about overload and too much work, but really it’s more to do with the emotional engagement and social connection side of things,” explained Meager.

In terms of what burnout actually is though, the WHO defines it as feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, combined with either increased mental distance or negative and cynical emotions relating to your job. These symptoms, in turn, lead to “reduced professional efficacy,” which can manifest as anything from lower productivity and absence through ill health to behavioral issues.

What Employers Can Do About It

There are a number of things employers can do, says Martina Ruiss, Head of Human Resources at HR software supplier Personio. Firstly, if someone is starting to show burnout symptoms, it is important that their line manager takes action.

Training is imperative not only to ensure managers can recognize the tell-tale signs, but also so they know how to react in a supportive, helpful way. While it may be possible to sort out some situations by rejigging workloads, transferring the individual concerned to a new team, or recommending specialist advice, sometimes a week or two of guilt-free leave may be the only solution.

Preventing burnout in the first place involves having positive role models in leadership positions. For example, while Personio’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Hanno Renner may be “a bit of a workaholic as he loves what he does,” following a sailing trip in August, when he was cut off from everything, he realised the benefits of taking time out.

As a result, on his return, Renner sent a message to his workforce of 500 employees, setting boundaries around his work life and indicating that he expected others to do the same. The leadership team also made the decision to actively say “no” to working on “nice-to-haves” rather than core activities, and he encouraged staff to follow a similar approach to prevent becoming overwhelmed.

Other supportive practices include HR-led, weekly meetings with line managers to discuss any challenges being faced by either themselves or their team members and offer guidance. Perks, such as gym membership and yoga classes, are also made available to help workers release stress by means of physical exercise.

As Meager concludes: “It’s important to feel part of a community and that you’re valued, as it’s about social connection and the fact people’s relationship to work is an emotional thing.”

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