Cultural Competence: What Is It and How To Develop It At Your Company When I went to college, it was the first time I truly interacted with a bunch of people who were completely different from me. I grew up in Orange County, an almost infamously undiverse, homogeneous place. It was during college that I was able to broaden my horizons and I quickly realized how important diversity is to every area of life whether it be education, or even business. In fact, did you know that companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns greater than their industry mean? Additionally, findings show that diverse teams make better business decisions 87% of the time. As business leaders, it's impossible to ignore those stats. But, if you have a similar background (or lack thereof) in diversity as I did growing up, you might not know how to develop cultural competence and cultivate a diverse team. To help, I talked to a wide range of experts on diversity, inclusion, and belonging, from both internal HubSpot employees to external thought leaders. In this post, we'll learn what cultural competence is, why it's important, and how to develop it at your company. It's important to discuss that cultural competence isn't about hitting a diversity quota. It's about facilitating an environment of open and honest communication in a diverse setting. If you aren't culturally competent, you might not attract the best talent for...

25 Stats That Prove Why Workplaces Need to Embrace Diversity As a legally blind person who's held roles that involve editing, design, and highly visual tasks, I thought I had it easier than a lot of other visually impaired people in my field. I'd never been blatantly discriminated against or felt like I didn't receive an offer due to my vision. In fact, I've been lucky enough to work on teams run by women or diverse leaders. However, as I got older, I realized that I hadn't completely evaded misjudgments related to my eyesight. While I've had a handful of great experiences, I've run into a few subtle job interview scenarios that seem more and more unacceptable each time I reflect on them. In my first job search after college, I realized that disclosing my blindness would always result in a look of concern or an incredibly awkward series of questions from a hiring manager. Many of these questions didn't even have to do with the job role I was interviewing for. Sometimes, an interviewer would try to hide a look of concern. Then, they'd make things even more awkward by trying to relate to me with statements like, "My second cousin is blind too! I should ask her what she has." Ultimately, I followed my instincts and didn't work for any of these people. However, even after I built a list of glowing recommendations from past employers, those uncomfortable interview memories stuck with me. Because of how...

40 Remote Work Stats to Know in 2020 In 2020, workplaces are embracing remote work options more than ever before. This is definitely apparent at HubSpot, where we have a quickly growing fleet of more than 300 full-time remote employees as well as partial remote options for those who work in our offices. As someone who'd never really understood the perks of remote work, my time at HubSpot has allowed me to embrace this work style. While I primarily work in office, I usually spend one or two days a week working from home. During this time, I'm able to build out content strategies, take time for analytics reporting, and churn out hefty blog posts with limited interruption. I'm not the only one who's discovered the benefits of working from home. In fact, nearly half of my incredibly talented team works from a different state. This enables them to live closer to their families or stay in a state they love without relocating for work. As a team, it enables the in-office employees to benefit from the diverse ideas of out-of-office colleagues that we wouldn't have had if our company didn't allow remote work. But, despite the perks and countless remote work testimonials, the idea of remote work can seem scary at first. Like with any emerging work style, those who've had more traditional, in-office job experiences might feel skeptical about remote work. This skepticism is understandable. As a manager, you may wonder what your employee is doing...

5 Remote Work Myths to Leave Behind in 2020 When you Google image search remote work, you'll find photos that tell fascinating stories about the work style. For example, you might find a relaxing image of a woman working with her laptop on the beach -- without a care that sand or water could destroy her hard drive. Or, you might discover a scene where a man logs into a team video chat after a treacherous climb to the top of a mountain. As you get deeper into the results, the visual narrative gets more mystifying. You might even find a scene from sci-fi drama where a remote employee ventures to the moon just to avoid his colleagues. But, as HubSpot Marketing VP Kieran Flanagan likes to point out in his tweets -- this is not the reality of remote work: While some stock image companies might like to assume that all remote employees are introverts who work antisocially from the Moon, this is far from the truth. And although more traditional employers might worry that remote employees aren't as productive as their in-office counterparts, this work style is being implemented more heavily around the world because it provides so many benefits to employees and companies. Not only do remote workers save companies money, but remote work opportunities increase job retention and allow employers to globally hire diverse or innovative employees that they couldn't have otherwise due to location limitations. Not to...

Gen Z is Entering The Workforce: 30 Stats Marketing Managers Need to Know It's hard to believe Gen Z is already old enough to start working. It seems like just yesterday that business experts were writing about how my own generation -- millennials -- was about to completely upend the workforce. As I've watched journalists, researchers, and general social media users write about millennials and now Gen Z, I've found that they often say similar things. For example, although researchers have identified that each generation was more tech-savvy and career motivated than the last, we still hear myths saying that both age groups are "entitled and less motivated to earn money.' At this point, millennials have generally disproved the worst stereotypes related to our (lack of) ambition by becoming more educated than some generations before us, growing more frugal about our finances, and having higher expectations for our customer experiences. Gen Z is falling within a similar cycle of critique as they prepare to enter the workforce. Just like with millennials, internet chatter argues that they're "spoiled," "dependent on their parents," and "terrible with money." As a future Gen Z manager or colleague, it's important for you to separate myth from reality. If you've heard some of the more negative the rumors about Gen Z, you might be worried that their attitudes around work will hinder your company in the future. However, taking the time to research the generation will help you realize that -- like most generational...