What's the Company Culture Like at ClassWallet?

Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values — and what changed as a result?

We review mission, vision, values and employee traits from time to time and believe we had an opportunity to include a larger nod toward innovation as a product-led company and also to enlarge the focus on those we serve and how much we care about the outcomes we drive for families.

Our values are used to make difficult business decisions. When we talk about embedding into the culture, they drive how we hire, recognize, promote, survey and prioritize needs. Additionally, the evolved system ties more directly to business outcomes.

The largest change will be in our 2026 performance management where living the values will account for 30 percent of the criteria that impacts career growth and bonuses.

Another recent advancement was the title change of our most prestigious quarterly recognition to the, “founder’s award.” The person who best embodies the updated values and employee traits receives it. Additionally, “kudos koins,” a new program where the recipient earns “koins” which can be redeemed for company merch, was designed to complement the values evolution. It’s all about driving measurable business outcomes which are felt in our culture and the bottom line. 

What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect? 

In the previous 12 months, we created a new team dedicated to cross-team awareness and alignment on deliverables. The weekly meeting of the senior leadership team keeps departments moving together. The SLT is composed of departmental members that report to an executive member and who work together to ensure that company goals are translated into action and delivered. The SLT serves as the connective tissue between strategy and execution. Specifically, this group is accountable for cross-functional alignment and consistent execution (i.e. resource prioritization, process improvements, departmental coordination).

SLT members hold each other accountable to drive alignment and reach goals through the agreed upon identification of the top 10 first half of the year and second half of the year business priorities and keep executives informed of on or off track priorities. We track effectiveness through S.M.A.R.T. goals that roll up linearly to company priorities. 

How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric shows it works? 

We updated our values to include the following: “Feedback: We know that feedback powers progress.” Feedback is in ClassWallet’s DNA, as the whole (much smaller) company used to participate in weekly win/gratitude meetings, sharing a business or personal win. 

Our recognition channels have grown and today we utilize peer “shout-outs” on the home page of our intranet (i.e.“Big shout out to Tom for his incredible speed in moving from initial idea to active testing on some potential new AI features for HR. The way you’ve fast-tracked the development process from a concept to a working pilot is impressive!”). In quarter one, 19 percent of the organization recognized a peer (our homepage is the most-viewed so these recognitions are visible to all). 

Our second most-viewed intranet page is “kudos koins,” a program incentivizing employees while measuring the impact of their choices. It aligns recognition with the contributions that move our organization forward. Contributions must demonstrate measurable or clearly observable business value, strengthen performance, company culture, engagement and shared momentum across teams.

What’s notable is the program’s second quarter launch! It’s working!