HiBob Innovation, Technology & Agility

What practices does your team employ to foster innovation, and how have these practices led to more creative, out-of-the-box thinking?

At HiBob, innovation is a big part of working and growing as a team. We run annual hackathons that provide an open space for creative experimentation and rapid prototyping, allowing the exploration of potentially impactful new ideas. We also run a weekly back-end forum, where we share and discuss best practices and new approaches to help drive innovation while addressing technical overhead and tech debt. 

In addition, we host ad-hoc lunch-and-learn sessions whenever someone does something particularly cool or different so the rest of the team can learn from them and maybe even apply it in their own work. Lately, we’ve been especially focused on exploring how AI can help us push boundaries and be even more innovative. All of these practices help keep HiBob agile, allowing us to adapt, be curious and collaborate as we look for smarter, more creative ways to build our platform.

How has a focus on innovation increased the quality of your team’s work?

Focusing on innovation has helped raise the quality of our team’s work. It keeps us plugged into new technologies, and this open-mindedness really impacts how we deliver, accelerating our development.

A great recent example was after one of our lunch-and-learn sessions, when someone introduced a new framework. The team quickly found a clever way to apply it to an upcoming feature, which cut down development time significantly and reduced the amount of code we needed to write. It was a great win that came about as a result of our dedication to innovation and knowledge-sharing.

How has a focus on innovation bolstered your team’s culture?

It’s had a really positive impact on our team culture. One of the biggest benefits is that it helps level the playing field — regardless of how junior or senior someone is, everyone can take risks, share ideas and bring innovative solutions to the table. It gives everyone a voice and creates a sense of ownership and inclusion across the team.

Hackathons are a big part of this. They’re not just about building things quickly — they’re a fun way for the team to bond, collaborate outside of usual roles and build trust in a more relaxed, creative setting. These kinds of experiences definitely help strengthen relationships and make the team feel more connected.