Leading technology company HubSpot not only provides thousands of companies with an excellent CRM system, but also their own hundreds of employees with an excellent office experience. Jo Jacobs, office manager, tells us how they are competing in Dublin in a war on talent with LinkedIn, Facebook and even TikTok and about their monthly massages at the office.

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So you're office manager at HubSpot, can you take us through a day in the life?

I actually started as an office manager at PieSync in 2017 and because PieSync has developed an interesting software for Hubspot, Hubspot took us over, including me as office manager. My role in that hasn't changed that much. I continued to take care of the office, the people, make sure there is food and drinks. Also making sure that we can organize things from time to time. That's my role here in Ghent. What I also do is contact with suppliers and local official bodies.

I am also part of HubSpot Culture. This is a department within HubSpot where we work with a team of six people worldwide to ensure that the HubSpot culture remains alive within the local offices.

Seems like a very variable job to me, probably no two days will look the same. Your head office is in Dublin. Everyone knows that's the epicenter for big tech companies like Google and Facebook. What is that relationship like with the office here in Ghent?

That's a good question! In Dublin, HubSpot really has to compete with those big companies. In Ghent, not many people know us. So in terms of competition, we don't have any problems with that. We are reaping the benefits of the culture in Dublin where they really have to come out of the closet to attract people. We are doing this in a boiled way - but I think we are doing our very best. In Dublin there is an incredible amount: a rooftop terrace, non-stop kitchen, a hairdresser, people can bring their laundry, .. They also work there with more than a thousand employees – that's a big difference. We work with a good 34 employees at the moment. Of which - this is a big difference - in percentage terms we in Ghent with the largest population in office are people.

In Dublin, they have a larger area with regions where people work remotely and are also allowed to organize things remotely, which means that more than half of us work in the office.

So if I understand correctly, office experience and management is really used there as a tool to attract talent?

Yes, not just the in office culture. That is also because all other offices such as Facebook, LinkedIn are there. They have to compete and therefore they have to offer a lot, but we also want to do that because it's just nice. We want to create an atmosphere where people are happy and motivated to come to work.

I think you succeed in that because I have heard in the corridors here that some people drive more than two hours to get to the office. That's crazy, especially in a post-corona culture where people are coming to the office less and less.

It has been a special evolution because during the COVID period we had to work from home and people have also discovered those benefits. But after corona, it has become clear that most people prefer to come to the office. The freedom remains with HubSpot. No one is obligated, everyone can choose in which formula they work: either remote or flex or in office. In that choice, absolutely no remuneration is compensated or no judgment is made about it. Everyone does as they see fit. Here in Ghent, we notice that people come to the office even though they live further away.

As an office manager, I think you play a major role in that. How do you make sure your office is worth making that switch?

I really don't want to take all the credit for me. I try to make sure that everyone can work here to the best of their ability, but the team is what it is. There is really a great cohesion and desire to just work with each other and desire to work with each other. I think it's that too. It's easier to communicate, but what we offer at the office: monthly massages. That is with such a sign-up formula where a professional comes to massage us for half an hour every month. We also offer breakfast so every morning there are all kinds of milk and cereals here. We have a ping-pong table, recently also a Playstation. They really play it hard during lunch breaks or to relax.

"We want to do that because it's just nice. We want to create an atmosphere where people are happy and motivated to come to work."

On top of that, are there things that you really have exceptional? Something that other offices might not use?

I'm thinking of an online tool, a platform that we have at our disposal. It's called Modern Health. This is a website where you can call on psychological counselling of all kinds for eight sessions a year. Doesn't necessarily have to be work-related. Mental well-being is of paramount importance here

So you really assume that employees who feel good about themselves are happier and perform better than they do in the end?

Yes, I have that feeling. Another thing we do that I find very special is that we organize a Hub Talk every so often. Then we will invite a speaker. Here in Belgium, for example, I am thinking of Bashir Abdi. Writers, people in the fashion world, even once The Monk Who Wears Heels. Those are those moments outside of work, but those people often have such charisma or are in such a special way in life that we also learn from them.