Perks and Programs

We asked Metabiota, Inc. to share a few programs they feel really capture what's unique about their workplace. Here is what they had to say.

• Tuition Reimbursement Program- Cultivating Brightness: ‘Bright’ is one of the values listed in our culture statement, and thus it was only fitting to name our tuition reimbursement program, ‘Cultivating Brightness’. This program directly supports our vision of fostering innovative and creative minds as employees are reimbursed for expenses related to continued education and degree programs. Our annual support of up to $5250 provides employees with the opportunity to maintain or enhance current skills, or develop new skills and and competencies for career development purposes within the company.
• Veterinarian Loan Repayment Assistance Program: In an effort to remain competitive with government-sponsored veterinary programs and attract and retain top talent, we introduced a Veterinarian Loan Repayment Assistance Program. Metabiota reimburses employees who have received their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from an accredited educational institution in the United States $1,000 every month for 5 years for a total of up to $60,000. DVMs assume a critical role within our organization and this helps to ease some of the burden of hefty school loans.
• Commuter Stipend: Since most of our employees do not live in the cities where our offices are located, helping our employees travel to the office as easily and cost-effectively as possible is important to us. Our commuter program provides a monthly employer subsidy of $130 in the form of parking, transit or bike. Employees can supplement the company’s funds with their own pre-tax dollars with the added convenience of all funds being deposited into their accounts on the first of the month. We encourage our part-time employees to come and visit us in the office by issuing them a monthly $50 stipend. Teamwork and spontaneous white boarding sessions are common occurrences in the office, so we encourage this by facilitating a program to encourage more innovative ideas.
• Social Program: Thirsty Thursday, Picnics, Ball Games: While socializing is something that comes natural with our open-office concept, we don’t just stop at that! Aside from our bi-monthly Thursday get-togethers at “Thirsty Thursday” where beer and wine (and the occasional margarita) is served, and “Metabiota Walk or Run Club” for afternoon exercise outdoors, we let the employees tell us what they want. Whether it’s an after lunch ice cream social, a roof top happy hour, or mid-day meditation, spontaneous team building events are common. In 2016 so far, we’ve celebrated The Lunar New Year with a Chinese luncheon, Earth Day with a terrarium making project, hosted our first annual Metabiota Family Picnic, and attended an afternoon Major League baseball game group outing. We have even more fun already planned for Fall and Winter!
• No Label Performance Management: To emphasize our philosophy that performance conversations and the associated rewards should be feedback-oriented and centered around organizational impact, we do not believe in ratings or rankings. Our belief is that it is an employee AND employer-driven process that holds both accountable to action-oriented feedback and meaningful conversations without the distraction of ratings. Managerial discretion and gathering peer feedback throughout our matrix organization play pivotal roles in this process, with the underlying theme that transparency is key and performance discussions should not happen once a year. With a clearer link between performance and rewards, employee motivation soars.
• Employee Communication Initiative- Metabiota Going Viral: With an international footprint of operations in over 30 countries, we ease some of the difficulties associated with communicating across the globe by utilizing our own private social network, ‘Metabiota Going Viral.’ It provides a mechanism for storing and communicating company announcements and events, training resources, onboarding documents, and a picture directory. The Executive Team posts monthly highlights to provide more visibility into the discussions and activities in which they participate in (including pictures from company events and of the newest members of the Metabiota family in their company onesies). Internal groups and departments are encouraged to build their own channels for sharing content, whether it’s a science article or white paper, or monthly newsletter.
• Recognition – You Rock: Referred to as ‘FLASH CASH’ by our CEO, our recognition program provides the ability for managers to request bonuses for any employee in the organization, an important part of our teamwork-oriented culture. Recognition bonuses are requested in a timely fashion and delivered to employees (in private or in some cases in a public setting) following the completion of an important project, delighting the customer, or any other tasks that goes above and beyond normal job duties and responsibilities. Recognition Bonus amounts vary by activity up to $6000 USD and in the last 12 months we distributed 40 bonuses—over 20% of our employee population! ‘Metabiota Going Viral’ also houses ‘You Rock!’, our peer-to-peer Recognition Program, as it facilitates a way for employees to publicly recognize their co-workers for their contributions and successes.
• Training – Build Brighter: Enhancing leadership effectiveness has been a continual focus as we grow rapidly and dive into new initiatives. As a way to provide a shared management platform and language to build on, we organize Situational Leadership training courses for all managers. To emphasize that it is a philosophy and tool that we will continue to practice, we held a ‘Situational Leadership Challenge’ earlier this year to encourage managers and their direct reports to re-familiarize themselves with the materials and terminology. For us, ‘Building Brighter’ encompasses Department and/or job specific training programs that are recommended by the employees themselves or management. Over 50% of the organization participated in development opportunities ranging from PMP certifications to python and R courses, targeted selection interview methodology and agile development training.

Executive Diversity

Demographics

How to Get Hired

We asked Metabiota, Inc. for some inside information on how to get hired at the organization. Here is what they had to say.

What key characteristics tell you a prospective employee will be a great fit for your company?

In addition to meeting the qualifications for education and work experience, we also believe that culture fit is especially important. We use our values as a blueprint to guide our way. We look for the following characteristics-  bright, driven, creative, customer-focused, teamwork oriented, entrepreneurial, pioneering and someone who is connected to the vision of the Company. 

What can prospective employees do to get your attention?

Show through past experiences that they can contribute positively to both the external value of the Company as well as internally to the culture. We are attracted to candidates that are able to articulate their successses in the face of challenges, as well as give examples of ways they personally contributed to building a positive culture for their colleagues.   

Are there any positions or types of candidates you are particularly focused on hiring in this coming year?

We are always hiring great talent in the areas of Engineering, Product Management, Computational Modeling, Data Analytics, Project Management, Epidemiology, Virology, Veterinary Science, Behavioral Anthropology, and Public Health. If you are interested and inspired to solve a really hard problem and contribute to a vision of "a world resilient to epidemics" we are eager to talk to you!

What should interested candidates do to find out more and get started?

Interested candidates should visit our website at www.metabiota.com/careers to apply to any open positions which they are qualified. Candidates may also apply to "Future Consideration" if they do not find a current position that is a close match for their skills and experience.