Today, Virbela was named “Best Engineering Team of 2021” by Comparably, an online career destination for compensation and workplace culture data. The Best Engineering Teams of 2021 were selected for having the best leadership, compensation, and work-life balance.
Virbela was chosen based on sentiment ratings provided by employees who anonymously rated their experience throughout the year. Selection criteria included a series of 50+ structured and comprehensive workplace questions in nearly 20 core culture categories, including: Compensation, Leadership, Professional Development, Work-Life Balance, and Perks & Benefits, to name a few.
“As a non-technical founder of Virbela, I am always in awe of the capabilities of our engineering team. They are truly brilliant,” said Alex Howland, President and Co-Founder of Virbela. “We aim to create an inclusive fun workplace where they can share their honest feedback and partake in building virtual worlds and environments using the latest in gaming and VR technologies. We are thrilled our engineering team has been recognized as one of Comparably’s Best Engineering Teams for 2021.”
“Our engineers come to work each day in a flexible, virtual environment to work on innovative projects that are shaping the future of virtual worlds,” said Erik Hill, VP of Engineering. “This award is a testament to our incredible engineers, an exciting product roadmap, and a supportive leadership team that prioritizes employee feedback and implements their suggestions to maintain our top-tier workplace culture.”
At Virbela, employees participate in an anonymous bi-monthly eNPS survey, which is used to measure their experience and gather suggestions for improvement. Online review sites, like Comparably, help to gather valuable insights for Virbela to keep a pulse on its workplace culture.
“The teams on our Best Engineering list have the best workplace experiences, according to employee feedback in multiple culture metrics,” said Comparably CEO, Jason Nazar. “Virbela is applauded by its engineers for creating and maintaining an exceptional workplace culture despite the challenges of the past year due to the pandemic.”
Evan Vore, a Software Engineer at Virbela, says he has more control over his work environment and greater flexibility in his role than he has ever had before. Evan has worked in game development for decades, but Virbela is the first opportunity he has had to work virtually.
“There are several reasons why I like working at Virbela,” said Evan. “I am confident in my work and feel empowered in a flexible work environment. Tackling the interesting projects at Virbela gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Since working at Virbela, my mental health has improved overall.”
Virbela grew from 20 to 170+ employees in the last year and aims to add even more talent in 2021. As of April 2021, Virbela is hiring for 10+ fully-virtual engineering roles, with more expected to open throughout the year.
“We are consistently finding innovative ways to attract the top talent in the industry,” said Bryan Reese, Director of Human Resources at Virbela. “We are looking at this in three ways: technology, networking, and employee branding. The key is to constantly reinvent programs and practices in both attraction and retention to keep them fresh, engaging, and fun for staff to continuously participate in.”
Attracting top talent is only one part of the total solution in cultivating a stellar workforce at Virbela. Each month, Virbela employees gather for a social night to play interactive games and connect with their colleagues. Other benefits include competitive 100% employer paid medical, dental, and vision, as well as mental health, stress relief, and burnout solutions like an FTO policy, discount gym and exercise plans, and free access to the Calm app. Virbela also recently established a peer recognition program, allowing anyone to highlight a member of the team for their efforts.
One of Virbela’s core values is a commitment to diversity and inclusion. To support this initiative, Virbela established a diversity committee focused on celebrating the team’s similarities as well as differences.
For information about all of Virbela’s open positions, visit our careers page. Read the full list of Best Engineering Teams of 2021 and more about what our employees have to say about Virbela on Comparably.
