The culture and values of a business in the ultra-competitive iGaming sector will determine whether it thrives or falters. As a leader, you can build and breed an ethos to ensure your team feels valued, supported, and appreciated.
Tanya Shevchuk, CEO of IGAMINGHUNT, a leading recruitment and HR consultancy specialising in iGaming, insists that the right culture will help you hire and retain the best talent.
“Looking after your employees is paramount,” says Shevchuk. “The sector is full of talented and enthusiastic professionals who create brilliant products and services. To retain talent, companies must look beyond salary expectations and provide a culture that encourages employees to thrive.”
Here are some key aspects of a winning culture that Shevchuk has seen in many of the leading companies in the online gambling space.
Emphasise values alignment
The best iGaming firms do a great job aligning their company ethos with the values and aims of the broader industry. This includes creativity and responsibility, both central to high-performing firms.
Also, values alignment is much more than publishing a set of values on the company website. It’s about engaging with employees and helping them live out these values through their work, which the best firms get right.
Promote diversity and inclusion
Most companies in the online casino and sports betting space are multi-national. They tend to have offices in numerous locations and benefit from a diverse team of employees who enjoy hybrid or remote work.
The truly global nature of the industry means there’s no excuse for firms not to embrace diversity and difference.
Employing team members from different countries with unique cultures fosters interest and inclusivity and means that teams within iGaming companies benefit from multiple cultural perspectives when delivering their work.
Encourage collaboration and teamwork
There are lots of critical components to any successful iGaming team. Experts in numerous fields, from design to marketing, must be on the same page to get behind a product launch.
Collaboration between teams is crucial to success, and the best companies in the world recognise this fact.
Many companies incentivise performance and offer team bonuses for reaching specific goals throughout the calendar year.
Consider employee well-being
You don’t want staff to feel like they might be prone to burnout. Making it clear you consider staff well-being important, perhaps by including things like gym membership discounts or flexible working hours, will help attract good people.
After all, employees who feel valued and looked after are much more likely to perform well.
Offer opportunities for growth and development
Most employees like to envisage their potential career trajectory, so offering clear opportunities for growth and development is something else that many firms focus on.
Upskilling via training courses, development plans, and team promotion opportunities is important.
We have also come across many iGaming firms that offer employee mentoring, which can benefit both mentor and mentee, helping people grow at all company levels.
Celebrate achievements and successes
The way that an iGaming firm celebrates success is also key. Product launches are a great opportunity to showcase employees' talents, as are awards ceremonies and partner launch parties.
You can also ensure you celebrate team milestones on a smaller level to show your team that you care about their success.
It’s not enough to demand success – you should reward achievements appropriately when that success is delivered to or beyond expectations.
Foster a transparent and open communication culture
Effective communication is fundamental to any successful organisation. We don’t mean you must reveal all your tech, marketing plans and operations to everyone in the business.
Instead, we mean ensuring departments communicate well with each other and no one feels isolated.
Offering employees numerous communication channels, be it options like Slack or company networks and message boards, encourages conversations.
Employees should feel comfortable sharing their ideas and seeking feedback, so your firm should have the mechanisms to encourage clear communication.
Embrace innovation and creativity
The iGaming sector thrives on innovation and creativity. Brilliant games and betting platforms are released because of creativity, and the employer’s job is to foster this creativity wherever possible.
Encourage your staff to think outside the box, try new things, and innovate solutions to age-old challenges and problems.
It’s always the most innovative firms that rise to the top, so incorporating innovation and creativity into your company ethos is non-negotiable.
Final thoughts
IGAMINGHUNT’s Shevchuk says these are the key components to building a thriving company culture within the iGaming sector. But each component puts the employees at the centre and makes the best firms some of the most innovative and pioneering companies to work for.
If you’re looking to recruit the best talent for your iGaming company in 2024, reach out to the recruitment experts at IGAMINGHUNT to attract the best talent to your company.
