Ripple Work Environment Now List-Worthy
If anyone was still living under the illusion that working in blockchain or cryptocurrency meant sacrificing the quality of your work life, you might have finally been convinced otherwise. “Great Place to Work” named payment system Ripple as the 17th best place to work in Silicon Valley among small to medium-sized business. Shout out to Roblox at number 16. Now, I’m aware that Ripple is a controversial project and XRP is not technically a cryptocurrency in many people’s eyes, but this is an impressive achievement given how competitive the Bay area is. In a bid to lure the best talent and cater to highly-qualified millennials, firms in Silicon Valley will offer everything from a bus to pick you up from your house, to free lunches and all manner of games and fun activities to pursue. Ripple certainly has an eloquent CEO at the helm.
Clear Sense of Mission Defines XRP Project
So what is it precisely that employees enjoy about working at Ripple that warrants a place on this list? It appears that much like other digital currency projects, the mission of developing and fostering adoption is driving the company forward. In the words of a satisfied worker:
“I’ve never before been at a company where everyone has a clear sense of mission, and what the shared goal is. That is obvious from day one. I also love my co-workers, and they make me happy to come to work every day (along with the work itself).”
Ok, I assumed the adoption part. That quote couldn’t have been more generic if it wore a polo shirt. Dig a little deeper into the ranking, and it does start to look like the survey is a bit redundant. According to the report, 91 percent of employees are happy to work at Ripple. The company has 255 employees in the US, and 95 percent of them are proud to say they work at the company. 96 percent of them are happy with their time off.
With all these happy, satisfied people how is Ripple only ranked number 17? Well, to crack the top 10 Ripple would have needed a 95 percent happiness rating on more than 400 people.
The number one best place to work for a small or medium company in the Bay area, Asana, has a 99% happiness rating among roughly 240 employees. My point here is I’m skeptical of reviews where everyone self-reports that they are happy. The differences are too negligible to make rankings any more than deeply subjective or borderline random.
Ripple Attention is Fine, but Salute the Real Heroes
Ultimately, Ripple getting acclaim is probably good for cryptocurrency. There is still a widespread misconception about what it is. Because most people believe XRP and Bitcoin are blockchain bedfellows, then seeing it as a credible place to work has to be a good thing for the industry.
The only concern is that top talent might leave decentralized projects to work at places like Ripple; the search for a consistent paycheck or corporate benefits might prove too alluring. Let just hope enough gifted people don’t leave other essential projects neglected. It has been a big few weeks for XRP after finally getting listed on Coinbase Pro, and credit to them for making a decent work environment for their employees. I’d certainly rather work for Ripple than for JPM Coin.
Click here for XRP’s real-time price chart.