What's the Company Culture Like at Xero?

Describe your sales team culture in one word. Why did you choose that word?
Passionate — Xero’s purpose is to make life better for people in business, their advisors and communities, and it achieves it through providing best in market tech solutions. As a seller at Xero, it’s hard not to be passionate about the work we do once we witness the impact we can have on not just our accountants and bookkeepers but their small business clients, too.

What are your team’s traditions or growth opportunities, and how do these traditions help team members connect, evolve and stay motivated?
Traditionally, we connect in person at least twice a year, usually more. So, much of our work is done virtually, however the opportunity to get together from all parts of Australia to connect in person is truly invaluable. It helps us build deeper relationships and collaborate across regions. From a growth perspective, the one constant at Xero is change. Often this change results in opportunities for people. Through a culture of one-on-one and group coaching, sales enablement and clarity around what success looks like, we aim to set people up for when those opportunities arise.

How does a strong team culture make you feel more connected to your day-to-day work?
As a sales leader, I interview and onboard external candidates. One thing that I often hear from sales people in their first months at Xero is that they’ve never worked in a place where others share so openly and willingly. We all have that competitive edge and want to be the best, however, it’s never at the expense of our team. A strong culture of collaboration helps us learn from each other’s wins and losses. It helps us all improve at a rate that we couldn’t if we were too focused on competing with each other.

Describe your sales team culture in one word. Why did you choose that word?
Energetic. I chose this word because everyone is always looking for ideas of how to shake things up. We don’t settle and are hungry but are always putting partners (customers) at the heart of what we do.

What are your team’s traditions or growth opportunities, and how do these traditions help team members connect, evolve and stay motivated?
Team traditions are opportunities to connect weekly, in team meetings, pods, specific GTM days in the office, enablement and training — as well as the social ones. This means there is a great balance between work and life. At the end of the financial year for AU (June) we pay homage to our previous lives as accountants and wear suits (normally we are jeans and Xero t-shirts most days).

How does a strong team culture make you feel more connected to your day-to-day work?
Sales can be a lonely place, an individual sport, in many ways — you are competing against your peers on leaderboards month in, month out. However, our team culture ensures that you aren’t doing this alone, you have the opportunity to share ideas, help each other on deals and feel like you are all winning together. Sales leaderboards are a key aspect of the job but not the only one and having a culture that connects everyone back to the overall purpose means that you are more likely to give support to see others win.

Xero fosters a collaborative culture where employees with different backgrounds and areas of expertise learn from one another to solve complex problems. By encouraging diverse perspectives and cross-functional teamwork, the company creates an environment where collaboration drives better outcomes and continuous learning.

“I was relying on my sales skills, while collaborating with people from accounting backgrounds. We learned from each other. I could bring a different point of view to team debriefs, and they could provide the real-time view of what it was like to work in a practice. That’s where the collaboration really starts — when you push through those boundaries.”

Xero fosters a culture where employees enjoy working together, embrace creativity and make space for fun alongside their day-to-day responsibilities. Employees describe a relaxed environment where humor, camaraderie and shared experiences help strengthen team connections and create an enjoyable workplace.

“Our team dynamic is extremely fun and laid-back. One example of this would be when we were sitting around our desks and I jokingly suggested that we should have a live puppy cam in our office since dogs aren’t allowed. Within minutes, one of our teammates walked over to the head of IT to set up a live feed of golden retrievers. Since then we’ve adopted a panda cam, a stream of the South Pacific Ocean and live national park footage of grizzly bears hunting for salmon.”