PayPal’s talent management approach is founded on two pillars - entrepreneurship and empowerment. The organization is extremely serious about making a new hire soak its culture of ownership and innovation. As Jayanthi Vaidyanathan, Director- HR puts it, “We invest significantly in trying to provide an employee with the resources and experiences that really matter. Learning and development are driven less by organizational mandates, and more by the career path that an individual chooses.” Emphasizing their focus on careers, Jayanthi adds, “We acknowledge that the management track may not be the preferred career choice for technology-oriented engineers and technical talent, that constitute a significant majority of our workforce. We are happy to provide opportunities for individuals to choose non-managerial career paths, in technical individual-contributor roles.”

The workplace is PayPal’s canvas for demonstrating its intent toward providing the right employment experiences, as characterized by the ‘boundaryless’ workspaces. ‘MadLabs’ is a designated physical space within the office to house latest gadgets and gizmos for employees to use and experience.To encourage the spirit of innovation, ‘Hackathon’ and ‘Labrats’ are competitions that PayPal hosts to filter cutting edge and sponsorable ideas. The company is keen to sponsor special interest groups to foster intellectual development. Jayanthi recalls, “When a group of employees approached the management with their intent to form a quizzing and debating society, we not only endorsed them monetarily, but have also engaged regularly with them as advisors ever since. Such intensity of management involvement is what makes PayPal a great employer.”