How one of Australia’s best companies to work for boosted their culture as headcount doubled

*This article is written by Kirsty Nixon, senior people and culture manager at Bizcap, a HiBob customer. Kirsty plays a key role in supporting team development and guiding people practices as Bizcap continues to grow across international markets. 

Culture isn’t a side project. It’s not something you “add in” once a business is running smoothly. At Bizcap, it’s been foundational from the start and is woven into how we hire, onboard, lead, and grow. 

That foundation was tested as we scaled rapidly and expanded globally since starting in 2019 across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, and Europe. In the past 12 months alone, our headcount has more than doubled.

We’ve created new departments, formed strategic partnerships to support key functions of the business, launched new loan products, and grown our impact supporting SMEs with fast, flexible funding. As one of Australia’s leading non-bank business lenders, we see culture as central to how we deliver on this promise.

Of course, this growth brought complexity—new people, new teams, new challenges. But it also brought an opportunity to reinforce the behaviors, systems, and mindsets that shape how our company feels, not just how it performs.

And, as it turns out, culture can grow at speed. 

Earlier this year, we were proud to be named one of Australia’s Best Places to Work, placing eighth in the medium business category. This recognition puts us among the best companies to work for in Australia, and it’s something we’re especially proud of in a year defined by change and momentum. A quarter of our new hires come from referrals, demonstrating how engaged and supportive our team is. This is how we’ve scaled a business and a culture—deliberately:

1. Workplace culture starts before day one 

At Bizcap, we take an unconventional approach to how we attract and integrate new talent, ensuring the experience feels considered, connected, and aligned with who we are. 

We started by flipping the script on recruitment by partnering with companies that are disruptors themselves. Instead of leading with CVs, candidates are shortlisted based on their responses to a series of long-form questions that reveal how they think, what they value, and how they approach challenges. Their responses are paired with a brain profile assessment to help understand the team dynamics and differences in profiles within a given team. 

Onboarding also had to evolve. We moved it from being HR-led to manager-led. From day one, managers now take the lead in helping new starters integrate into their teams, set clear expectations, shape development timelines, and guide them through cross-functional introductions. This change has had a big impact. It builds trust early and strengthens the most important relationship a new team member will have in those critical first weeks.

New hires meet our senior leaders, shadow other departments, and learn how different parts of the business work together. That context fast-tracks their understanding of the business as a whole and shows they’re part of something bigger. 

2. Staying on the same page, even when it’s a whole new chapter

To streamline processes and keep communication simple across offices and time zones, we’ve leaned into various tools that keep things connected and human. For example, Slack acts as a virtual watercooler, where real-time chats, quick wins, and GIF-powered banter keep the team connected. And Bob streamlines onboarding and people operations. These aren’t just platforms. They’re part of how we make our growing business maintain that small-business feel. 

People have the option to shape their week when personal circumstances demand it. But the choice to show up is rarely a hard sell. Many of our team members work five days in-office, often catching up socially outside of hours too. These strong bonds don’t just make work more enjoyable. They boost productivity and support faster learning through shared experience. 

As we entered new markets, we saw the value of working with local experts. In Europe, for example, we used local advisers to help us navigate tax law and data privacy. But they’ve contributed far beyond the paperwork. Their presence has helped reinforce a culture of collaboration and continuous learning in markets where our team mix looks a little different.

3. People-first policies: Where culture meets compliance  

We don’t just talk about supporting our people: We build policies around it.

Bizcap’s flexible working arrangements are designed to meet people where they’re at, whether they’re studying, upskilling, or taking the step into a new career challenge. We understand that people crave variety and growth at work, which is why we continuously support internal moves. Our internal mobility rate sits at 16 percent, showing that when our people are ready for a change, we’re right there to support them.

Our student pathway gives students the opportunity to start as interns before progressing to part-time roles and then full-time roles. This makes Bizcap an attractive destination for those seeking finance careers in Australia with clear progression opportunities.

Our global mobility options, where team members do stints in international offices, help to build crucial cross-border relationships and create cohesion across our global operations.

Flexibility done right drives retention and loyalty—and we’re seeing the results firsthand. Our retention rate has grown from 68.4 percent in 2024 to 89 percent in 2025. It’s proof that when we invest in our people, they choose to grow with us. 

But people-first policies only work with the right structures in place. 

That’s where compliance-led policies come in. They create clear pathways for lateral movements and career progression, helping our team explore opportunities within the business.

4. Learning through expansion 

Bizcap’s rapid global expansion didn’t just demand new offices and licensing. It also demanded a deeper understanding of each market’s unique legal landscape. From navigating GDPR to adapting to local employment laws, each market comes with its own playbook. 

We’ve built teams that have to look a little different so we can adapt in each region—sometimes with local agencies or in-market experts. This helps us keep our core focus on building systems that support operational consistency and cultural alignment across every region. 

Expanding into new regions has also sharpened our appreciation for cultural nuance. Workplace expectations, communication styles, and approaches to collaboration can vary significantly between markets. Rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all model, we’ve worked to balance local flexibility with global cohesion, making sure our people feel both empowered in their context and connected to the bigger Bizcap vision.

This has required more than just processes. It has demanded listening. By creating feedback loops with local teams, we’ve been able to adapt our policies, benefits, and engagement strategies so they resonate across different markets. What remains consistent is the intention: to foster belonging, enable growth, and align every team member—no matter where they sit—to the same cultural foundations.

And to make that happen, we’re integrating modern HCM (Human Capital Management) systems to establish a consistent onboarding experience. The intention behind this is that the one system connects new team members to Bizcap’s culture from day one, no matter where in the world they join us.

Growing global, staying human

Scaling a business at speed is never simple, but scaling a culture alongside it is even harder. 

At Bizcap, we’ve learned that culture can’t be an afterthought or a nice-to-have. It has to be intentional, practical, and embedded in every stage of the employee experience, from recruitment and onboarding through to global expansion and policy design.

Our journey has shown that getting it right doesn’t mean avoiding mistakes, but learning from them quickly and realigning to what matters most: building a workplace where people feel connected, supported, and empowered to grow. 

By putting people at the center while balancing compliance, consistency, and adaptability, we’ve grown our business without losing the small-business feel that makes us who we are.

As we continue to expand, our culture will keep evolving, too. But one thing won’t change: At Bizcap, we know that sustainable success starts with our people—and when culture is strong, performance follows.