Chili Piper is a fully remote company, employing 150 people across 36 countries. With a lean HR team and a mountain of admin, Chili Piper needed a powerful HCM to automate their day-to-day processes. Hallie Condon, VP of People at Chili Piper, had used Bob in a previous company and loved its flexibility and ease of use. “Bob is built to fit how you work, rather than you having to mold your processes to the tool.” Today, every HR task at Chili Piper runs through Bob. The result? More than 20 hours a month saved and more time to focus on strategy and culture.
Automating HR to save time and deliver better onboarding
As a fully remote company with people from 36 different countries, Chili Piper’s people team has a lot to manage. With no admin support, Hallie and En-Szu Hu-Van Wright, Head of Talent Strategy, needed to automate their HR processes while also creating personalized journeys for people, no matter their role or location.
Remote work comes with its own set of challenges, especially when onboarding new hires who don’t meet their teammates face-to-face, save for the annual company trip. The people team wanted to create a warm and welcoming environment for new joiners while eliminating the manual admin behind every hire.
Before switching to Bob, Chili Piper’s people team sent out an offer letter after hiring someone new, and then, depending on their hiring manager, they would receive some additional communications. It was up to the people team to keep track of all starting dates, which they did by setting reminders for themselves.
Now, Chili Piper runs a fully automated onboarding process in Bob. Each new hire receives a series of timed emails, personalized by start date and location. With their people working around the world, that means U.S.-based employees get W-2 forms, while others receive country-specific documents automatically.
Chili Piper has set up multiple workflows for each HR process, such as onboarding and offboarding, saving them at least 20 hours a month and giving them more time to develop their talent, build culture, and think strategically.
Hallie understands that a warm and welcoming onboarding experience is critical, and that you have to be super intentional about building culture—especially in remote workplaces. She also believes that remote companies shouldn’t try to replicate the in-office type of experience. She explains, “If you’re a fully remote company, the people that work for you are likely not looking for the in-office type of experience. And so not only are you chasing something that’s nearly impossible to do, you’re also not going to meet the needs of the people that work for you by chasing those things.”
Creating safe, flexible ways to give feedback with Bob
As a remote company with limited face-to-face interactions, Chili Piper believes in the power of employee feedback. They use Bob’s Surveys as a quick and accessible way to seamlessly collect feedback and data for planning and guiding decisions.
Chili Piper uses Bob’s Surveys throughout the employee lifecycle to stay in tune with their people. Their annual Thrive Survey checks in on whether employees feel they’re thriving at work, while a post-company trip survey captures feedback on sessions, overall experience, and sense of connection. During offboarding, team members can choose to share feedback through a survey rather than a live exit interview—offering a more comfortable way to be heard. The team also runs ad-hoc surveys throughout the year to gather timely insights and guide people decisions in real time.
Chili Piper also collects feedback using Bob’s Your Voice module. Your Voice is an anonymous feedback tool and a safe space for people to report personal or general concerns without fear of retribution. Hallie felt strongly that Chili Piper’s people should have a channel for reporting sensitive concerns at the company—just another example of the empathetic way that Chili Piper manages its people.
They’ve also found a non-traditional way to use Your Voice. Following the US elections, they wanted to collect feedback from their people on how they felt politically. Using Your Voice enabled their people to speak freely and anonymously and benefit from a two-way communication stream, which traditional surveys don’t support.
Hallie cites this as a good example of how Bob is fully customizable to a company’s needs. “Not every company will use a module the same way because every company has different ways of working, promoting their culture, and collecting data. Adaptability is key to moving forward, and with Bob, you can keep the same tool because it works with you and grows with you. That’s the beauty of Bob.”
Main takeaways
- Chili Piper saves 20+ hours a month automating core HR workflows with Bob.
- Feedback is easy and accessible—whether through pulse surveys or anonymous tools like Your Voice.
- Offboarding surveys give people a choice in how they share feedback, creating a more comfortable experience.
- Your Voice provides a secure, anonymous channel for people to report concerns and speak freely.
- Bob flexes to fit the way Chili Piper works—not the other way around.
