Free meals, lots of sports, and eight-week sabbaticals, are ingredients to this recipe, says Connie Chan, head of HR, Yahoo Hong Kong.

“Hey, I am going to UNICEF to help out today,” said a Yahoo Hong Kong staff member to his teammate.

Around the globe, Yahoos are encouraged to contribute to the community and to help the needy by making full use of their “community service leave” during office hours.

We believe Yahoos deserve a workplace fuelled with trust and laughter, innovation and transparency, energy and teamwork, and most important of all, a corporate culture that grows hand-in-hand with our team mates both professionally and personally.

Apart from free breakfasts and lunches that keep Yahoos healthy and save them from queuing for lunch in the bustling Causeway Bay area, we encourage teams to squeeze time for workouts which is also subsidised by a company allowance.

Teamwork does not only happen at work. It is not uncommon for Yahoos to team up for the bowling fun day, running against professional football league club Sun Pegasus during soccer fun day or screaming loudly inside the Yahoo-sponsored haunted house at Ocean Park’s Halloween Bash.

From the professional perspective, to strive towards the business goals, teams are updated on a regular basis about the company’s direction, and questions and suggestions from all Yahoos are strongly recommended to ensure all of us are on the same page, and ready to fight towards the agreed goals.

As teams grow, we do not hesitate to invite them to map out the areas of development and learning along their career development paths and seek the company’s support accordingly.

Apart from free breakfasts and lunches that save Yahoos from queuing in the bustling Causeway Bay area, we encourage teams to squeeze time out for workouts.

As a mobile-first company, each teammate is given a smartphone to help us understand the needs of different users on mobile.

Do not be surprised to find Yahoos carrying two mobiles – as most of us will like to check out the performance of our services across different operating platforms.

There are times that teammates will need more private time to take care of their newborns. All new mums are entitled to 16 weeks of maternity leave and new dads enjoy eight weeks of paternity leave.

We trust and respect the personal needs of each Yahoo here. For those who have stayed with us more than five years, they are entitled to a sabbatical leave of eight weeks. They find themselves fully recharged and better equipped for the new challenges ahead.

This year has been a rewarding one for Yahoo Hong Kong. The company has been named 14th in the list of Asia’s top 1,000 brands.

Thanks to support from the local community, we are the number one portal in town, and thanks to many local users, Yahoo is the domestic name for the internet. Way to go, dream team!

Image: Provided