Before coming to Accurate in 2014, Andrea Brown had worked in HR in different industries—including insurance and homebuilding. Her experiences had been primarily in big companies located in high-rise buildings.

From the outset, she says, she knew that Accurate was different—and not just because it was located in a small, single-story building.

“When I walked into Accurate it was just a different feeling right off the bat,” she says.

Andrea interviewed with Lesley Yang, the senior HR specialist at Accurate. She interviewed after hours so there were no other employees around. And yet, she says, “it just felt very comfortable, very healthy.” She accepted a job that would be focused on onboarding and offboarding employees—an opportunity to have an impact at very important stages of employees’ life cycles with Accurate.

Setting the Stage at the Top

One of the things that was most impactful about that early experience, Andrea says, was her interaction with the company’s founder Dave Dickerson. As she was waiting to meet with her new team members, he walked out of a meeting and, she says: “I had a feeling he was somebody important.” He immediately asked whether she was new, and her name, and they discovered they had a mutual acquaintance—a former employer of hers.

“I will tell you I will never forget that moment because I was like ‘wow, he’s the owner, the president, the CEO and he knows when somebody new is walking in the door’,” Andrea says. “That’s when I really just fell in love with Accurate just because of the way he made that company feel like it’s family.”

Andrea says that another impactful experience she had while at Accurate was during some health and wellness challenges that HR was conducting. “Dave actually came down and would do the challenges with us. That’s just the best thing in the world to see,” she says. “He was probably supposed to be in a meeting or something important, but he’s down there doing some of these exercises just to get everybody motivated. That is something that will always stay with me.”

Maintaining a Family Feel

Despite Accurate’s rapid growth—from about 250 people when she started to well over 1000 now, Andrea says that the company has still maintained its family feel.

“Even though the size has changed, the dynamic of how everybody interacts with each other really hasn’t,” she says. “I have colleagues that I’ve worked with for almost eight years and they’re like my best friends.”

Accurate works as a team, Andrea says, without consideration to rank and role. Everyone simply pulls together to achieve common goals. “We work together as team members to get work done,” she says. “It’s really family oriented, and really fun, but we know when we need to get down to business.”

Working as One

Accurate’s culture is built on four core values pillars that unify the company with a common purpose, define where they’re headed, indicate what they’ll do to get there, what they believe in, and how they will behave with each other and their customers. They are:

• Take ownership: be accountable for your actions, your team, and the company.
• Be open: be open to new ideas.
• Stay curious: stay curious even as you move forward.
• Work as one: work together to create the best customer and workplace experience.

For Andrea, the value that resonates with her the most is “work as one” and it’s a big part of the job she does and the efforts she takes to ensure that new employees feel welcome and have everything they need to feel comfortable from the outset.

These efforts haven’t changed during the pandemic as many employees have been onboarded virtually. In fact, Andrea says she’s taken extra efforts to ensure that the remote onboarding experience is as positive and personable as possible.

Working as one has also been a big part of the many community support activities Andrea has participated in along with her coworkers. “You’d sign up and you didn’t know who you were going to be working with, but you got the chance to spend some time with team members that you might now work with on a daily basis.”

She says she’s also enjoyed the various company events she’s participated in over the years—from barbecues to holiday parties. “It’s an opportunity to get together and get a chance to talk outside of business,” she says.

Growth and Opportunity

Another thing that Andrea has valued at Accurate is the opportunity for growth and opportunity—and it’s something she shares with the new employees she helps to onboard. “If you’re looking for an opportunity to figure out what best suites you Accurate is a great place for that. “We’ve always promoted growth and opportunity within the organization. So, you can start off as a public records researcher and move into the IT world—or wherever you have an interest.”

At Accurate there’s ample opportunity to learn and grow with the company—and to be part of the company’s growth and success.

“It just makes us happy to be a part of the journey and happy to see this company evolve to what it is.”