“They say culture eats strategy for breakfast; I’ve seen that firsthand.”
That’s how Neeharika Jaiswal, a senior manager for Toast account operations, described the impact Toast’s global culture has on her team’s ability to drive progress. At the company’s Bangalore office, she starts each workday responding to updates from her teammates in the United States while sipping on her morning chai before moving the needle on key projects — all before her U.S.-based peers have woken up.
“It’s like a well-choreographed relay race,” Jaiswal said.
Since joining this “relay race” a little over a year ago, she has seen how a tight-knit global culture enables her and her peers to deliver impact for the company’s customers around the world. She shared that, as she builds out the company’s customer success operations footprint in India, she’s focused on establishing a strong foundation with the right people, processes and technology needed to support a high-performing, cross-continental team.
“It starts with hiring skilled, customer-centric and collaborative talent, but great talent needs the right systems to thrive,” Jaiswal said.
According to Software Engineering Manager II Max Che, who works out of Toronto, that’s where reliable tools come into play.
“With team members spread across different regions and time zones, we use various tools to help us communicate synchronously and asynchronously, depending on the situation and need,” he said.
These tools, coupled with practices that encourage respect and understanding for all employees, are the key to making Toast’s global culture a success. And while team members collaborate on important projects, they also make time to connect both virtually and in-person, creating a culture in which everyone is valued, regardless of where they live.
“We win as a team, and that means we celebrate everyone’s wins,” London-based Head of International Sales Ana Munoz said.
About Toast
Toast’s products offer restaurants and retailers everything needed to run a business, including point of sale, payments, supplier management, and digital ordering and delivery solutions.
Playing ‘Time-Zone Tetris’ — and Winning
For Jaiswal, working on an international team can feel like playing “time-zone Tetris.”
“Just when you find the perfect overlap, someone’s asleep or logging off,” she explained.
That’s why many of the company’s teams, including Che’s, rely heavily on asynchronous communication, using tools like Loom to capture important discussions, as well as Google Docs and Confluence to store essential information and make it widely accessible.
“We default to asynchronous communication whenever we can, ensuring that time zone differences don’t hinder the flow of information,” Che added.
When it comes to live discussions, he and his peers take a straightforward approach: “If there are meetings, we’ll try to schedule them at a time that’s convenient for all of the attendees, and if there’s anyone who can’t make it, we’ll capture meeting notes around the important topics.”
Jaiswal’s team has created its own method for navigating global meetings, which incorporates both asynchronous updates and rotating schedules. She noted that there are other tricky aspects that come with a global team, such as a difference in communication styles; while some people prefer lengthy messages, others opt for one-word replies.
“We make over-communication our superpower: clear documentation, explicit expectations and a Slack culture with a healthy dose of GIFs and memes,” Jaiswal said.
“We make over-communication our superpower: clear documentation, explicit expectations and a Slack culture with a healthy dose of GIFs and memes.”
Nothing will ever be perfectly seamless on a global team — and that’s OK, according to Jaiswal. She believes that the most important thing is to roll with it while leaning on the right tools and practices.
“At the end of the day, working globally means staying flexible, communicating well and accepting that someone, somewhere, is always on mute,” she said.
Fostering Recognition and Inclusion
Jaiswal said that recognition plays a key role in Toast’s international culture. For instance, she and her peers in the company’s customer success division take part in quarterly agent recognition programs and monthly awards ceremonies, in addition to having access to Slack channels like #raising-a-toast, where teams worldwide can give shoutouts and celebrate each other’s contributions.
According to Jaiswal, the company also builds connections through its Toast.org volunteer events, which support local communities. Additionally, it promotes inclusion through employee resource groups (ERGs) like ToastHer and Multigrain, which provide safe spaces for employees to share insights and support one another. Che shared that, through his involvement with the Tapioca ERG, he and other employees of Asian and Pacific Islander descent support each other professionally and take part in fun events, with the most recent one being a Lunar New Year celebration, which was held both in-person and virtually.
‘Connect, Reflect and Get Inspired’
When Jaiswal considers the unique value of working on a global team, she thinks about food — buttery naan bread, New York-style bagels and southern barbecue, to be exact.
“If there’s one thing that transcends borders, languages and time zones, it’s the love of a good meal,” she said.
While Jaiswal enjoys trying the local cuisine when she visits the United States, she strives to ensure her colleagues get the same treatment when visiting India, introducing them to the nation’s greatest culinary masterpieces, from crispy dosas to velvety butter chicken — all while monitoring their spice tolerance.
“Food is storytelling, tradition and connection all rolled into one, and sharing meals and swapping food stories is one of my favorite ways to experience international culture firsthand,” she said.
An appreciation for different cultures defines Toast’s global culture, reflected in the ways in which the company honors various traditions.
“We embrace festivities with enthusiasm, making everyone feel valued,” Jaiswal said.
“We embrace festivities with enthusiasm, making everyone feel valued.”
Representation matters at Toast, and the company’s annual virtual event gathering, Thrive, is a great example of this. Jaiswal shared that this event, which was originally only held in the United States, has become a global celebration of the company’s purpose and values. During the India-based Thrive gathering, employees get to take part in region-specific discussions, leadership Q&As and more.
“It’s more than an event — it’s a moment to connect, reflect and get inspired,” Jaiswal said.
Toast offers other opportunities for employees to get together in person, such as through the annual sales kickoff, where Munoz and her peers come together to share insights and learn new strategies. She believes that this sense of camaraderie will play a critical role in the company’s expansion into new markets, keeping everyone moving forward together.
“We are building a very strong international organization with the mindset of winning as a team,” Munoz said. “That means we have each other’s backs, celebrate the successes and embrace the diversity that makes us unique.”
“We are building a very strong international organization with the mindset of winning as a team.”
At Toast, upholding a global culture isn’t just about understanding each other as professionals; it’s about honoring — and learning from — each other as people, too.
“The strongest teams aren’t just aligned on goals — they genuinely connect,” Jaiswal said.
