Tag: HR blog

By Michaela Osofsky

Each year, we welcome a cohort of ambitious interns to step into the rhythm of summer at Spotify! Each internship spot offers the new band members the opportunity to contribute to Spotify’s success and to grow, reflect, and connect in ways that shape the course of their professional journeys. This is more than an internship – it’s the start of their career.

We fill the spots through a rigorous, intentional interview process in collaboration with our talent acquisition team and the hiring team. It’s designed to align top emerging talent with our long-term workforce plans. These roles are carefully tied to areas of future growth in the business, with the belief (and hope!) that interns can become vital contributors, whether immediately after the program or when the right role arises in the future. Using this approach, we build a strong pipeline of emerging talent, connected to the needs of our company. Interns contribute fresh perspectives and skills from day one, while the program strives to unlock their potential and invest in their development. All of this helps to advance our goals by cultivating career affirming experiences that shape future careers.

At the core of this journey lie our big picture learning objectives. These objectives center on two powerful themes: career and connection.

We believe that career growth is more than skill-building; it’s about ownership, insight, and the confidence that comes from doing meaningful work. Our interns dive headfirst into their roles, leading summer-long projects, sharpening practical skills, and developing a deeper sense of self through thoughtful feedback and reflection.

Equally vital to the intern experience is connection which includes gaining a deeper understanding of who we are as a company, including where we’ve been, what we believe in, and where we’re headed. Interns are immersed in Spotify’s rich history and bold business strategy, learning how our past innovations shape our future direction. Along the way, they build a professional network of peers, mentors, and leaders that provides perspective and support well beyond their summer with us.

Together, these elements create a holistic, immersive program experience, one that empowers our interns to see not just what they can do, but who they can become in this new age of working.

Orchestrating a Purposeful Internship Experience

We design our internship experience to blend skill-building, connection, and future-focused learning into a program that’s as thoughtful as it is impactful. Interns begin their journey with a strong onboarding experience that introduces them to the tools, systems, and context they need to dive in with confidence. From there, they explore the inner workings of the Spotify business gaining perspective on our history, strategy, and the collaborative efforts that fuel innovation across teams. As they grow into their roles, we meet them where they are, offering targeted opportunities to sharpen technical and professional skills that align with their goals. And woven throughout it all is a strong sense of connection through cultural events, shared experiences, and, of course, some fun along the way. By the end of summer, interns build relationships that enrich their experience and expand their network for the future.

Learning is the Key of Innovation

This year, we’ve introduced new layers to the program that reflect the future of work with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) education that encourages interns to think beyond the basics and imagine what’s next.

Every intern receives access to company wide AI tools & trainings, providing a foundational understanding of how the technology is reshaping industries, workflows, and the future of work. Engineering interns take it a step further with ML Foundations, getting hands-on with concepts that fuel real-time innovation.

And as a major highlight, we’ve orchestrated an AI for the Product Experience event. This is an immersive look at how Spotify leverages machine learning to personalise, predict, and power our products. It’s an invitation to see AI as a core part of our sound.

As our interns grow through hands-on experience, connection, and future-focused learning, they’re not just contributing to Spotify’s present, they’re helping shape our future. This program is more than a summer opportunity; it’s a vital part of our talent pipeline, building a strong bench of future leaders, innovators, and collaborators who are already tuned in to the strategy of what’s next. This summer, we’ve welcomed 99 incredible interns to our Stockholm, London, and New York City offices, and we can’t wait for them to experience all we have in store.

By Alexander Westerdahl, HR Unit Lead, Product and Technology

At Spotify, we’ve always believed that our greatest hits come from the people behind the scenes – the bandmates who dream big, take smart risks, and drive us forward. Therefore, as we continue to evolve, so must our approach to developing the talent that shapes the future of Spotify.

Our belief is that everyone is a talent – we believe in a growth mindset where all band members have the ability and get the opportunity to develop to be their best. We have an array of development opportunities for all talent – individuals, teams, and leaders.

In our quest to develop talent in all stages of their career, this year we are honing in on our leaders that we believe have the potential to step into our executive leadership team in the future. And we want to do this in a way that is truly Spotify rather than taking a cookie-cutter approach. That’s why we’re building The Spotify Program – a new, thoughtfully designed development experience created specifically for this select group of senior bandmates. It’s more than just a training program. It’s an investment in our people and Spotify’s future, built on the idea that growing from within is not only possible – it’s essential, and our company’s success depends on it.

Designed for Today, Built for Tomorrow

The Spotify Program is part of our broader commitment to nurturing homegrown talent. We want band members to see a future here – and not just any future, but one they’re excited to build. Whether it’s stepping into new roles, taking on stretch projects, or deepening their leadership craft, we’re here to support that growth. What makes this program unique for us is the full commitment of our executive team in being part of leading and creating the program, partnered with the fact that it’s designed for those who may one day lead the company – not just as functional experts, but as enterprise-wide, strategic leaders.

Being Chosen — and Staying Inclusive

Let’s be real – being selected for a development program like this is a big deal – it’s a recognition of potential, of contribution, and of readiness for the next step. However, we’re also aware that with selection comes another side of the coin: the risk of others feeling left out.

As mentioned, at Spotify, we believe that everyone is a talent. This program is just one of many ways we support growth, and it’s not the only path to leadership or career development. It’s important to us – and to all leaders – to communicate that clearly.

Programs like this should open doors, not close them. And the real success of The Spotify Program will be measured not just by how well this cohort develops, but also by how we continue to foster a culture of learning, opportunity, and inclusion for all bandmates – everywhere, all the time.

The Spotify Program?

The Spotify Program goes beyond conventional leadership development – it’s rooted in the belief that the best way to prepare our future leaders is by learning from those already steering the ship. That’s why the program is anchored in the Spotify context, led by our executive team, and centered around the real challenges we face. It’s made up of four core components – each intentionally designed to help participants grow as business leaders in the Spotify context:

1. Modular Learning

Each module focuses on a theme that reflects the real, evolving needs of leaders at Spotify. From business theory, leadership and emerging markets to understanding complexity, strategic thinking and cross-functional collaboration. We’re not just checking boxes – we’re preparing our leaders to thrive in the complexities of our business. In each module our CEO, co-presidents and/or other executives share their knowledge and experience.It’s a high touch program with 100% investment from our most senior leaders.

2. Learning Through Real Spotify Cases

Much like an apprentice learning from a master carpenter, our participants study Spotify-specific cases – the good, the great, and the ones with valuable lessons. These aren’t theoretical. They’re real decisions, dilemmas, and outcomes from our own story. And halfway through the program, participants will apply what they’ve learned by leading a current project with real business impact. It’s learning by doing, the Spotify way.

3. Executive Coaching

Each participant is matched with an executive coach who walks alongside them throughout the journey. Because we know that personal growth isn’t just about frameworks – it’s about reflection, feedback, and someone asking the right questions at the right time.

4. Stakeholder Understanding

Leadership at Spotify means seeing the full picture. That’s why we spend time deeply exploring the stakeholders we serve and partner with – users, creators, labels, advertisers, and more. We push beyond the data to understand what truly matters to them, and in doing so, become better leaders of our product, our business, and our culture.

It’s Bigger Than Just One Program

This initiative is just one of many ways we’re investing in our people’s growth. Whether a bandmate is part of this current program, future versions of the program, or engaged in any of our other development experiences across the company, they should know this: growth at Spotify isn’t a side note. It’s a headline.

And when it comes to building the next generation of company leadership, we’re not leaving it to chance – we’re building it from within.

By Johanna Bolin Tingvall, Global Head of L&D, Talent Growth and CommunityX

Culture isn’t static. It’s alive, it evolves, and just like a great band, it needs regular tune-ups to stay in sync. That’s why every few years, we have what could be called a culture check-in or refresh – we take a step back, connect with our people, and make sure our values, mission, and culture still resonate with who we are and where we’re headed. In 2025, it was time for us to do exactly that, so that’s why we took to the stage again with The Band Evolution.

Take a Beat

It’s been a few years since our last cultural check-in and as a purpose-driven company it’s essential to enable all our bandmates to understand how they can connect with, and contribute to the mission, purpose and culture.

We ran the Passion Tour in 2015, the Passion Tour Encore in 2015/16, created our Band and Manager Manifestos in 2020, and hit the road with The Band Reunion in 2021. Since then, we’ve evolved – we’re no longer start-up nor scale-up. We’re a young adult and our maturity stage creates the perfect moment to take a beat, reconnect, and ensure our culture remains as vivid, clear, and inspiring as ever.

The Band Evolution, which we’ve just rolled out, is providing us with the chance to rally every bandmate and reignite our shared sense of purpose, culture, and mission, making sure everyone can find their connection directly to the beating heart of Spotify.

What’s the Band Evolution All About?

At its core, the Band Evolution is focused on connection and purpose. It’s about bringing every bandmate closer to our mission, values, and culture through meaningful conversations and shared experiences. It’s a cultural refresh designed to be engaging, playful, and easy to roll out across our distributed teams.

We’re keeping it simple yet impactful, even though it consists of many components. We’ve built a hub on Bounce, to make it easy to find interviews with our CEO talking about values, culture, purpose, and mission. There are videos with bandmates from around the globe, giving their perspective on our culture and the part they play in maintaining and evolving it. The Band Manifesto and Manager Manifesto are also found in the hub, and we’re encouraging all band members to reflect on what all this means to them.

Another component is a manager-led digital workshop, which has been designed to be scalable whilst fostering intimate, high-quality discussions. Every team will get the chance to pause, reflect, and talk about what our culture means today – and how we shape it for tomorrow.

A Great Experience

We designed the workshop in a way that makes it easy for any manager to run, no matter how skilled or unskilled they are in facilitation. It’s almost plug-and-play, and managers will be accompanied by a digital facilitator buddy (anyone heard of X, our Spotify AI DJ?) who talks them and their team through the workshop.

We’re a global, distributed band, and that’s why the Band Evolution was designed to work anywhere, at any time. Teams will be able to run the workshop with minimal prep, using digital tools to spark engaging discussions. As designers, our focus has been on making it easy, accessible, and, most importantly, meaningful.

Why This Matters

Alongside The Band Evolution, we’re reviewing our cultural manifestos, to make sure they still stand the test of time. We’re also taking a closer look at all the people processes and initiatives that shape our culture – things like onboarding, performance development, and leadership training – to make sure they still align closely.

Spotify’s culture is what makes us, us. It’s what attracts the right people, keeps us inspired, and helps us build a workplace where creativity thrives. Taking the time to check in, reconnect, and recommit isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s essential. It keeps us in tune with our values, strengthens our sense of community and connection, and ensures we continue to evolve in a way that’s true to who we are. The beat goes on…

This is our evolution!

By Johanna Bolin Tingvall, Global Head of L&D, Talent Growth and CommunityX

Imagine this … you step into an office but rather than finding the usual desk, meeting room and coffee station combination, you find it transformed into a playground of creativity, music, and laughter. The air is filled with the sound of kids giggling as they belt out their favourite songs at the karaoke station, and you can feel the concentration in the air as small hands are stringing colourful beads into bracelets or trying out coding, and others are building towering Lego structures. A magician captivates a group of wide-eyed children, and live musicians bring an extra layer of magic to the atmosphere. The smell of hot dogs and fruit dipped in a chocolate fountain drifts through the space. Welcome to Audio Playground, an annual event where Spotifiers and their little ones come together to create unforgettable memories.

At Spotify, we believe that fostering a sense of belonging extends beyond just our bandmates (employees) – it includes their families too. That’s why Audio Playground has become a cherished tradition in our offices, from Stockholm and New York to Singapore, London, and LA. In some locations, it coincides with the national Bring Your Kids to Work Day, making it even more special.

The initiative is spearheaded by our CommunityX team. This is the global team that creates the environment for connections that build our Spotify community and amplify the employee experience. They are community builders, engagement experts and certified celebrators! For smaller offices, our extended team, the local CommunityX ambassadors bring the event to life, ensuring that no one misses out on the fun.

Audio Playground is more than just a day of entertainment – it’s a tangible way we reinforce company culture in a distributed world. As flexible work models evolve, creating intentional moments of connection has never been more important. While we may not always share an office daily, Audio Playground offers an opportunity for employees to experience their workplace in a new light – through the eyes of their children. Seeing their kids explore, play, and interact in the office fosters a deep sense of pride and connection. It reminds our band members that Spotify isn’t just where they work – it’s a place they belong.

Beyond the fun and games, Audio Playground contributes to something bigger: it’s these moments that create shared experiences, deepen relationships, and ultimately help us build a strong and engaged workforce. They act as the “glue” that holds our community together. Our bandmates leave with more than just memories – they carry a renewed sense of connection to their workplace and colleagues.

As we continue navigating a distributed work environment, initiatives like Audio Playground play a crucial role in shaping our culture. They remind us that fun isn’t just a perk – it’s a vital part of who we are.

By Anna Lundström, HR Unit Lead, Business

Spotify is a global company operating in and catering to audiences in 184 markets. To ensure that we deliver for fans everywhere, we’re dedicated to creating a more inclusive and sustainable world for our employees (we call them bandmates), artists, creators, and authors. We’ve been committed to this since day one, and this foundation allows us to focus our time on creating and evolving initiatives that deliver real impact.

That’s why we’re excited to share our 2024 Equity & Impact Report – a backstage pass into the progress we’ve made to supercharge initiatives that affirm our inclusion-first culture, support our bandmates’ mental health, leverage our platform and influence to amplify the world’s voices, and reduce our climate impact.

Let’s break it down.

Building a Spotify for Everyone

An inclusive worldwide workforce isn’t just something we talk about – it’s our rhythm. We believe that when people feel seen, valued, and supported, creativity thrives. That’s why inclusion is part of everything we do – from how we shape our global workforce and support our bandmates to the ways we amplify all voices on the
platform.

In 2024, we doubled down on fostering an Inclusion Mindset across our entire company – ensuring that inclusion is part of our every day actions. Our Belonging Groups continued to create spaces where bandmates can connect and grow and we celebrated cultural moments throughout the year in bigger and better ways.

Beyond our workplace, we used our platform to inspire action – running global civic engagement campaigns across the EU, India, Mexico, the U.S., and the U.K. to encourage voter participation. Through Spotify Gives Back, bandmates volunteered thousands of hours and helped raise millions of dollars for nonprofits around the world.

Drive Growth Through Fairness

Fairness isn’t just a feel-good concept – it’s the secret sauce to innovation and growth. When everyone has access to opportunities, we all win. That’s why we’re committed to breaking down barriers and ensuring our bandmates, creators, and users can thrive.

We expanded our efforts to create career pathways. This includes hosting our 6th annual BLK Workforce Development Conference, introducing new resources to make life easier for our bandmates like our Parental Leave Hub for new parents and Read&Write, a digital literacy tool for neurodivergent employees, and developing a guide for transgender and non-binary bandmates to ensure they feel informed and supported in the workplace.

And we didn’t stop there. On our platform, we kept the momentum going with artist programs like EQUAL and Frequency, spotlighting women and Black artists. And with our Creator Equity Fund, we continued helping underrepresented artists and podcasters gain exposure, sharpen their skills, and connect with industry leaders.

Prioritising Mental Health for All

We believe that taking care of our minds is fundamental. That’s why we’re all in on creating a workplace and a platform that supports mental well-being.

In 2024, we prioritized rest and recharge with our fourth Wellness Week, giving every bandmate a chance to take a break and focus on themselves. Our Heart & Soul program continues to provide mental health support for employees.

For our creators & communities, in partnership with UNICEF we expanded the youth mental health hub, Our Minds Matter – now available in 26 countries. We also teamed up with Nike to launch the Make Moves Fund, an initiative designed to boost mental well-being for girls through movement and sports.

Leading the Charge on Climate Action

We’re not sitting on the sidelines when it comes to climate. We’ve integrated sustainability into our operations, finding ways to reduce emissions and using our platform to raise awareness and drive action.

In 2024, we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions, for the second year in a row. This is the result of teamwork across the organization – from formal working groups and steering circles to smaller project teams creating grassroots initiatives. Through our internal Climate Champion Network of advocates, we continued to implement company-wide initiatives and investments to reduce our negative climate impact. We also invited all bandmates to take part in events and training, including a Climate Challenge Week that incentivized bandmates to take small daily actions related to climate action.

One of our favorite projects this year? Partnering with the Museum for the United Nations to bring NATURE (yes, NATURE) onto Spotify as an artist – using sound to inspire conversations about environmental awareness. Because when it comes to saving the planet, every little bit (and every beat) counts.

Looking Ahead

We’re committed to showing up for our global community and making the most of our platform to ensure a lasting impact. While we’re still continuing to evolve the strategy of this journey, our scale and scope grant us the chance and obligation to lead the way in our industry.

So, whether you’re an artist, a creator, an author, a bandmate, or a fan – you’re part of this journey with us. Together, we’re building a Spotify for everyone.

👉 Read the full 2024 Equity & Impact Report here.

By Özlem Ergun, Manager, Global Benefits

Designing global employee benefits is like navigating a complex map: no two destinations have the same rules, culture, or expectations. At Spotify, the challenge is to harmonise these diverse landscapes into a benefits strategy that’s consistent enough to be fair and flexible enough to comply with local regulations and respect regional nuances.

Harmonising Global Standards with Local Regulations

Consistency in benefits isn’t about making everything identical; it’s about creating a core framework that employees across all locations – whether in Stockholm or Singapore – can rely on, while meeting the unique regulatory demands in each country. A unified approach ensures that no one feels overlooked, and simplifies global mobility so employees can move between regions without losing access to essential support systems. While consistency provides a solid foundation, local adaptation is necessary to meet the legal requirements and compliance standards in each jurisdiction.

Parental Leave: Adapting to Local Systems

Take parental leave, for example. In Germany, the Elterngeld system provides a generous safety net: up to 14 months of income replacement, generally covering 65% to 67% of previous earnings, though lower earners may receive a higher percentage.However, strict rules prevent employees from receiving overlapping employer pay and government benefits, requiring detailed compliance to ensure there’s no double dipping. Meanwhile, in the United States, there’s no national paid parental leave mandate, and many employees rely on unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, while some states offer their own paid leave programs. Designing parental leave policies in this context involves a careful understanding of not just legal eligibility but the systems required for administering such leave across jurisdictions, ensuring that every employee is treated fairly and in compliance with local laws. While Spotify aims to offer a consistent 6-month paid parental leave globally, careful attention is needed to balance generous support with regulatory compliance. Each country’s specific rules around income replacement, government-provided benefits, and employer contributions must be accounted for, ensuring that the benefit is both equitable for employees and legally compliant across different jurisdictions.

Retirement and Pension Compliance Across Markets

Retirement benefits are another area where regulatory compliance plays a crucial role. In Spain, pension plans are tightly regulated, with rules around risk management and investment strategies that prioritise capital preservation. While this approach ensures stability, it also limits flexibility for employers to design plans with higher potential returns. Conversely, Japan’s defined contribution system offers greater flexibility, allowing for a more diverse range of investment options, but also has more stringent reporting and compliance requirements. In both cases, employers must ensure that pension plans adhere to local laws and regulations, which often means working with a variety of local providers to meet specific requirements for investments, reporting, and employee communications. Specifically, in Japan, setting up a pension plan often involves onboarding multiple service providers, each handling different aspects of the plan. For instance, one provider might be responsible for compliance with government regulations, while another manages the investment strategy, and a third handles employee education and communication. This multi-vendor approach requires seamless coordination to ensure that all regulatory requirements are met, reporting standards are consistent, and the overall plan delivers value to employees. Compliance in this area goes beyond understanding tax rates – it’s about understanding the full range of regulations that govern the administration and reporting of pension plans, from employee eligibility to portfolio management.

Health Insurance: Employer Obligations in Different Systems

Another great example of the complexities that can arise from designing a global benefits strategy is health insurance as there’s a wide spectrum of regulatory requirements that are applied across the world. In countries like Germany, health insurance is obligatory, with employers and employees sharing the costs under a national system. This system requires compliance with specific government guidelines, which mandate everything from contribution rates to coverage options. In other regions, particularly those without universal healthcare, employers take on a larger role in providing comprehensive health coverage, with a focus on ensuring plans meet local standards for care, coverage, and cost. Navigating the legal complexities of health insurance requires deep knowledge of each country’s healthcare system and the corresponding employer obligations, along with the ability to select insurance providers who can navigate these complexities on the company’s behalf.

Regulatory Considerations for Tax-Exempt Benefits

Even seemingly straightforward perks like food allowances can be riddled with regulatory nuances. In countries like France and Italy, meal allowances are common and come with favorable tax implications. However, the rules around eligibility, distribution, and taxation vary significantly across borders. For example, in France, meal vouchers are tax-exempt up to a certain limit, but they must meet strict regulatory standards to ensure compliance with both local tax law and employee benefit guidelines. Similarly, Germany has its own set of rules regarding meal allowances, and failure to adhere to these can result in significant consequences. Understanding the tax implications and reporting requirements in each country is critical to offering these benefits in a legally compliant way.

The Core: Compliance and Fairness

At the heart of all of this is a rigorous focus on regulatory compliance. Managing benefits across multiple countries requires not just a broad understanding of global policies but also a precise knowledge of local laws, tax codes, and regulatory bodies. From interpreting complex legal texts and engaging with local regulators to negotiating contracts with insurance providers and ensuring data reporting is compliant with regional standards, every decision in benefits design and administration must adhere to the applicable laws in each jurisdiction.

This is the essence of our benefits strategy: finding the balance between global consistency and regulatory compliance. It’s about delivering a cohesive benefits experience while ensuring that we meet the legal obligations in each market. Each adjustment is a step toward ensuring that employees feel supported whether they’re retiring in Spain, starting a family in the U.S., or receiving a food allowance in France.

Designing and maintaining compliant global benefits isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. And at Spotify, we’re committed to navigating this ever-evolving regulatory landscape to build a benefits ecosystem that works for everyone, everywhere.

By Michaela Krantz, Talent Growth Lead

Are you winning with your succession planning? How do you know if your succession strategy is hitting the mark? Like any great game, the rules of success depend on the kind of team you are – and the one you want to become.

At Spotify, we’ve torn up the old playbook and ditched the list. Instead of a once-a-year, check-the-box exercise of identifying critical roles and successors, we treat succession planning as a continuous game of strategy and skill building. We don’t just draft potential stars; we actively train, challenge, and move our people across the organisation to get them game-ready.

Eyes on the Prize: Defining Success

To know if you’re winning, you need to know what winning looks like. Winning with our succession planning isn’t about having a bench full of potential – it’s about taking deliberate action throughout the year to close succession gaps, build deep insights on our talent and expose them to new challenges.

For us, the end game is clear: a broad, diverse, and high-quality talent bench that’s ready to rock in business-critical roles. Winning is also when our business leaders have full confidence in the strength of our talent bench – knowing that it’s robust, strategic, and ready to tackle future challenges and opportunities head-on.

But let’s be real – that’s a championship-level goal. So how do we make it happen?

Playing to Win: The Succession Strategy

One of our game-changing moves this past year was bringing our lead recruiters into the HRBP succession planning huddle. Add to that our Scout tool, which now provides full visibility and transparency of all our successors to HRBPs and lead recruiters. This tight collaboration has amplified our talent insights, expanded and widened our bench, and deepened succession conversations with business leaders.

We also made sure our strategic workforce plans and succession planning are in sync, like a well-coached team. This keeps our business strategies and future critical capabilities front and center when determining which roles and talent are truly game-changers to build future ready leadership and organisation.

In addition we hosted several Talent Sharing and Matchmaking Sessions, making sure our successors aren’t just names on a list but actively developing in real-world scenarios. By focusing on fueling movement, exposure, and growth, we don’t just prepare leaders – we create future game-changers.

In fact, all of the plays we made last year helped us to significantly expand our successor pool and close succession gaps.

Keeping Score: Measuring the Wins

What’s a game without a scoreboard? To keep ourselves accountable, we track a few key metrics and their progress year over year:

• • Number of new successors identified
  • Successors coming from outside the department of the critical role
  • Gender and ethnicity representation and progress
  • Progress on closing succession gaps
  • Increase in successor readiness levels
  • Number of successors appearing on multiple plans
  • Internal moves, progression, and attrition of successors
  • Successors stepping into critical roles

And because having a strong succession plan is critical for business continuity, our Board of Directors is our ultimate accountability partner. Every year, we present an annual summary of wins and opportunities, and their engagement and passion for our people drive us to keep pushing forward.

Are We Winning?

So, the big question: are we winning with our succession planning?

We’ve had major wins this past year, but just like in any championship, as you raise the bar, new challenges emerge. That’s the game. And at Spotify, we’ll never stop tweaking, refining, and improving our play. Because that’s how you stay ahead.

Game on!

By Johan Sellgren, HRBP Product and Technology

We’re a people-first organisation, dedicated to helping our band members thrive in an equitable way so they can perform at their best. That means investing in homegrown talent is part of our People Strategy, both for the benefit to our business and our bandmates.

To sustainably optimise for homegrown talent while building a great business, we must balance two perspectives: the strategic needs of our business and the career growth aspirations of our band members. This is what we refer to as the sweet spot.

To balance the two perspectives mentioned (both now and in the future), HR’s role in creating an ecosystem with programs, processes and activities that are designed to find sweet spots between bandmates’ aspirations and business needs, is pivotal.

Taking a Step Back: Internal Mobility Spotlight

Over the past year, we’ve redefined many parts in that ecosystem, embracing and nurturing our ethos of being a people-first company. And through close collaboration with leadership we’ve made some significant learnings, which have led us to identify the things that work best when it comes to optimising our homegrown talent. Internal mobility plays a significant role in enabling a thriving environment of homegrown talent. And as Spotify has transitioned from hypergrowth to enhancing growth for the talent who are already part of the band, we’ve embraced deeper exploration of what healthy internal mobility truly means for Spotify and for all of our band members.

What Does Healthy Internal Mobility Mean?

While the simplest definition of internal mobility is moving someone from role A to role B through a fair and consistent process, the reality is far more nuanced. For instance, should success be measured by a specific percentage of employees changing roles annually – say 25% or 50%? While appealing in its simplicity, this approach doesn’t reflect the complexities of internal mobility. Instead, we’re looking at a number of indicators, but aren’t using them as targets or goals. This approach helps us to see broader patterns and therefore allows us to prioritise continuous improvement, which we know will make internal mobility at Spotify even more effective and impactful. This is not a box-ticking exercise! The key indicators that are shaping our understanding and helping us assess success are:

Employee satisfaction with career growth – employee feedback on growth opportunities is vital. In our employee survey we see a positive correlation between “having a meaningful dialogue with my manager about performance and development” and scoring higher on “I have good opportunities to grow and learn at Spotify”. It’s clear that the quality of manager and bandmate conversations is key to the perception of growth.

This is also reinforced by one of our foundational and long-held beliefs about growth: at Spotify employees are in the driver’s seat when it comes to their development. We know that this helps them feel more motivated and engaged, and in turn, ensures that the development is embraced and relevant for them and our business. We also see this reflected in the ways that Spotifiers engage with HR through open-text responses and ongoing feedback, on our People Growth Philosophy. It’s simple – successful internal mobility is not only about moving from role A to B, but about career growth, which is multidimensional.

Internal vs. external hiring for open roles – with the help of our Talent Intelligence and TA teams, we’re becoming more deliberate about when to source internally versus externally. For roles requiring highly specialised skill sets, external hiring needs to remain a focus. However, the overall shift is evident: in 2022, 1 in 10 roles were filled by internal candidates, and today that number has risen to 1 in 3 – a tangible sign of progress.

Homegrown talent in critical and senior roles – currently, 69% of senior managers and above are homegrown, meaning that they progressed internally at Spotify. Our average tenure for Spotify as a whole is 48 months, and 77 months for our Director and more senior band members.

We see that our strategy of finding senior leaders from within (and who are staying with the band for longer) is working. This strategy creates a ripple effect across the organisation. For example, if a Director leaves, it might, over time, trigger promotions for two or three employees, ultimately leading us to backfill externally with junior talent. This not only fosters internal growth but also brings fresh perspectives into the company.

However, as with any strategic direction, it’s important to remember that getting it right can take time. We have a fantastic bench of talent, some ready for more senior roles, which is a result of our longer-term focus where we encourage and help band members to drive their careers multidimensionally. Now, when a senior role opens, a fair and consistent internal process is even more critical. This is important, as a competitive process can sometimes lead to friction or disappointment for those not selected. To address this, it’s essential that we provide clear feedback and continued support to those who don’t secure the role. We also need to recognise that we are working with people, not machines, and there may be some cases, when we do not have a “ready now” successor and therefore need to look externally.

The number of times we can fill senior roles with homegrown talent is a key measure of success, and this approach also helps us benchmark our internal talent, ensuring we maintain a competitive edge.

Diversity and equity in internal mobility – ensuring that diverse teams and an equitable process remain incredibly important priorities. As external growth slows, we have fewer opportunities to increase diversity and make progress at all levels of the organisation – something we strive to see. To mitigate this, particularly at more senior level roles, we’re committed to building diverse candidate pipelines, and when these are lacking internally, we need to broaden the pipeline and also consider external candidates.

Change takes time and when we broaden our reach for talent to build diverse pipelines, the time to hire can be further impacted. However, by introducing more proactive sourcing strategies we can continue to make the hiring decision on merit while at the same time increasing the probability of a more diverse workforce. This approach underscores our commitment to inclusive growth while balancing business needs. And measuring how diverse our teams are at different levels of the organisation gives us an indication of how we’re doing on this.

What’s Next for Spotify’s People Growth Ecosystem?

With all the learnings from the past year, our focus now is clear: it’s not about doing more but about doing what we can do to strengthen the synergies in our people growth ecosystem – better, faster and with greater quality.

Roles and responsibilities within HR will remain intentionally fluid. The boundaries between all disciplines within HR are designed to be collaborative and dynamic. Still, by aligning responsibilities and approaching challenges with curiosity, we can uncover sweet spots faster and execute them with higher quality, ultimately benefiting both the business and our band members.

We’re also just beginning to unlock the full potential of Talent Intelligence. From matchmaking sessions to aligning candidates with open roles and succession planning based on our talent insights, we’re finding more ways to spot and act on sweet spots in real time. This approach is making us increasingly efficient and effective over time.

Finally, one thing is certain: change is the only constant. As always, we know that there will be more learnings along the way – and we’ll continue to share our progress. Thank you for following along as we grow together!

By Dina Gabriel, Global Head of EDI – Equity, Diversity and Impact

At Spotify, we believe in homegrown talent and that building a great business starts from within. Our unwavering commitment to being a people-first organisation means helping our bandmates thrive and perform at their best.

Creating Equitable Pathways

In facilitating the growth of globally distributed bandmates, we recognise that everyone’s experiences are different. Each band member brings a unique perspective influenced by factors such as work experience, geographic location, language and culture, socio-economic background, gender identity, race and ethnicity.

As well as being a people-first organisation and focusing on homegrown talent, we believe in fairness and equal access to opportunities. Therefore, we recognise that these differences in experiences can bring unique barriers and challenges to growth and development.

According to research by Coqual (a non-profit global think tank), Black, Latine, and Asian Pacific Islander (API) working professionals report encountering ceilings to growth at leadership levels and having less access to mentors, sponsors and role models. To achieve a level playing field for all, at Spotify, we are proactively identifying and removing these barriers and providing tailored tools and resources for our bandmates, allies and leaders.

Spotlight on Black Talent @Spotify

In 2020, we established a holistic approach to driving meaningful impact in partnership with our BLK Belonging Group (Spotify’s Employee Resource Group for Black bandmates and allies). Since then, we’ve been reaffirming our commitment in supporting our Black bandmates, creators and communities with several initiatives, such as our recognition of Black Cultural Moments (e.g. Black Heritage Month in the US and UK, and Afro Swedish Week in Sweden), Frequency (Spotify’s on-platform home for Black creativity), and our NextGen efforts with Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States.

This year, we gathered feedback through listening sessions and our Tune:In engagement survey to identify ways to enable people of all identities and backgrounds to do their best work and thrive. The main takeaway was that our Black bandmates and HR can’t do the work alone or in a vacuum – we need the full support of the Spotify ecosystem and beyond, and we need equitable pathways to be embedded within the business and fully supported by leaders.

With this feedback, we identified three future focus areas centered on:

• • Creating opportunities for global connection including hosting joint events with regional BLK chapters
  • Fostering allyship across the business to drive further engagement and recognition of the diversity across Spotify
  • A focus on homegrown talent and the unique experience of Black working professionals

BLK Workforce Development Conference

Our Annual BLK Workforce Development Conference, launched by BLK members in 2019, is an example of work across the three focus areas outlined above. We see the annual event as a culmination of our efforts in designing and delivering tailored resources internally to our bandmates. This year’s event, themed “FWD: The Next Episode”, emphasised the importance of personal development and professional growth, and highlighted the role of allies and leaders. The conference spanned over the course of a week with virtual global sessions for all bandmates along with local sessions in the US, UK, Brazil, and Sweden.

Program highlights included:

• • Curated pathways for BLK members, allies and leaders allowing for bandmates to select the most relevant content aligned to their interests
  • Conversations on; the state of the Black working professional across the Americas and Europe; becoming an active ally; navigating the world of coaches, mentors and sponsors; and advocating for yourself through negotiations for career advancement
  • Regional Listening Circles with Executive team members designed to facilitate small-group, open conversations on the experiences and perspectives of our BLK band members, and identify actions for our leaders to support the community
  • 1:1 sessions with our Talent Acquisition team on internal growth opportunities and learning sessions on optimising profiles via Echo, our internal talent platform

Moving Beyond the Fixed Pie

Building equitable pathways goes hand-in-hand with being a people-first organisation. Helping our bandmates thrive and perform means not only acknowledging that different experiences exist, but taking action to remove barriers and address any disparities in their growth.

In doing so, we unlock the power of our diverse and globally distributed workforce – one that is breaking the next great artist or developing innovative features on our platform and expanding the proverbial pie for everyone.

By Michael Kim, Head of HR JAPAC and SAMEA

Since Generative AI exploded onto the scene in a big way, within Spotify HR, we’ve been learning as much as we can about this new technology and reflecting on how it will impact our business, our people, and the wider HR industry. We have embraced this technology, with examples such as creating internal innovative HR tech platforms such as Bounce and Disco. From a business perspective, the creation of Spotify DJ has taken generative AI to the next level within the audio space.

The first thing to note is the speed at which the likes of technology such as ChatGPT have been adopted. Unlike other emerging technologies that have taken time to create an impact in the workplace, Generative AI seems to have taken us by storm overnight. Consider this – when the mobile phone was invented, it took 16 years until there were 100 million mobile phone users. It took ChatGPT 3 months to reach the same milestone. See what I mean?!

With this kind of explosive speed, we need to make sure we (HR professionals), and the rest of the business are well enough prepared to embrace changes that this technology will have on the workplace. And successfully embracing, or managing change means first and foremost, having the right mindset.

Generative AI Means Efficiency, Not Layoffs

Interestingly, the most popular reaction to generative AI that we’ve heard from our fellow HR professionals is that of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of how this technology will replace jobs which will lead to more layoffs. Fear that the human element of HR will be lost. And while of course it is human nature to fear the unknown, we encourage HR and business leaders to not fear this unknown technology, but embrace it with a growth mindset.

The first step in doing this is by demystifying the stereotype that AI will create massive job losses. In almost any situation, leaders are much more likely to choose the route of increasing employee productivity over reducing headcount if there is a scenario where savings can be made. Most leaders have the hope and intent to leverage technology to help us become more efficient, especially when it comes to time (which many would agree is the most important commodity of all). So let’s have AI take care of the everyday mundane tasks that suck up our time but add very little impact. Everything from scheduling meetings, writing emails, submitting expense reports, daily admin, etc. has the potential to be done via AI. We all know how much time these tasks take up our day. Imagine if we can get that time back to focus on team building, leadership, cross functional collaboration, relationship building, mentoring, and most importantly, exercising the creative side of our brain a bit more to unlock more potential and possibilities to grow your business, teams and culture.

Tangible Focus Areas For HR And Business Leaders

Now let’s talk about the more tangible focus areas that we as HR and business leaders should be focusing on in preparation for AI. And the beauty of these tangible focus areas is that it is nothing new. It is actually the bread and butter of what we as HR leaders have always focused on…only with an AI twist.

1. Leadership Development Preparation
Leaders and managers need to be prepared for employee productivity to increase. This will mean leaders and managers will need to spend more time with their teams to ensure that this increased productivity is channeled in the right strategic direction of the business. The key focus here is that managers will need even more focus on being a role model, fostering trust, promoting diversity and inclusion, and ensuring that they’re creating a respectful, healthy and safe environment to spark collaboration and innovation amongst their teams. If AI frees up time for employees, then managers will need to be there to lead and guide their employees on how they use that free time in the best way possible.

2. Fostering A Culture Of Learning And Growth
It’s inevitable that the integration of AI within the workplace will mean that employees need to learn new skills. However, before we all jump ahead and start imagining the skills that will be needed, it’s imperative not to skip a really important step: fostering a culture of learning. And when developing a skill-setting culture, we believe that we must demystify the expectations of what traditional career development looks like for employees.

At Spotify, growth is our mantra and we expect employees to be self driven, ready to take control of their own development and to reach their full potential. For us the focus is not on promotions or a shiny new title, but instead the focus is on providing band members with the necessary skills, knowledge, and tools to improve their craft, regardless of what part of the business they are in. To achieve a situation where employees are ready to expand their skills and learn new ones when they join a company, the culture must have a strong emphasis on learning and growing.

When employees are encouraged to develop their passions and improve their skill set, a career becomes more than vertical growth in a specific role, and impactful purpose-driven engagement is created. We know this strategy works when we start seeing our people internally move from one role to a very different role in a completely new business vertical or industry.

3. Get Comfortable With Change Management:
Let’s be honest. People hate change. Even HR leaders (who have been trained to embrace, cultivate and shepherd change management) recognise that our initial instinct is to resist change. With the fast paced growth of AI, change within our organizations is inevitable,so we need to sharpen our skills around managing change for our people in a way that is constructive and healthy. This may include focusing on improving communication skills, increasing transparency and building trust within your organizations. This takes time and more importantly this takes human connection to do. Something that AI can never replicate or replace.

Empathy, Vulnerability And Compassion

A question that will help guide us on how this new technology will impact our business, our people and our profession is: how do we embrace and use AI in our role as HR leaders to be more HUMAN to our people? Remember, while AI can do some pretty incredible things, AI will never be able to treat people with empathy, vulnerability, and compassion. These are the skillsets and characteristics that will define what makes a great manager and leader. So let’s use AI to do the boring, mundane, repetitive tasks that keep us handcuffed to our desks, and use that free time to walk the floor, talk to our employees, ask how they are doing, and really get to know what drives and motivated them.

By Dina Gabriel, Global Head of EDI – Equity, Diversity and Impact

At Spotify we’re committed to creating a more equitable and sustainable world for everyone and today we’re excited to share some of our progress with you, in our 2023 Equity & Impact Report, which you can read here.

In 2023, we made significant progress in identifying key levers to 1) reduce our climate impact; 2) cultivating an inclusion-first mindset in our organisation; and 3) our dedication to amplifying underrepresented creators is ongoing.

While we feel we’ve made some good progress, we also recognise that we’re just at the beginning of the journey. Soon, we hope to share more about our next steps – in the meantime, please do dive into our journey towards a more equitable and sustainable future.

By Michael Kim, Head of HR JAPAC and SAMEA

When it comes to parental leave benefits, Spotify is probably up there as having one of the best. We offer (all parents regardless of gender or sexual orientation) six months of fully paid time off to spend with their new family member. Something unique about this program is that we let employees take parental leave up until their child’s third birthday as well as all employees being eligible to take parental leave as soon as they join the company. Another very important feature of our parental leave plan is that we allow all employees one month of flexible work when they return, as we recognize how difficult it is to transition from being a full-time parent back to a full-time employee.

Our parental leave policy best defines who we are as a company, born out of a Swedish culture that places an emphasis on a healthy work-family balance, gender equality, and the ability for every parent to spend quality time with the people who matter most in their lives. Our Swedish-inspired culture proves that we do have an environment where a rich time-off policy can be successful. This is what differentiates Spotify from other companies, and why our employees all around the world feel comfortable taking their full parental leave time with the support of their peers, managers, and leaders.

Of course, we celebrate this amazing benefit both internally and externally, but when it comes to measuring the impact this has had on our employees, it’s difficult to quantify as everyone’s experience on parental leave is so unique.

And whilst I can’t speak on behalf of other people’s experiences, I can share my own personal experience, as I have just recently returned from my final three months of parental leave. Please keep in mind that these are my opinions and experiences, coming from the perspective of a working father whose wife is an amazing stay-athome mother.

Three months with a three year-old

For me, I took my first three months of parental leave when my second son, Jude, was born three years ago. Then I took my remaining three months of parental leave off recently, right before Jude’s third birthday.

Taking three months off to spend time with a newborn was a completely different experience to spending three months off with my three-year-old son who can now talk, walk, run, play. Or in a more blunt way to put it, three year olds are so much more destructive and active than a newborn; thank goodness they are so cute though! But being able to take parental leave to bond with my son at the age of three years old, which is such a formative period of his life, has had such a profound impact on the bond that I have with my son.

I know this because I have a basis of comparison from my parental leave experience with my first son, nine years ago. For my first son (Lennox) I was given two weeks of parental leave when we were living in New York City. This was clearly not even close to enough time to help support my wife and build a meaningful bond with my child during the first weeks of his life. Furthermore, two weeks off does not give you nearly enough time to understand how life changing becoming a new parent is, because before I knew it, I was back in the office full time.

During my most recent parental leave, I found myself making comments like “I don’t remember it being so tough with Lennox” at which point my wife would kindly reply “because you weren’t here for it.” This was so true. When I reflect back to when my first son was born nine years ago, I was in the office Monday through Friday and only saw him on weekends mainly, as I would leave work too early in the morning and come back too late in the evening to spend any real quality time with him throughout the work week.

Parental leave is not vacation

Let me be very clear on this one. Parental leave is not a vacation. It is not a sabbatical. It is not “time off” that we give to our employees so they can travel and go on holidays. Perhaps we should call it “Parental duty” instead. It is time meant to be spent raising your children. Being present. Being supportive to your partner and sharing the weight of the housework and parenting.

Several times I’ve had friends, colleagues, and family members ask how I am “enjoying my time off” from work. Let me be the first to say that going into a beautiful office where there is free food, coffee, and other adults to talk to is a much easier environment to be in than at home with a three year old! There were several moments throughout my three months of parental leave where I seriously considered coming back to work early.

Whilst I appreciated every minute that Spotify gave to me to spend with my family, staying home full time with a three-year-old and a nine-year-old is very stressful, and it took a toll on my mental health and well-being. Studies show that stay-at-home parents experience poorer physical and mental health compared with parents who work outside the home. Effects include higher rates of mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, as well as higher rates of chronic illness. Stayat-home parents also report feeling more depression, sadness, and anger than parents with jobs. Staying at home and not working can also lead to increased social isolation.

And to be very honest – I felt all of these emotions during my three months off. Which only makes me appreciate my wife even more and made me recognize that her job as a stay at home mother is A LOT harder than mine. More recognition and appreciation needs to be given to all stay at home parents around the world.

Parenting Skills Are Transferable

It is also important to recognize the career sacrifice that stay at home parents often make, and companies around the world should focus more on hiring and reintegrating stay at home parents back into the workplace. The skillsets you gain from being a stay at home parent can be translated into some of the most important leadership skill sets that you need in the office space. There is no better training ground to learn and master skills such as time management, multitasking, communication, empathy, patience, vulnerability (and so many more skills) than being a stay-at-home parent raising young children. Assessing someone’s CV and noticing they have been out of the workforce for many years due to being a stay at home parent should not be a reason to reject their candidacy. It should be a reason to hire them and pay them fairly, regardless of how long they have been out of the job market.

If we want to win the war on gender wage gap, paying stay at home mothers fairly when they decide to return to work will certainly make an impact.

Sense of Purpose Shifts

Being a full time employee to becoming a full time parent on parental leave was an eye opening realization on how much of my life is connected to work. And it makes sense if you step back and actually think about how much time you are actually spending at work. When all the meetings and emails stopped, and I started separating myself from my day-to-day job, I found that there was a large void left in my head that was not filled. It took several weeks for me to fully focus on being a parent on leave, and to accept that this was to be 100% of my purpose. Losing the sense of purpose from my job left me feeling very vulnerable. My FOMO was in full effect, and I found myself still checking emails and chiming in on messages just to try to stay connected with my teams, but quickly realized that I was doing it more to help soothe my anxiety, versus helping my teammates.

Fast forward several weeks and my sense of purpose was completely focused on my family – full time! But that transition was difficult, just as it was difficult to transition back from being a full time parent to return to work. Similar to the FOMO I had leaving my team, my FOMO is now about missing the daily routine I had with my two sons.

However, even though it might feel that weekends just aren’t enough time to spend with my kids now, the profound impact on the bond that I have with my son Jude that has come from taking this leave, is something that can never be replaced. I will forever be grateful to Spotify for giving me the time to be with my family, because at the end of the day, that is what really matters most in life.