Living by Our Values

At Prolific, values are the bedrock of everything we do. Whether coming up with new internal processes, celebrating our wins on social media, or making new hires, we are always challenging ourselves to better embody our foundational values of trustworthiness, curiosity, focus, friendliness, and ambition. It's not about box-ticking: it's about practising what we preach and holding ourselves accountable.

To make the positive change we seek in the world, fulfilling our mission statement, we have to constantly seek new ways of making positive change within our company. Here's an overview of our values and some of the ways we try to uphold them.

Interested in working at Prolific? Take a look at our current Prolific vacancies here.

We are trustworthy

Transparency, openness, and trust are built into our company DNA. Researchers can trust that they’ll get high quality results from the data they collect through our platform. Participants can trust that they will be treated fairly and with respect.

These are our operating principles: 

• Never compromising on ethics and quality.
• Trading off risk and reversibility when making decisions by asking ourselves: How risky is this idea, and how reversible is it? If it's very risky and irreversible, we always seek advice first.
• Using clear and honest communication, both internally and externally.

We are curious

We’re dedicated to making the world a better place. By treating work as a learning process we hope to gain a deeper understanding of people and the world we live in. We reckon that better understanding of people + better products = a better world.

Our operating principles: 

• We proactively search for ways to grow ourselves. Whether discussing books, recommending podcasts, or sharing baking tips, the Prolific workspace is always invigorated by the spirit of learning new things.
• Everyone at Prolific has an £1000 annual budget for personal development, to be put towards whatever training they feel will accelerate their growth.
• Rapid feedback, positive or constructive, is a gift. We don't wait to receive feedback – we ask for it!

We are focused

We think rigorously about problems and solve them systematically, but we also move fast and with focus. Our goal is to build the most powerful and trusted platform for research on the internet, and that requires a lot of focused attention! It also means that we will make mistakes along the way, learning as we go. We pride ourselves on our absolute dedication to Prolific's users and their experiences using the platform, but also on our ability to take risks which will benefit them in the long run.

Our operating principles: 

• Choosing wisely how we spend our time by setting clear goals at the start of each quarter and regularly checking in on our objectives and priorities.
• Thinking rigorously about problems and solving them systematically. Rules are a good start, but we break them when needed.
• We're a fail-friendly environment, meaning that we strive to get things wrong in fast but calculated ways. This allows us to learn fast and improve fast. We ship MVPs (minimum viable products) and MVTs (minimum viable tests) fast and even if they're imperfect in order to test what features or products resonate, and which growth experiments move the needle on revenue.

We are friendly

From our company culture to our customer service, we aim to be thoughtful, helpful, and warm. When things get tough, we show empathy, kindness, and support, towards each other and our users. Diversity and inclusivity is at the core of all our decision-making and serves as the foundation for every company success.

Our operating principles: 

• Respect for one another. We celebrate everyone's contributions and work without ego. In practice, that means collaborating openly and honestly, providing constructive feedback that enables us to find the best solutions.
• We value diversity of cultures, ideas, backgrounds, and experiences above all else.
• We try to be humble and supportive whenever we can, but we're not self-sacrificing. We are always asking ourselves how to best help the team while at the same time making sure to look after our mental and physical wellbeing.

We are ambitious

We have big growth ambitions. We want to empower research that can make actual change in the world, and we believe that the potential of people data is yet to be fully leveraged.

Our operating principles: 

• Team and company > selfish ambition, meaning we pursue ambitious team and company goals without concern for vanity, status, or superficial reputation.
• We have big growth ambitions but we are not ruthless. Values must always take precedence.
• We believe that the potential of people data, online research and rapid experimentation is infinite. That's why we're building the most powerful and trusted research platform on the internet.

We're hiring! Join us and you’ll be part of a team building a remote working culture that truly works for everyone. Take a look at our current Prolific vacancies here.