Image: Supplied
At a time when most global companies are rethinking how people work, Spotify has chosen to double down on flexibility, trust, and employee wellbeing — values deeply rooted in its Swedish DNA.
Under the leadership of chief HR officer Anna Lundström, the company has refined its “work from anywhere” model, introduced new initiatives like “Core Week” to reconnect teams, and continued to export its culture of transparency and inclusivity to more than 40 countries where its 7,000 employees operate.
In this conversation, Lundström explains how Spotify‘s “glocal” strategy helps the company stay culturally relevant in every market, why AI and human creativity must evolve together, and how the streaming giant continues to build a people-first organisation that mirrors its audience — global, diverse, and constantly innovating.
How does Spotify manage its diverse, global workforce across different cultures and generations?
We use what we call a “Glocal” approach, a global strategy for people experiences and benefits with local nuances. We’re in 180 markets as a product and have employees (whom I refer to as ‘bandmates’) in 40 countries with over 115 nationalities among our over 7,000 employees.
We export our Swedish roots globally — factors such as wellbeing, work-life balance, and transparent leadership while allowing for local celebrations and cultural considerations. We hire locally in regions to ensure our workforce mirrors our consumer base.
What personal leadership values have shaped your approach at Spotify?
Two simple principles from my family, especially my grandmother: work hard and be kind — treat others like you want to be treated. This aligns perfectly with Spotify being an extremely kind organisation while also being clear that you need to execute and make things happen.
I’m very hands-on, having done almost all types of HR jobs, and I believe it takes one to know one when leading a team.
What is Spotify’s “work from anywhere” policy and how has it evolved?
We offer full flexibility through our Work from Anywhere programme, which our bandmates love and has resulted in high productivity and very low attrition. However, we learned we needed to bring our global workforce together more frequently. We created “Core Week”, happening twice a year where teams come together for a full week of social, work, and strategy programming.
We also invite every new employee to Stockholm for a week-long “Intro Day” session to experience our headquarters and learn about our values.
What makes Spotify’s approach to global workforce management unique?
Unlike companies that hire their full employee base in one location to support globally, we hire locally in regions where we’re based. For example, in the GCC region, our music editors come from the region or communities — because how else would you programme Arabic pop? This ensures our workforce mirrors our global consumer base and brings authentic cultural understanding to each market.
Beyond Core Week, what other initiatives support employee wellbeing throughout the year?
We introduced Wellness Week for the first time in 2020, asking all employees to unplug for a whole week at the same time. We don’t want them to feel pressure from seeing each other in work forums or receiving work-related messages. We understand the importance of everyone laying down their tools simultaneously to really disconnect and focus on themselves. We ask “Spotifiers” to spend it in their own restorative way — whether that’s in the garden, travelling, listening to music, connecting with family, or whatever makes them feel good. It’s their time to prioritise themselves.
What are Spotify’s key pillars for employee experience?
Our three cornerstones are flexibility, trust, and employee wellbeing. We’re doubling down on mental health through our ‘Heart and Soul’ programme through modern health. This is a single destination where bandmates can access care that matches their personal needs — whether that’s one-on-one therapy, coaching, group circles on topics like burnout or anxiety, or self-guided digital content in the language and format that works for them. The platform delivers support in over 80 languages, provides adaptive care plans, and offers resources spanning emotional, professional, financial, and physical wellbeing.
We have about 60 grassroots ambassadors trained to help colleagues. Beyond that, we offer ‘All The Feels’, our Employee Assistance Programme that provides bandmates and their loved ones with therapy coverage and access to free, confidential, professional counseling sessions. All our managers are trained in coaching their teams.
We believe these should be fundamental for every HR department: it’s our secret sauce.
How do you measure and maintain employee engagement?
We run “tune-in” surveys twice a year — 60 plus questions across dimensions like leadership, culture, working conditions, and now AI. We have transparent two-way communication through frequent town halls, “ask me anything” sessions, and “Unplugs”.
My HR business partner team stays close to the organisation to pick up signals. We workshop all results and spend time in leadership discussing trends and areas for improvement.
What is your approach to internal mobility and career development?
We’ve built Echo, our AI-powered internal talent marketplace where bandmates can discover new jobs, projects, and growth opportunities based on their skills and interests. It also helps leaders and mentors connect with talent worldwide. In 2024, we expanded Echo’s use to drive internal mobility by adding more projects across all disciplines. Now, all bandmates have one place for equitable access to all growth opportunities, and we’ve made significant improvements to AI matching, profile management, hiring, and the user interface.
Last year we filled 30 per cent of open positions internally, and this year we’re on track for 40 per cent. We’re happy to move people around the world to offer opportunities and keep talented workforce in-house. We also just launched SANA, our personalised AI learning tool that adapts to individual roles and needs.
How does the company ensure equity and inclusion in hiring and throughout the employee lifecycle?
We work across our business to ensure that our hiring leaders and recruiters have the tools, resources, and support they need to attract and retain diverse talent globally. We support our interviewers and hiring leaders with tools, resources, and training to practice inclusivity throughout the hiring process. Our interview training modules provide education on making recruitment and hiring more inclusive, with best-in-class processes that mitigate bias and are accessible to all.
We’re working toward three key outcomes: building diverse teams that reflect the global nature of our business, best-in-class processes that mitigate bias, and a consistent process with tools and resources for recruiters and hiring managers to be effective.
What family support does Spotify offer?
We also provide a minimum of six months of paid gender-neutral parental leave for biological and adoptive parents. In 2024, 6.6 per cent of full-time bandmates took parental leave, with 53 per cent being men, 42.8 per cent women, and 4.2 per cent using another term or not declaring, showing our commitment to gender equity in family support.
How does Spotify support women in the creative industries?
We launched Nine Muses Collective in 2022 to provide a safe and empowering space for women in creative industries. Filled with inspirational speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities, it helps women learn, share, and build community with others.
We brought Nine Muses to Dubai last year for an exclusive event bringing together women from different creative industries in the UAE. Almost every year since its founding, Spotify and its partners have hosted events on International Women’s Day designed as a celebration of women in the creative industries — those who have a direct and lasting impact on culture and society.
How is Spotify using technology to transform HR operations?
I have a project called “no more manual tasks” to help my HR team spend more time on strategy, creativity, and critical thinking. We’re building an AI bot to handle employee handbook questions so the team can focus on one-on-one time with employees and managers. As a digital-first company, we’re leading the AI transformation alongside our chief product officer, showing the organization that people and technology work in connection.
How does Spotify approach AI implementation across the organisation?
We’re working on ‘humanising AI’ through a cross-functional effort. We offered ‘Hack Week’ to our entire organisation (not just R&D) where bandmates could spend a full week playing with AI after taking basic trainings.
We created AIM (AI Momentum), a governing body that I co-sponsor with our head of platform, to enable all employees to create and collaborate with AI.
We just launched our first AI learning festival featuring SANA, a Swedish AI learning system that provides personalised learning experiences.
What does the future hold for the company’s people strategy?
We’ll continue being cutting-edge in embracing new technologies but with a human lens. Human judgment, creativity, and critical thinking will permeate everything we do.
We want to be known for having a genuine people experience that’s tied to our world-class product, showing these two can go hand in hand. The focus remains on flexibility, trust, and prioritising employee wellbeing.
What are your three key recommendations for companies looking to enhance their HR strategies?
Flexibility, trust, and prioritise employee wellbeing. Personally, I think that should really be something that every HR department should be trained on. It sounds simple, but it is the secret sauce. Rather than forcing staff to come back to the office five days a week, train managers on how to run healthy teams and have one-on-one conversations with employees who might be struggling.
