Ahead of this year’s ‘Great Place To Work’ list announcement, HRM spoke with Canva and Atlassian to see what it takes to make the cut and why their HR approaches stood out from the rest. Could your organisation hit the 2020 list?
Every year, despite being open to some dispute, the “Great Place To Work” list is a highly prized honour. HRM spoke to both Canva and Atlassian to gain an understanding of how they made the cut for 2018; Canva emphasised their “employee-first atmosphere” while Atlassian discussed how they built a culture of inclusion.
Canva’s employee-focused atmosphere
In 2018, Canva secured the number one spot on the ‘Great Place To Work’ list for organisations with 100-999 employees. Since 2012, Canva’s team has grown by 5400%, from only 10 employees to 550 spread across three countries. To add to that, further growth is expected in 2019 with HRM stating that Canva has plans to double their workforce.
HRM’s Samantha Smith spoke with Zach Kitchske, describing him as, “the one tasked with managing that scaling from an HR perspective. He says the company’s main focus used to be growth, but now they’re focused on culture.”
The work perks
“Some of the pros of the company highlighted by current and former employees include free breakfasts and lunches (which is arguably a tool to keep people at work). But many of the cons they’ve registered point to company growth as being a difficult obstacle.”
When upscaling, there are always going to be pressures and issues. Taking these aside, Canva offers a remarkable assortment of work perks and incentives. For example, “the Birthday Wheel… the wheel can land on a variety of prizes like special lunches, gift vouchers, cheese platters and more.”
Food incentives seem central to Canva’s perks; “Staff eat lunch together every day, which is what eventually inspired the Birthday Wheel. And you’re probably thinking that on-site chefs are a big commitment to employee happiness… Canva goes one step further by sourcing all their food from a company-owned farm in regional NSW. Employees are even encouraged to stay at the farm, though this perk is not free.”
Canva has also created an inclusive and celebratory culture that honours loyal employees with anniversary and wall of fame celebrations as well as hosting quarterly expat events to help their international hires (which make up a quarter of their workforce) meet new people and get to know Sydney.
Canva also offers free gym memberships, sanitary products in their bathrooms, and for the employees who cycle to work – free bike servicing. Canva also encourages its employees to bring pets with them to work.
In this interview, Kitschke concludes, “Canva’s culture is about creating a place where everyone loves coming to work, where everyone is striving to do the best work of their lives and creates the most outstanding product and company we can”.
Atlassian’s culture of inclusion
Atlassian’s Head of Diversity and Belonging Aubury Blanche shared their approach to diversity and inclusion.
At the core of Atlassian’s success is inclusion. In Sydney a couple of years ago, they noticed that women were isolated in their teams. Their solution? Blanche was tasked with providing a space where women, and ultimately other employees who were in minorities, could connect. So, she created a coffee date program.
This solution was a no pressure, opt-in opportunity. The women of Atlassian could put their name on a page and a program manager would randomly match people who had opted in and they would meet up.
Blanche considers this program to be a success; “What we found was that we were basically building the architecture for those women to create personal connections that their male peers were getting a little more organically.”
Another of Atlassian’s noteworthy was the creation of the company’s Side by Side blog; this was created to foster inclusion and belonging among team members and to remove barriers for other employees who may not be familiar with people who are different to them.
Blanche notes an example of how powerful the blog can be and in this interview with HRM referred to a post written by an employee who came out as transgender called, “How not to f***k up with your trans teammate.” Within the article she explained how trans people are marginalised and educated her colleagues on the best ways (and the ways to not) treat people at work who are transitioning or have transitioned.
The blog is internal and not usually used to promote the organisation but provides employees with a ‘safe space’ and encourages open communication about issues that matter to them.
“It’s not about a corporate program that teaches you to be sensitive. It’s about creating moments for you to learn how to be more empathetic for the people around you. And I think it’s more motivating for people to hear it from their teammates.”
Source
What does it take to make the Great Place to Work list?
Samantha Smith
HRM Online
Nikita Thorne is an Oxford-based digital marketer and writer. After completing a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Film & Theatre from the University of Reading followed by a six-month internship in marketing, Nikita has been travelling the world.
While temping as a Content Producer at Employment Office in Brisbane, she gained expertise in recruitment marketing, writing articles and coordinating webinars on multiple recruitment marketing subjects.