It feels like just yesterday that we were packing up our favourite coffee mugs and desk trinkets while saying quick goodbyes to our friends and colleagues. Needless to say, we weren’t expecting a few weeks at home to last what’s now coming up on a year.
And while our office plants might not have faired very well, our teams, on the other hand, shifted and grew into productive, remote powerhouses.
We’ve launched incredible products, features and business projects, and found a way to conquer any blockers that came our way. For the most part, we’ve managed to do so by remaining true to our core values.
Now, having been named one of Montreal’s Top Employers for the second year in a row, we’re sure some of you might be reading this as potential future members of the Broadsign family – we’re in the middle of a very active hiring period, after all – so we wanted to share some stories that make us proud to be Broadsigners, and hopefully encourage you to send a resume our way.
Value 1: We empower
We’ve now shifted to a digital-by-default company, with the future office not having assigned desks. There are of course a few downsides to this (re. our mugs and trinkets) but overall we’re excited about the flexibility this will offer our teams.
For this to work, we needed a booking system to keep track of everything, and who better to ask than our talented team of developers. A fully self-driven project, this app encouraged inter-team collaboration and allowed our devs to step out of their daily routines.
Software engineers, like Tomas, were excited to dip their toes into a new project:
Engineering is always innovating and trying to keep up with the industry. This was an excellent training and experimentation opportunity for the team, and we decided to encourage participation from anyone, regardless of experience or position. We also had several training sessions and group programming sessions for those unfamiliar with technologies or practices.
Value 2: We do the right thing
Doing the right thing is likely one of the most engrained of our values, with countless stories over the years of how this has helped us grow as a company. And while these choices make us feel good about ourselves, it’s also good business, as it promotes strong and long-lasting business relationships!
As we each faced our own challenges of being home this past year, the Broadsign team did their best to be flexible, understanding and most importantly, human. In our weekly all-hands meeting, our CEO, Burr, reiterates the importance of taking care or ourselves and our families, which for parents of young children, like Khadija, was a huge help:
Winter, in Montreal, during a pandemic… not the easiest on the morale. When the Broadsign team put together a ‘health at home‘ challenge, I went to pick up my daughter from daycare by foot. Since then, this is my routine every Wednesday afternoon, and it gives me some time to refresh and take care of myself.
Value 3: We treat everyone with dignity and respect
Broadsign has always been a very people-based company, with conversations, comradery and even friendships building the culture we know and love. We knew this wouldn’t be easy to maintain with fully remote work, especially so when welcoming new teammates.
Our teams stepped up to make new members feel welcome and ensure they have all the tools, resources and support needed for a smooth onboarding, which for Faiz, was definitely the case:
I was a bit nervous about how well a remote onboarding would go, but it was a better experience than I’d anticipated! From meeting the team to receiving hardware on time, it was all very smooth. I really enjoy Broadsign’s ‘donut time’ which randomly groups three employees together for a short call on a weekly basis. It is a great way to get to know my new coworkers.
We hired some great new team members in the past few months and we’re grateful for the trust they’ve put in us in making a career leap in the craziest year most of us have encountered.
And if you want a little peak into how life once was…
One day we’ll get to work and play in person again, and here’s some of what you can expect:
Want to be part of our 2021 story?
This is just a quick look into our past year and we’re looking forward to what 2021 will bring.
We actually have two other values: we make great things happen and we do what we say, but we’ll save those stories for another day.
To check out our open positions, which we have many for developers and business people alike, take a look at our career page and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn for future opportunities. We hope to have you onboard!
