Culture is front and centre at Shopify. The workplace is an exciting foray into creative space where diverse perspectives thrive.
By Jill Motley

The fact that Shopify has an "inclusion and employee experience lead" speaks volumes about the company's sincerity in embracing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) and building it into the company's DNA at every level. That is Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh's job title, and her role is critical to Shopify's vision to becoming the world's leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform.

Shopify is unique in many ways, but its workplace space and innovation driving culture set the bar high when it comes to creating a thriving company where diverse perspectives are vigorously encouraged. Intentional and creative office design and a collaborative culture drive innovation, but Shopify's leadership recognizes that D&I practices are equally essential to keeping the tech company competitive and innovative.

Designing Space to Encourage and Promote Creativity Among Employees
When Hasfal-McIntosh interviewed for her role at Shopify, she immediately realised that there was something very unique and exciting about the company's environment.

Shopify's workspace is designed for both introverted and extroverted employees to do their life’s work. Employees are encouraged to try new things and present new ideas, and the office spaces are designed to promote those activities. In Shopify’s Toronto office, there are collaborative spaces, group desk arrangements, a rooftop patio, a "calm room (that can be used as a prayer room, nursing room and a space for reflection)," padded enclosures, and many other unique features that are a manifestation of the culture. The company holds weekly town hall meetings, hosts company-wide Hack Days, and facilitates many opportunities for collaboration.

Making sure people take advantage of the many space options to fit their personal work style is one aspect of Hasfal-McIntosh's duties. She also works with the Culture and Diversity and Inclusion teams to ensure HR programs are inclusive for recruiting, hiring, and development.

"D&I is not something that just happens. You have to teach people to see their efforts through the D&I lens," Hafal-McIntosh said, adding that best practices begin with VPs, directors and leads contributing to D&I principles. "Often companies hire D&I people who believe they have all the answers, so they don't invite people to the table to discuss strategies. It's crucial to be inclusive while developing strategies."

She goes on to say that having inclusive conversations helps the company avoid making the mistake of assuming that everyone has bought into D&I.

"D&I must be woven into every aspect of your business – culture, onboarding, communication systems, events, and programming. D&I should be visible throughout the organisation," Hafal-McIntosh explained.

Avoiding Imposter Syndrome
Shopify has a dedicated team of coaches who work with employees to navigate Shopify's constantly changing environment. The mission of coaching is to customize and accelerate individual and team development so that it leads to greater impact and enhances personal well-being.

The company's leaders want employees to bring their authentic selves to work because that is when authentic perspectives are expressed.

"We leverage our coaching staff to create safe space and to help employees feel comfortable discussing their challenges or difficulties, so they can get back on track," Hafal-McIntosh explained. She calls people who stop being their authentic selves due to work pressures as experiencing "Imposter Syndrome."

One of the challenges Shopify manages as it continues to grow is ensuring that people do not work isolated at their desks. Shopify’s open work space environment was created to encourage people to work collaboratively and dynamically. This discourages employees from working independently at their desks while others around them are trying to solve the same problems.

"We have a high level of trust in our culture. We let people experiment and fail, but help them not fail repeatedly. We have a program called ‘Do Things, Tell People’ which includes holding the town halls and quarterly Hack Days," Hafal-McIntosh said.

The program is all about encouraging people to share their successes and failures. Hack Days are the days employees are told to stop doing their regular work and to experiment with something new that could improve Shopify. There is a Hack Days app where everyone can see the various projects, and an employee can join any team. This gets people out of their team or function silos.

Shopify wants its team members to see themselves as entrepreneurs, meaning they have autonomy as to how they get their work done. It is very unlike a traditional office setting and business model where people must go through levels of approval before acting. Each employee is trusted as an adult and can go directly to their manager and say, "I want to do this project," and the manager is most likely to say, "You think you can do it, so go ahead."

Growing with Alignment
Getting and keeping everyone aligned with the mission without stifling creativity is a challenge that Shopify has overcome as it has scaled to more than 3,000 employees worldwide. It is not surprising that a tech company relies heavily on data and metrics, and quantifies research to convert it to actionables. As a company grows, there are challenges, but Shopify is dedicated to maintaining its high-touch culture that has enabled it to reach more than $26 billion in Gross Merchant Value (GMV) in 2017 alone. Shopify’s culture is focused on growth and development of its people, which ultimately enables it to create better products for its merchants.

Scaling is also successful because employees who are high performers are celebrated and publicly acknowledged.

"We are mindful that not everyone wants to be rewarded and acknowledged in the same way. We allow people to grow in their roles, giving them more runway to experiment and the ability to talk about their work to the rest of the organisation. Leads and leadership have the freedom to determine the appropriate rewards for high performers," Hafal-McIntosh said. This approach enables rewards to be personalized to meet individual preferences.

She is not shy about saying that Shopify needs to continue to focus on building diverse teams. It is this kind of honesty that defines Shopify.

"We are starting to solve the diversity challenge at the core of the organisation. Internally, we are working with leaders. Externally, our initiatives are focused on partnering with community organisations," she said.

Shopify is also hiring from all parts of the world and many work remotely. This is a tech company that is serious about D&I, employee involvement and a culture of innovation.