In our Creative Cultures series, contributor Crystal Henrickson spends a day inside companies to learn how hiring, onboarding and company culture play a role in employee happiness. From startups to design firms and all in-between, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it’s like to work in inventive and productive environments.
When April Yau graduated from BCIT, she knew exactly where she wanted to work. During a marketing management class, her teacher led the class through a comparison of 6S with another company to explore differences in company culture. “I found out about how they give back to the community, the cool clients they have, all of the innovative campaigns that they run and especially how family-centric they are. I thought, ‘That’s exactly where I want to be,’ because they work hard and they play hard.” Fast forward three years, and today April is loving her gig as a 6S Senior Account Manager.
Family, means everything to 6S. It’s a place where a win or learn, rather than win or lose ethos prevails. Filled with passion and grit, the 6S team strikes a balance between getting serious work done and not taking themselves too seriously, attracting people just like April to the company. Richard Bergen, Media Planner, has worked with 6S since January, 2014. “It’s a fun environment and I like the fact that it’s a smaller agency. I know the company founders really well, we’re friends on Facebook and I’m ok with them seeing a little bit into what I do outside of the office and we can chat about what life is like not just within the walls here.”
6S Marketing, a boutique digital marketing agency was co-founded by John Blown and Chris Breikss in 2000. From the beginning they have focused on a singular goal: creating spectacular digital experiences with their clients. Since then they have expanded to include offices in Vancouver, New York and Toronto, serving some of the world’s biggest brands, along with some of the most niche. Armed with the creativity to tackle the toughest challenges, the determination to learn and improve, and a genuine zest for all things digital, this team is continually honoured with Top Employer awards for its company culture.
Hiring passionate and dedicated people helps 6S stay nimble to the ever-changing digital marketplace.
A Hall of Fame, filled with articles featuring 6S and call outs to employee contributions, greets guests at their Vancouver HQ. Here, celebrations are less about how long you’ve been with the company and more about your contributions day to day. “You don’t need to come to work and be a different person, wear different clothes,” shares Nina Rizzi, Talent Manager. “We hire people that like to celebrate together. People are a lot of times friends outside of work. We try to create a culture where those two are aligned.”
Recently, 6S knocked down a wall, the physical barrier between themselves and their sister agency, Drive Digital. Drive, a web design and development agency, is a big member of the extended 6S family. Their lively team of 24 project managers, web developers, and UX/UI designers working alongside 6S to produce web experiences for their growing client list of small and medium sized businesses. A large neon yellow Drive sign defines their space, inviting you to hang out in their lounge, a frequent haunt for social Fridays and FIFA tournaments. Of course, they take their work just as seriously as their play. Adjacent to the lounge, a wall of post it notes neatly articulates the progress of each project. And at the end of each month, the whole Drive team gathers to present projects, forming one pillar of cross discipline learning and another way to celebrate wins and learnings.
New recruits experience the inclusiveness of 6S and Drive, right from the get go. It starts with a new team lunch and one on one time with the co-founder. On a new employee’s first Friday, they are given the most important task: pushing the drink cart through the office, a not-so-subtle way to build the social bridges between new work mates. And it doesn’t stop there. Former employees still come back for special events. That speaks volumes, account executive Jieun Segal proudly affirms.
Samuel Gorski, Digital Marketing Strategist, started out as an intern with the company. “It’s somewhere I could fit into and something I wanted to be a part of.” In his role, the work is challenging because the landscape is always changing, always evolving. Hiring passionate and dedicated people helps 6S stay nimble to the ever-changing digital marketplace.
6S employees evolve with the company, or is it the other way around?
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