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In our Creative Cultures series, our writers 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. Today, writer Crystal Henrickson takes us through a day at FCV Interactive.
For an agency working in digital, FCV retains many analog traditions. Sending handwritten thank-you notes to new clients, commuting to their four major Canadian centres in Halifax, Toronto, and Victoria, and celebrating wins and birthdays at monthly company wide team lunches are just a few of them. The interactive agency values strong interpersonal relationships and purposefully stacks teams across offices, threading the company together through the many digital project collaborations.
From their HQ overlooking the iconic North Shore Mountains and Burrard Inlet, FCV’s clientele ranges from tourism boards and travel companies to non-profits and consumer brands. Looking for ways to create seamless user experience, solutions are built to strengthen the performance of a client’s digital property. WorkBC.ca is one recent notable project: within three months of launching its new site, website traffic increased 300% and they were recognized with top honours by the BCTIA for the project.
Quality Assurance Manager Jason Boog has worked with FCV for over seven years. Acting as the eyes of the client before the finished product is delivered, his experiences have grown and evolved thanks to the wide variety of projects and people he engages with. “Everybody is very passionate about their craft. It’s always good to work with passionate people; because you know they’re doing a great job, it forces you to do a great job.”
Every day, COO Derek Whyte walks the floor ensuring that the team sees the executives and feels comfortable talking with them. He stresses the importance of finding the right fit: “We have more old school values. We appreciate [our customers] and we treat them all equally. When recruiting, we look for somebody who wants to contribute to the team and make FCV better by joining, and through that make our customers more successful.”
“If you just want a job where you clock in and out, this isn’t the place. You have to be passionate…to produce the work that we do.” – Talent recruiter Bella Diamantakis
FCV ensures small and big accomplishments are celebrated. From birthdays to FCV anniversaries, first-time home purchases to birth announcements, site launches, client kudos to employee referrals – all are applauded. Each office has its own staff-run social committee that organizes monthly events designed to enhance and strengthen relationships across team members and departments. “People are motivated to contribute to the culture,” shares Marcia Starke, VP of Human Resources. “It’s something we’ve really focused on developing.”
Each office boasts something unique to them: a craft beer club in Halifax, sporting events and axe throwing in Toronto and gaming and billiards nights in Vancouver and Victoria. In Vancouver, team members toast with company branded, craft brewed beer. Self organized clubs for running, hiking and a book club have also popped up. People connect inside and outside of the workplace over shared interests, creating a close and tight-knit organization.
People are central to the agency that CEO Johann Starke began building over 10 years ago. From day one, the MO has been invest to in people who are high on core values by giving them the resources to succeed. Over the years he’s recognized that supporting someone’s career may mean encouraging career opportunities away from the agency. But it’s not always forever. An employee who had left recently returned — an occurrence so common, that FCV refers to this group of employees as the “Comeback Kids.”
FCV is on the lookout for the right individuals: motivated and driven self-starters with an entrepreneurial spirit; who are also strong team players and able to collaborate and play well with others. Talent recruiter Bella Diamantakis is one of the first points of contact potential candidates speak with, and candor is key. “I like to talk about my personal experience. I think that when you relate that back to someone it comes across as genuine and it opens them up. It’s either that they like it or they don’t,” she says. “If you just want a job where you clock in and out, this isn’t the place. You have to be passionate about this industry to produce the work that we do.”
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