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Helcim

DEI Survey, the why and how to

The little engine turned steamliner that could, would and is

(because doing things right, even when it’s harder, is what Helcim stands for)

Competing with giants is no easy task. It takes the strength of many and the elevation of all. At Helcim, they know that building diverse teams drives success, not only from a bottom-line perspective but also from the perspective of daily happiness, company culture and long-term talent retention strategy and vision. While the fintech sector may seem like a place built on cold and hard coding and spreadsheets; at Helcim, love is just as integral to operations as metrics.

Love? Yes, Love.

That may sound corny to some in the financial industry, but the Helcim team knows that love is the core of every successful family, venture, team and partnership. And every successful group requires diverse voices and perspectives to thrive.

Opposites attract, not detract from success.

The Helcim Story

Founded by CEO Nic Beique, Helcim is on a mission to be the world's most loved payments company by focusing on lower rates, smarter tools, and amazing customer service to give the small businesses they support an edge.
“The early years of Helcim were a lot different from where we are today, for a long-time it was me working alone and spending long hours at my computer. Slowly we brought in our first few teammates, some of which are still a part of Helcim today,” says Nic, adding that since Helcim is a bootstrapped company, it took a while to pick up that momentum and begin to scale.

👈🏼Marjorie Junio-Read, Helcim Chief Financial Officer, helps lead Helcim's team in DEI

“Now that we're reaching that point the energy is exponential. We've always had a dedicated and passionate team — those are the types of people Helcim naturally attracts — but now we have almost 100 of them. Although we haven't yet had everyone unite in the office together due to COVID, I am very excited to bring the team back together again and to feel that energy and dedication that resonates through our office when we're all working together.”

The founder has always stuck to a number one value of doing things right, even when it's harder. He wants to continue to build a company culture where the team is empowered to make the right decisions and base those decisions on honesty and kindness.

“People want to be part of something they believe in, whether that is as a team member, a merchant, or a shareholder. By being a company that does things right, we believe that we will continue to attract the best people. These passionate and talented individuals will continue to create the best products for our customers. Our merchants will feel appreciated and spread the word about our brand, and we will ultimately build a wildly successful company that will outlast others,” says Nic.

Start Early in the Voyage

Culture, kindness, action-based inertia towards creating a diverse team must begin before the train leaves the station, not when it’s halfway barrelling down the track.
In Helcim’s beginning Nic was involved in every hiring decision, from interviews to first day training. Now that torch has been passed on to the People & Culture team and leadership areas for each department.
“Bringing in people from all different departments and positions to participate in interviews instead of leaving it all with senior leadership helps to bring in diverse viewpoints and opinions to the hiring process and helps us remove bias,” Nic says.
Being a company of many is at the Helcim core. In 2019 as Marjorie Junio-Read, Chief Financial Officer joined the team, there were only 50-some people at the office. By 2020, the team was primed to grow to upwards of 90, and the COVID19 Pandemic was in full swing, keeping everyone working from home.
“We were only at 25 per cent capacity when we moved out of the building and began all working remotely,” says Majorie. “We realized that when we returned to the office after COVID, the majority of us will have never met in person before.”
While the team was beginning to dynamite through the Rockies and into new global horizons, their then small crew decided the time was right to begin the diversity, equity and inclusion process. How to do that when there was literally no one in the office and only a small group of employees involved in the process was daunting.
Helcim leadership was determined to engage. While they were thinking through ways to improve and measure their own D&I, they were also witnessing a landslide of disheartening information from racial injustice issues globally to truth and reconciliation stories in Canada being exposed across international media.
“We know the world we live in is full of injustice, and many of these issues were finally brought to the forefront in mainstream coverage. We wanted to make sure we were doing and continue to do the best we can to be good examples and always do better where we can,” says Marjorie.
Not only are companies who value diversity, equity and inclusion set up for better success in workplace culture and retention, they are placed to provide a better bottom line for everyone associated with them.

“We know the world we live in is full of injustice, and many of these issues were finally brought to the forefront in mainstream coverage. We wanted to make sure we were doing and continue to do the best we can to be good examples and always do better where we can,”

Marjorie Junio-Read, Helcim Chief Financial Officer

The Vision to be Vulnerable

The team began to research DEI practices to come up with their own unique Helcim approach. They felt that they had always been naturally diverse, something they are proud of and want to remain in their core.
How would they begin the process? Like any good financial-focused based tech organization, Helcim started with what they know best: The numbers and the data. Helcim spearheaded their premier Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Survey in the summer of 2020.
Instead of hiring a top-down Human Resources Consultant they set out to create their own DEI survey.
Running a DEI survey with less than 100 employees is a daunting scenario. Some serious fears go along with taking a grassroots, leadership-driven approach to measuring your team’s diversity and reflections on inclusion.
• What if we’re not diverse enough yet?
• What if people are not as happy or supported as we thought they were?
• What if this is not the company of many we had hoped and dreamed for?
Just some of the touchy subjects running through everyone’s minds.

“As the team was growing we were thinking a lot about how we wanted to attract the best people to the job. What backgrounds do our people come from, and what context are they bringing to their roles and working groups? If we are going to grow better leaders are we equipping them with the tools they need, which includes feedback from their own teams.
“We want to make sure people feel they can speak up and that they are included. And most importantly that they can contribute feedback and it doesn’t have to be good only,” says Marjorie.

This vision goes back to Helcim’s commitment to “do things right, even when it’s harder.”
One of the biggest challenges in the technology sector is gender equality. As Chic Geek knows, womxn are underrepresented in technology, holding only 25% of computing roles - something that hasn’t changed in the past ten years. It’s estimated 1 million womxn are leaving technology roles and over half these womxn leave technical fields entirely. Attrition spikes among womxn ages 35-40 as 56% of mid-career technical womxn leave their companies. That’s twice as likely as their male counterparts.

“Canada’s technology sector workforce does not fully reflect the country’s diversity. Opportunities to participate in, benefit from and help manage the risks generated by the growing tech sector are unevenly distributed. Women, Indigenous peoples and some racialized minorities are less likely to be employed and empowered in the tech sector and face substantial wage gaps relative to men, non-Indigenous and non-visible minority workers. These exclusions are troubling because employment and wages are key mechanisms for sharing the benefits of growth and prosperity, and because diversity in firm-level decision making is essential both to innovation and to identifying and managing the broader social, psychological and physical risks posed by new and emerging technologies.”

— According to a 2019 piece titled Why Canada Needs a More Diverse Tech Workforce, by the Centre for International Governance Innovation

WHERE to begin

As Marjorie began preparing survey questions she combed through D&I surveys from some of the globe’s top tech companies. Including:
Survey Monkey
Atlassian
Buffer
Bright + Early
Many of the questions other teams were too specific for Helcim’s comfort level. Direct queries about ethnicities and other minutiae. While this might be okay for a company that has thousands of employees on the payroll, at Helcim, Marjorie knew this type of questioning would only serve to single out specific people within the company. That was not the kind of impact she wanted Helcim’s first D&I initiative to have.
“After we referenced these different companies, we had to adjust the questions asked to ensure the survey fit the small size of our team so as not to get too specific and single out certain individuals,” says Marjorie.
The challenges for a smaller business to initiate and D&I survey included everything from size and scope to integrity and authenticity. The initiative was born to improve overall inclusion, not inadvertently do harm and single those with perceived differences out.
“We also didn’t want to even come close to virtue signalling. The results from this survey are to set a benchmark to grow from, we know that measurement is where we start so I had to consider how do we do that in a way that will allow us to use the data to create meaningful change for years to come?” she adds.

Move Through Performance & Bottomline

According to the 2018 McKinsey report, Delivering through Diversity

COMPANIES IN THE TOP-QUARTILE FOR GENDER
DIVERSITY ON EXECUTIVE TEAMS ARE

21%

MORE LIKELY TO OUTPERFORM ON
PROFITABILITY

COMPANIES IN THE TOP-QUARTILE FOR GENDER
DIVERSITY ON EXECUTIVE TEAMS ARE

27%

MORE LIKELY TO HAVE SUPERIOR
VALUE CREATION

COMPANIES IN THE TOP-QUARTILE FOR ETHNIC /
CULTURAL DIVERSITY ON EXECUTIVE TEAMS ARE

33%

MORE LIKELY TO HAVE INDUSTRY
LEADING PROFITABILITY

COMPANIES IN THE BOTTOM-QUARTILE FOR BOTH
GENDER AND ETHNIC/CULTURAL DIVERSITY ARE

29%

LESS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE
ABOVE AVERAGE PROFITABILITY

The Results

Don’t get caught up in the minutia … let the data grow.

Helcim has now completed two DEI survey’s and as the team grows, they will keep monitoring and being mindful of the result.
“We aren’t going to use two surveys to implement a huge policy change. That’s not the right thing for anyone,” says Nic. “The main goal is to ensure we’re building a great culture where everyone is excited to come to work and that we’re still attracting a diverse group of candidates to job postings. If surveys start showing this is not the case anymore, that’s when we would take immediate action.”
Year-to-year, Helcim can now gather data and what their strengths and weaknesses are as an organization. The little engine that could is laying tracks to become an ambitious global steam liner, and if they don’t know where they started from, and ultimately who they started with, it will be impossible to know where they’re going and what strengths they need to add to their team along the way.
“It's always been important to me that our team is excited to come to work, they feel welcome and included, and they want to be around their team. This was important to me when we were a 10-person company and it's even more important now that we're nearing the 100-person mark,” says Nic, adding that the DEI survey is one of many ways that the leadership team can check in with the team and ensure they’re staying true to that vision of what it means to work at Helcim.
“As we grow, we want to ensure we're still living our values and embracing We Are a Company of Many values, I hope our team continues to bring in diverse viewpoints as we add team members from all different backgrounds, after all, it is these differing views and opinions that help us challenge how we view obstacles and help us innovate as we find new solutions for small business owners.”

Transparency is key when it comes to DEI surveys

About half of the folks in the Helcim organization opted to take part in the first ever Helcim DEI Survey, which wrapped up in July 2020. Marjorie presented the results to all staff in July 2020, the Helcim leadership team are taking a transparent and open application of and approach to the data.
“We want to build a big giant payment and technology company right here in Calgary. We wanted our mission to reflect that, and we feel that aiming to be the “world’s most” helps solidify that goal. We want to show the world that you can build big, successful companies while never losing your heart,” she says.

Started at the top, but let the team transcend the process

Nic was involved in every aspect of hiring, from first interviews to training and welcoming when Helcim was a start-up. He also helped lead the team towards DEI processes and practice; knowing that to truly implement DEI in a meaningful way, he would need to let go of the reigns and let the team start to lead from their unique experiences and perspectives.
“I have passed the proverbial torch on to the team to participate in the interview process and find their next team members. Bringing in people from all different departments and positions at Helcim to the interview process helps us bring diverse viewpoints and opinions to our hiring process, and helps us remove bias,” he says.
As the founder and CEO, Nic makes it his goal to focus on: Creating a vision and direction for the company; establishing a company culture; and building a strong executive team.
He believes that if he can focus on building a strong executive team that have shared values, dedication, passion, and a strong work ethic they will continue to raise the bar.
“They are tasked with the well-being of the company. It’s a great responsibility and a privilege that must always be taken seriously and we know this as the leadership team and take it to heart,” says Nic.

Ready to update your DEI commitment?

Download the DEI Survey How To Guide

DEI Survey Takeaway

About the Diversity Motherboard

Chic Geek’s Diversity Motherboard is here to help you put Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to practice in your organization! Chic Geek exists to build gender diversity in technology, a sector that’s shaping the world we live in. Our mission is to engage, retain and support intermediate women so they can thrive in their technology careers. Welcome to Chic Geek, your space to thrive!

Helcim is on a mission to be the world’s most loved payments company. By creating easier, smarter, and more affordable payment solutions, Helcim can enable more businesses to get paid and grow.

Special Thanks To

This resource is proudly brought to you through funding from Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC), which promotes the development of Alberta’s venture capital industry by investing in venture capital funds that financial technology companies. Learn more at alberta-enterprise.ca

Alberta Innovates is a provincial research and innovation agency that expands the horizon of possibilities to solve today’s challenges and create a healthier and more prosperous future for Alberta and the world. Learn more at albertainnovates.ca