Better Culture: How to Make Work Work for Everyone
Episode one with Avery Francis
Avery Francis is the founder and CEO of Bloom, a full-service workplace design consultancy. Bloom helps companies of all sizes grow their teams, scale their HR practices, and develop fantastic employee experiences in a way that’s impactful, equitable, and engaging. They also recently launched Bloom Academy, a digital program for immersive diversity, equity, and learning experiences.
In today’s episode, Avery Francis joins us to discuss why she started Bloom and why companies today are experiencing high turnover rates and mass resignations. We dive into how companies and teammates can start doing the work to build conscious, people-first companies, and Avery shares three radical approaches she’s adopted when building out her own team at Bloom.
Plug into this episode if…
You want to understand how to increase employee engagement and retention at your organization.
You want to commit to DEI and doing the work, but you’re feeling nervous about it.
You want to peek behind the scenes and understand how a people-first workplace design consultancy treats its own team members.
Episode highlights
Why companies need to go further with DEI
Workplaces and work systems weren’t built with everyone in mind — which is why simply saying you’re committed to DEI isn’t enough. Systemic change is necessary.
Many workshops and trainings simply provide learners with a new perspective, but they don’t bridge the gap to teach learners how to do things differently in an actionable way.
Real DEI work requires investment — both a financial commitment, but more importantly, time.
Employees are hungry for change
The pandemic, together with social and political movements, have changed what individuals are looking for out of work.
The Great Resignation can be thought about as The Great Realization — employees are becoming aware of what’s more important to them.
If companies want to increase retention and employee engagement, they need to actually listen to what employees want and build their work structures around it. Quick fixes don’t exist.
How Avery builds a people-first culture at Bloom
Bloom’s staff adopted a four-day workweek four years ago at Bloom. However, there are certain considerations companies need to keep in mind when adopting a four-day workweek.
Bloom’s period or menstruation budget serves as both a support to employees and an opportunity to educate.
Avery doesn’t default to traditional employment structures. Instead, employees are paired with a financial advisor on their very first day and they get to decide for themselves whether they would like to work as full-time employees, sole proprietors, or corporations. This affords them freedom, flexibility, and financial independence.
Angela Wallace: Hey there, welcome to Scale Conscious. I'm your host Ange Wallace. In my first podcast series, I'm rounding up some of the tactics startups can take to create conscious companies and build a regenerative future. In this episode, I'm joined by Avery Francis, founder and CEO of Bloom, a full-service workplace design consultancy building better workplaces for everyone. Bloom was founded on the belief that all companies deserve access to impactful and equitable hiring practices. I'm excited to speak to Avery about Bloom Academy, their newest best-in-class digital program for immersive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion learning experiences, taught by the team at Bloom with special guest facilitators. Let's get started.
Thank you so much, Avery, for joining me in my first podcast series. It's just an honor to have you with us.
Avery Francis: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to chat today.
Angela Wallace: Absolutely. So a few years ago, you started your full-service agency Bloom. Talk to me a little bit about your leadership and launching your company — what that experience was like.
Avery Francis: Yeah, I think that launching Bloom was something that just came out of necessity. I had hit what I refer to as like a bit of a brick wall with my workplace experiences. I hadn't had the best experiences with previous employers and leaders and companies. So when it came time to look for a new job, I was basically just met with this huge resistance internally. And then, externally, as I started looking for potential opportunities, I was stumped with where to start. So what seemed at the time as the easiest approach —which I mean, now looking back, probably wasn't — I figured I'd start my own business.
It initially came out of necessity, because I was like, 'I can apply and look for new opportunities and wait for something amazing to come along. But in the meantime, I still need to make money.' I hadn't been working for about five months prior to that — and it wasn't necessarily because I was looking and I wasn't finding anything, it was because I was actually working with another consultancy and work hadn't been coming in. And as a consultant, I was in a relatively decent financial situation, but I didn't have the type of savings to kind of set me up for success of like starting and launching my own new business. So yeah, that is my very long-winded answer to where Bloom started.
It's interesting, because at the time, I was actually living in Amsterdam for the summer, so it was a little bit distracted and I wasn't too pressed on, you know, starting something new. But when I was thinking about the name for Bloom, I was thinking about words that really connected with growth and new beginnings and fresh starts and spring at the time and living in Amsterdam. Specifically, I was actually living in a place called Alkmaar, which is a little bit northwest of Amsterdam proper, and when I flew in, it was spring. So there's tulips and fresh flowers everywhere, and I kept seeing this word Bloem, so B-L-O-E-M, everywhere. And I asked my friend who's Dutch what it meant. And she was like, 'It means like fresh flowers or fresh blooms.' And I was like, 'Oh my goodness, okay.'
I was like, I had already thought about this name Bloom, and then when I went to go to the place that I was staying at — the street — I didn't realize this at the time, it wasn't until I was faced with like actually looking for the sign and my suitcases in hand, and it said 'Bloemstraat,' which means like, like Blue Street. So I was like, 'Oh, my goodness, it's a sign.' And that's where I landed on the name Bloom. So I think that there were a lot of different factors, but I think that that was that kind of subtle nudge to just be like, 'Go for it. Do it.'
That's the reason why I ended up launching Bloom when I did. It was April 4 — the fourth month, 24th day, those are a big thing with numbers — and it was right before my first kind of international talk that I did in Amsterdam for DisruptHR. So that's the story of Bloom.
Angela Wallace: I love that origin story. And, you know, back in 2020, I know you've posted that you were three folks; and then February 2021, team of six; and this year, you're a team of 10.
Avery Francis: Yeah.
Angela Wallace: Which is amazing. That three year trajectory — talk about blooming. You've been you've been busy blooming, which I love. So you're devoted, as a design consultancy, to building better workplaces for everyone. Tell us how you define that and what services and approaches you take to make that happen.
Avery Francis: Yeah, so I think that how I define that is definitely shifting as each day goes by. I think that that's true because the workplace has been ever-evolving — and evolving more than we've ever seen it evolve — particularly within the last couple of years as a result of the climate that we're in with the global pandemic and I would also say other external factors — political factors and environmental and social. We're seeing really big shifts.
And as someone that's worked since I was 15... but primarily, I've been working within HR since I was 18, and I'm 33 now. I've seen a lot of evolutions and changes through the workplace, but I've never seen so much change happen in such a short period of time until the last couple of years. And it's so holistic and so intertwined with who we are as individuals.
I think that what I always say to the, to people within within Bloom is, you know, and to the team is that we are ever evolving and shifting, and we need to do a lot of social listening to understand what it is that people are looking for, and what is it that they want, and what they're expecting from workplaces. I think that as the workplace has really shifted, for not all folks but for a lot of really privileged and lucky folks, to be able to work from home and remotely — and in some cases, you get to take breaks, and then work from all over the world — our definition of work is really kind of shifting and changing. So I guess what that is, like, I wanted to kind of preface what my response is with that. But how I define building better workplaces for everyone ultimately stems from a question that kind of keeps me up at night, and one that inspires a lot of the work that I do. That question is, 'Why doesn't work work for everyone?'
When I start from a place of asking that question — and I ask this question, when I ask people to join, you know, when I explore, you know, potential new hires, when I work with potential partners and clients, and then even when we think about some of the systems and the policies that we build for our partners — this is a question that actually helps to reveal a lot of why we do what we do at Bloom and what we could be doing better, and how that the definition of better workplaces is ever evolving. Ultimately, what we're talking about is systemic change. There are a lot of systems at play that were not built for the majority of folks that exist and are building workplaces today.
That's why the the mission that Bloom is on is a very big one. Because I think right now, we're starting on a business-to-business, and in some cases on a business-to-individual, level. But in the future Bloom will be hopefully leading shifts and changes with government policy. That's what I love to do. So I think that with Bloom, our work is about focusing on the systems and acknowledging that work doesn't work for everyone, which is unfortunate — because it's something that we created, because it wasn't built for all of us. And it was built at a time that doesn't necessarily reflect the environment that we're in today and also the access to technology we have. So I think a way to kind of continue to, I guess, keep us on the right track is: how can we create better workplaces for everyone? Why doesn't work work for all of us? And what systems should we be addressing to remove barriers and create more access for folks that historically haven't had access to either feeling like they can succeed or truly thriving at work. And that in some cases means challenging traditional ways of working. That's kind of the space that we're in right now at Bloom.
Angela Wallace: Amazing. And that is, first of all, I love the long-windedness. I welcome the long-windedness.
Avery Francis: Sorry!
Angela Wallace: No, I love it. I want all all the details, all the depth and breadth. That's the best. And I am so excited to hear that part of your future plans are moving into advocacy and looking at can you even generate some governmental-level change, because I do know that unless we change those systems of power, we're not going to see the outcomes that we need — that we all know we need. So that's really something special.
So building off of your background in creating better workplaces for all and impactful and equitable hiring practices, you've also moved Bloom into new service offerings, including your newest digital program, Bloom Academy. This is a one-of-a-kind curriculum, and I know that you've just wrapped up your very first cohort, so I was really interested in hearing from you. How did this new program work? What sorts of impacts did you see in your call to learn, grow, act, and connect? I loved how you said that on the website.
Avery Francis: Yeah, no, that's a great question. So we've identified a unique opportunity to meet people where they're at. I think that traditional diversity, equity, and inclusion training or learning experiences — as we kind of frame what we offer — or workshops don't necessarily meet people where they're at and, specifically, where they're at in terms of the work that they do and the impact that they're looking to make within the organizations that they work in.
And I think that that's a fundamental challenge for people. Because, as a marketer, how do I create more inclusive methods of working, right? If I'm spending a lot of time on social media, and so, in some cases, fielding community responses, community outrage from folks that are upset because we didn't address a horrific event that just took place or because we're not sharing our position on the Black Lives Matter movement... how do I navigate that? And then when we think about leaders, you know, as someone that may identify as a white, het, cis man, who is non-disabled, who may not necessarily identify with a black queer person that reports in to them, how do they navigate the nuance of some of those conversations? As it relates to their experience, as it relates to their response to things that are happening in the world, and how it might be impacting and influencing the way that they work, right?
I think that this conversation around mental health has really started to evolve. And when we think about mental health at work, you know, we really need to think that people are not robots, they're human beings and they're bringing their lived experiences with them everywhere they go. So Bloom is really a set of learning experiences that we've created that are context-specific opportunities for people to learn how to build better and more inclusive methods of working as relates to the work that they do. I think that this is a very powerful and revolutionary way of thinking about diversity and inclusion, especially for me as an HR leader and as someone that started my career as a recruiter.
There's a lot of things that I wasn't doing earlier on in my career that I should have been doing that could drastically shifted who I was inviting into organizations, how I was navigating those conversations, and, of course, how I was perhaps holding space for managers and other leaders to approach the way that we hired in a more inclusive and equitable way, truly. So that's like the first two cohorts right now. We had one... Track 1 is specifically for HR people, recruiters, founders, leaders... basically anyone that works within a company that wants to build more inclusive methods of working and creating more affirming workplace experiences for everyone.
And then Track 2 is specifically for influencers, marketers, social media managers, growth marketers... basically, anyone that's building community online. It'd be an amazing course, actually, for folks building their own businesses and a lot of their primary community is maybe spending a lot of time on Twitter or Instagram. So we built the sessions for them. And I think it's because through our first iteration of our diversity, and inclusion training — although it was really powerful — we were still met with a lot of questions afterwards, about how people could adopt these fundamental practices into the work that they did.
And so this is the reason why we actually took a purposeful pause last summer and we spent six months building this learning experience. It was a big investment. We sacrificed revenue, but I'm really happy that we did. It's been amazing.
Angela Wallace: Incredible. I'm so happy to hear that, and I love how you identified that need because what I've observed in my limited professional experience is that sometimes DEI approaches — they might challenge beliefs but they don't always help you close the gap on creating new behaviors. And it sounds like Bloom Academy is trying to build that bridge to help not only change what you believe but change how you behave.
Avery Francis: Yes, definitely — and I think that that's what it's all about, too, right? Because I think that habits are powerful ways of, you know, adopting new ways of working. But ultimately, what we really want to support organizations and people with is a set of actions that they can adopt and embed into the way that they work. And I think that that's where we really see a shift, because ultimately what we're doing via Bloom is change work. We're helping people to change behaviors and think of new ways of working and evolve existing ways of working that might just allow for more folks to be involved in the opportunity to really succeed and thrive at work.
And one thing I wanted to share too, is, you know, a big barrier for folks that want to do this work is having the company sign-off. So with Bloom Academy, we've been offering it to large organizations — we've worked with companies like Spotify and Shopify and Loblaws Digital and Nix — in helping the organization collectively navigate this learning journey. But there's been other organizations that have decided not to make the financial commitment. It is a big investment — and it's a big investment both from a money perspective, but then also in terms of time. That's where we usually get a lot of... where we face a lot of barriers, but there's no way to do this work without investing a significant amount of time.
So what we found is that by way of offering Bloom Academy to individuals — specifically those that are trying to build more inclusive methods of working via their role at a company — it helps to remove the need to get the CEO sign-off on a big, big investment. It allows people and empowers people to say, 'Hey, I care about this stuff, and I want to be a better manager. I want to be more inclusive as a marketer. I want to be more mindful as recruiter in terms of the barriers that I might be creating or the bias that hiring managers are holding through the interview process. So I'm going to actually take Bloom Academy as a part of my own learning and growth journey.'
This work is... it's not destination work. It's an ongoing journey. So I think that this allows for us, as a company, to make a bigger impact in a way that feels good and comfortable for us. And I will say that Bloom Academy is amazing, because it's people that have really kind of signed up and decided to invest in their own growth with this type of work. And the conversations that come through those sessions are so powerful and they make me feel really energized about what the future of work is gonna be like for everyone.
Angela Wallace: Yes, that's incredible. And I love that idea of creating a community around this and getting people connected, especially on the back end of what's been such a difficult and, for many people, isolating time in the pandemic. So contextualizing that within relationship I think can be very meaningful, because it's through those conversations that you can really reflect and look inward and de-center yourself in the conversation and hear from other people in growing that empathy, which I know is something that Jessica Taylor Regan... I've really appreciated what she has been posting on this theme and talking about embracing discomfort and cultivating empathy, and even making mistakes being part of the process. And it sounds like Bloom Academy is a safe space for that.
Avery Francis: She's amazing. Jessica and Vinciane... It's so funny, when I was hiring to build out Bloom Academy, number one, I was really scared because I was like, 'Okay, we're hiring a new person to join this team, and it's very important — it's a very important type of work.' All the work that we do via Bloom is really important, but I mean, the folks that we were hiring into Bloom Academy would have a very big role in cultivating, creating, and designing the learning experience with me. So I was looking for someone beyond just like a traditional educator or advisor. I was looking for someone that could actually help to develop programming, and it was through my interview process that I met with both of them, and I could not figure out a way to just hire one.
So I took a big financial risk and decided to hire both. I actually did not take a salary in that time, because I believed so much in doing... and I still to this day don't. I actually, for the first time, this month is the first time I'm going to be getting a salary.
I,
I decided to invest in bringing them both on at the same time and definitely it was a big financial risk, but it was probably the best decision I made for Bloom. Having two people with me — and now three kind of folks — invest in what this learning experience has been for folks has created, I'd say, an elevated experience for everyone that participates in and joins Bloom Academy, whether it be via their company, as a collective learning experience, or as an individual. It's been really powerful. And yeah, I'm a huge, big fan of both of them. They're just amazing.
Angela Wallace: Yeah, well, I am as well and also want to just acknowledge you're really practicing what you preach, investing in your people, but I'm also happy to hear that this month will be the first time that you also are investing back out of your business into yourself. You know, a lot of founders listening would really relate to that, you know, and what's the balance between almost a form of self-sacrifice to grow a company and then, you know, looking at how can we manage resources as you move forward? That's actually a really inspiring example. Thanks for that nugget.
Avery Francis: I've heard so many people say well, you have to pay yourself first and all this stuff, but sometimes you're not in a position to do that. I think that for me, Bloom — as a company, as a consultancy, we are 100%... our success is anchored in who we hire and who joins the team. Period. So for me, in order to have the best people, working with the organizations that we partner with, that has meant that I've had to make sacrifices along the way to cultivate that group of folks to join us. So, yeah, I always make jokes that people on the team... to be fair, I do want to acknowledge that I'm coming into this situation with quite a bit of privilege. I did save up a lot of money. I was living at home for five years before I started and whilst I started Bloom. My dad would make jokes because I was on like the Top 50 Women to Follow in Tech list once and my dad was like, 'I hope they don't follow you home to where you live with your parents.'
Angela Wallace: I love that.
Avery Francis: Even that is like... you know, not a lot of people have the opportunity to live at home, right? There's not a safe space for them or there's no room for them to live with their parents. So I was able to save quite a bit of money and situate myself in a way when I transitioned from being a sole proprietor to actually being like, 'Okay, this is more than just like a freelance gig. Now I can actually scale this into a business.' Not to say that a freelance business isn't a business, but I was thinking I could scale this and actually start hiring people on to join me on this mission that I'm on. And that's when I was like, I won't be able to have both, so luckily, I spent about six months working as a sole proprietor prior to hiring my first employee, when I had banked quite a bit of cash, so is able to be in the position where I wouldn't have to take a salary for quite some time.
I would not recommend doing that if you're not in a financial position to do so, though, right? Because that just creates unnecessary stress on top of all the stresses that come along with running a business. But one thing that I wanted to kind of tether on that you'd mentioned earlier... you had talked a little bit about discomfort and leaning into that discomfort with these conversations, and that's something that Jessica and Vinciane both talk a lot about in our work. But a common trope that I've come across in this work is, you know, 'Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.'
Angela Wallace: Right. We hear that everywhere.
Avery Francis: I think it's such a big barrier, and I think that someone that actually works as an educator or a practitioner in this space might disagree with it. I think — and what we say at Bloom — is get comfortable with getting more comfortable, right? This work, it's a practice, and like anything, when you practice you will inherently (hopefully) get better at it. And especially if you're approaching it with an open mind and open heart, and with a curiosity and with an appetite to kind of learn more. And this is the type of work where you will always be learning something. It's one of the reasons why I don't necessarily frame myself as an expert in this space. No one is. There are certain things I will never be able to understand as it relates to this work. But I am very comfortable with continuously being on the journey of learning and developing my understanding. So yeah, I think the more appropriate way to frame out what a DEI learning journey could be for someone is, 'Get comfortable with being more comfortable. You'll get more comfortable talking about race, you'll get more comfortable exploring what inclusive methods of hiring looks like within an organization.' These are all things you'll get more comfortable with with time
Angela Wallace: With time, yes, absolutely — and I really appreciate you pointing that out. I think for a number of people, they have the intention to become more comfortable. But taking action on it, that's where there's some timidity or nervousness, I think, that some people share for those who really do desire to challenge themselves and create change. So it's actually a bit reassuring to hear that. And also, it is that calling in, it's like, you know, let's not be complacent, let's move towards this and we can do the work. And it will take time and this ideal so that we might never arrive. There's no final point there where we can say, 'The work is done,' and that actually, that's a good thing. It means there's always opportunity for better.
Avery Francis: Exactly. 100%. There's always... and I think that even today, I was listening to a podcast with Adam Grant and he was exploring the concept of sad days at work. And, you know, we have them framed in a different way at Bloom. But yeah, I'm just always thinking of new ways that we can reinvent and really challenge existing systems within the workplace — and ultimately, that's where Bloom's jam is. As HR practitioners first, as folks that help organizations build more inclusive ways of working and people policies and systems whilst also helping companies to scale their team through the lens of inclusion.
Like we have an entire recruiting and talent advisory arm that focuses on helping organizations recruit and hire the best people for their companies, but through the lens of inclusion. We're very much at the intersection of where modern people and HR practices intersects with foundational DEI learning and understanding, so everything that we do is practiced through the lens of inclusion. But I do think that this is one of the reasons why HR hasn't really felt that great for a lot of people. It's kind of icky. And I think it's because there's never really been an emphasis or a mandate to do what you do through lens of inclusion. We talk a lot about equity at work, but I don't think that it extends past pay equity for the most part, and even then, a lot of organizations aren't really exploring that fully.
I will say, though, that working this way is harder. It takes longer. It takes a lot of practice. And for an organization... and we work with a lot of early-stage companies, in some cases, you know. Where we don't really necessarily align with potential clients is they're unwilling to hold space and dedicate the time into taking a truly inclusive, equitable, and consistent approach to what they're building. They want to build fast and break things and what happens is, the things that they're breaking aren't really like systems or new features on their app. They're breaking people. They're breaking people's energy and their investment and their commitment to the company that they're working in. And that's why we're seeing a big shift with the workplace where people are calling it the Great Resignation. But we saw this back in 2009 — this isn't the Great Resignation, it's like the Great Realization.
People are realizing how they want to be treated and how they should be treated within the workplace. I think that now that we're having... I had never talked about race with my mom, who's white, my entire life. And I've had more conversations with my mom, with my parents, about race than I ever have. And I think that we're experiencing and observing this exact same shift within the workplace. People were not prepared for this. And I think that as a result, it's highlighting a lot of nuance, complexities, as it relates to people's experiences that they either want answers on or changes from. So yeah, lots of exciting things.
Angela Wallace: It's an exciting time for building teams. Absolutely. So I will just take kind of two key focuses to close us out here. Once you get talking, I wish I could have you for two hours. It's so amazing. But as I reflect on the kind of company you're building, I know that you've really taken some kind of incredible steps to build a more inclusive workplace yourself as a leader. I think of your four-day workweek, your period administration budget for all those who may need it. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the things that you've put in place that some folks may think is kind of radical, but that you have experienced as just amazing ways of growing your company?
Avery Francis: Yeah, definitely. So we actually implemented the four-day workweek when we first founded the company. I as a sole proprietor was working three days a week, and then I transferred over when I hired my team. We were working on a three-day to four-day-a-week basis. And as we started to scale and grow and get busier, I deviated and I guess defaulted back to what I knew a successful company does, which works five days a week. I felt that this made a pretty significantly negative impact on the mental health, the performance, the energy, as well as the engagement, within the organization. So we actually, we only kind of had a five-day workweek for about six months and then we move back to our roots in a four-day workweek. So we've been doing the four-day workweek for four years.
I think that as a service-based organization, this has always been something that's been perceived as a bit of a radical approach, because ultimately, there's one day a week when we aren't that available to clients. And that means that we have to hold some pretty strong boundaries, and it means that we can do less work and work with less companies and make less money. But as an organization that puts people over profits. I'm okay with that. And I think that a lot of people think that, you know, this is impacting our opportunity to, you know, flourish and succeed in the law in the long term, but also maybe it's actually forced us to be way more selective with who we partner with because opportunity loss is a real thing and we only have so much capacity to work with so many clients at one time. So yeah, I think that's been the one that was has been received as the most radical, and I'm talking about like two to three years ago, when we would tell a client or a potential client that we work on a four-day workweek, that's been something that has been received in sometimes different ways.
Another way of working is we have the period administration budget, that has been something that a lot of people are like, 'Ick! What do you mean? Why are you talking about periods at work?'
And
Angela Wallace: I was pretty excited about it. I was like, 'I bleed. I'm interested in this. Tell me more.'
Avery Francis: So with any policy or guide or any kind of new way of working, I wouldn't... we call it a budget. But these things offer really unique opportunities for education and support. Education beyond support. So with the period or menstruation budget, we actually shared some information as to why we created it, what we're looking to challenge through creating this budget, and what systems we're trying to perhaps dismantle whilst removing barriers. And there's a very real barrier in terms of having access to period and menstrual products. The reason why we framed it as a period and menstruation budget, even though 'period budget' sounds better, in my opinion, is people that don't identify as women menstruate as well. And for example, if you a are a trans woman, you may not have to get your period, but you may menstruate — so this is the reason why we put emphasis on the menstrual budget, just to make it as inclusive as we possibly could. And we've actually paired this budget with learning and development internally. So we did team wide period and menstruation training that was actually launched by our Head of Experience — her name is Jules. And yeah, it was a really powerful thing, because we actually have someone that identifies as a man and does not menstruate, but he was like, 'This is amazing, because I have a sister and I know so much more about their experience now.' And for everyone that has access to the budget, they can use it towards either donating it towards an organization or buying the products and giving them to a family member.
The goal of the budget is to create more access to period and menstrual products, so like period, underwear, period, trackers, whatever it may be beyond pads and tampons or menstrual cups. And yeah, so that was another policy and budget that we implemented that I think that a lot of folks either like... that was a bit radical.
Another one, too, that we don't talk about often, that I'm going to share here is everyone at Bloom is paired with a financial advisor in their first week at Bloom.
Angela Wallace: I love that
Avery Francis: Everyone at bloom actually works as contractors, and this is something that I felt a lot of shame about in my early days of working and owning Bloom. Because again, the default and the norm is, you know, you start a company once you can offer full-time everything: full-time benefits, access to parental leave policies, salaries, etc, etc. I've been observing a huge shift in the gig economy, right? And this is something that's a very real threat to companies wanting to build and scale their teams. A lot of folks don't really want to work full-time anymore. They want to work across many different organizations. They're spending less time in organizations — like now we see the average in tech around a year and a half at each company. So I saw this as a huge opportunity for us to think differently about how people can actually work via Bloom. So when they first start their setup with a financial advisor, they have an opportunity to explore how they'd like to work via Bloom, whether it be their corporation, sole proprietorship, or they can — if they want — work with Bloom as an employee. Everyone has opted to work as their own independent consultant, because you get to save more of your money that you earn.
Angela Wallace: It's so true.
Avery Francis: Which is one of the main reasons why we all go to work! And I think it's something that we shouldn't necessarily ignore. But with that we offer really unique kind of benefits and bonus programs, etc, etc. that extends beyond I guess what people would typically get as a contract employee. And a lot of these folks have been working with Bloom for, you know... the longest employee that I have has been working with Bloom for just over three years now. The tenure — and I mean, we've been growing, — but tenure is great. We don't have a lot of turnover. No one has left the company in the last two years, it's all been growth. So yeah, I think... and we didn't lose people through the pandemic. So there's a huge case study for this. I think that full-time work is interesting because... me, having worked full-time for the majority of my career, I would work a lot of hours that I wouldn't get compensated for.
I know fully that every single person that's ever worked with Bloom has been compensated for every minute that they've spent working on a project or client or doing any work as a relates to Bloom. And this is actually pairs really powerful with the four-day workweek, because four-day workweeks are really great idea in practice, but a lot of organizations that are doing them are kind of just like, 'We're a four-day workweek, but the people that are working within this four-day workweek schedule are still working on Fridays and not being compensated for it. Not really.' But then the companies are saying, 'Well, you know, we're paying them their full salary, so they get, like, technically speaking, like that extra bonus day of pay.' But we know that people are working way more than an extra eight hours a week. We know that people are working probably, you know, closer to like 15+ hours a week on top of their day job.
So I think that this is this is a fundamental systems challenge that a lot of people haven't really thought critically about when it comes to the four-day workweek and adopting it. If people are already working more hours, how are shifting less days a week going to change that? Right?
So well, it's also compensating these people for their time. So with Bloom, we have a four-day work week with an emphasis on Flex Fridays. And this allows people to either do their own projects on Fridays that they want to work on, it allows them to go on holidays, take extended weekends all the time, or they can choose to work for Bloom on Fridays and have extra additional money to save up if they're saving for a wedding or if they're going on a holiday or if they just want to make more money. Right? If I don't, it doesn't really matter to me. But they have that flexibility, and I think that ultimately what we're doing here is we're empowering the opportunity for choice with the people that work at Bloom. And I've definitely received criticism over this on numerous occasions, but our health and wellness budget and everything like that are in alignment with what other organizations offer if not more. So I still feel really good about our decision to do this. And once someone does put their hand up to say, 'Hey, I'm interested in moving to full-time,' I'd be happy to entertain that.
But at the moment, I do really think that contract is is a powerful way to go and something that more organizations need to start thinking about if they want to attract the best people to work for their teams.
Angela Wallace: Absolutely. That is a great place to kind of close out our conversation. I wish... I regret it. I wish that we didn't have to, but I know that we're coming up on time. So Avery, I do just want to thank you so much for joining me. I find what you're building and how you're building it so inspirational. I hope everyone listening will take away some of these amazing insights. And if there was one last nugget, one last call to action that you could share with those who are listening who are in a position to help create conscious, resilient cultures and teams. What one last takeaway would you love to leave them with?
Avery Francis: Ask yourself the question that I've been asking myself is, which is: why doesn't work work for everyone? And I think the second question would be if you are a leader or someone that has even an ounce of opportunity to provoke change within the organization that you're working in, or the organization that you're building, what can you do to make work work for everyone? What are some things that you can change either about the way that you're working, building, or perhaps some of the systems that exist? So yeah, that would be my one takeaway that I'd love to leave with everyone is a question.
Helpful.
Angela Wallace: I love it ending on a question, what will be our answer? That is key. Thank you, Avery. I appreciate it so much, and hopefully I can have you back if I record more episodes.
Avery Francis: Yeah, I'd love it. And maybe I won't talk as much next time.
Angela Wallace: No, I welcome it, and I thank you.
Thanks for listening to Scale Conscious. I'm Ange. The show's produced by Lead Podcasting. Special thanks to team members Kendall and Alisha. Discover more about our work with CPG startups at scaleconscious.com. If you liked what you heard, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and we'll see you here next time.
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Scale Conscious is a podcast that explores the tactics startups can take to create conscious companies and build a regenerative future for all. Join host Ange Wallace as she explores building purpose-driven businesses and scaling consciously with some of today’s bravest and most impactful leaders.