Great People Make BlueVine a Great Place to Work

Choosing your next career step can be a complicated process. With so many companies offering such a wide range of products and services, finding the right fit for your talents, personality, and values is both vital and challenging. 

There are many factors to consider: Will you work with great people who see and accept you as your authentic self? Will you contribute to making a positive impact on the world? Will you feel inspired by the company’s vision? These are all such important questions to answer before making what could be a long-term commitment to a company.

I asked myself these questions nearly two years ago when considering BlueVine as a potential next step in my career. I wanted to work with high-integrity people who were hard-working, intelligent, and who shared my values. While it was evident from my first conversation that Eyal Lifshitz, our CEO and co-founder, had built a fantastic group of folks who met those criteria, it’s been a joy to discover just how interesting and fun BlueViners are. These incredible people are what have made us a Great Place to Work. 

Reflecting back on when I was considering joining BlueVine, it was important to me to join a company that offered the world something truly good. I can’t think of a more noble cause than helping small and mid-size businesses thrive. The amount of positive feedback we regularly receive from small business owners is humbling. Every day I’m reminded of the impact BlueVine makes in people’s lives—not just the owners but their families, employees, and communities. The way our impact ripples outward in the world is remarkable. 

Working with amazing people to help small businesses is rewarding. And the vision of enabling a better financial future for these businesses is so inspiring. I’m excited and humbled to come to work each day and help our mission-driven company do good.

A team put to the test

Having the people, product, and vision in place when the pandemic hit helped us transition to working from home quickly. And, we were able to do so in a way that brought us closer as a team. We lived our values of Win Together, Push Boundaries, and Make it Simple in ways that fostered connection, increased productivity, and kept communication clear and quick. In some ways, we’re closer than we could ever have imagined after going through this pandemic together.

In addition to transitioning to working from home, we also had to step up to help small businesses survive COVID-19. Though the cause was close to our mission, it required us to pivot completely and refocus our efforts on the Paycheck Protection Program, a new federal relief program. We found ourselves ultimately becoming one of the top ten lenders for these loans, helping more than 155,000 small businesses secure over $4.5 Billion in funding. Talk about making an impact!

To make sure all BlueViners, who found themselves wearing hats they couldn’t have predicted (I had recruiters from my team working on answering calls from customers), remained healthy and well, we established a few key initiatives. We immediately provided a monthly WFH stipend to purchase the materials, food, and other items our team needed to work remotely. We introduced new healthcare benefits, including Modern Health, a comprehensive mental health platform, to assist employees during what has been a tough time for us all. And we kept our 401K match intact, a new benefit our employees value.

We also implemented regular internal communications regarding COVID-19. We shared updates on what we were learning and how it impacted us and added a few “Thank You” company-wide days off. We also introduced a BlueVine Buddy program, plus made sure to send care packages to everyone’s home containing self-care items, branded swag, and more during those times. Our goal was to make sure our employees felt appreciated during what was (and still is) the most challenging time of their professional lives.

Stepping up for social justice

As we made our way through the first few months of the pandemic and the process of helping thousands of businesses survive it, we faced a new opportunity. We had the opportunity to stand up for what we believed was right as our country reckoned with racial and social injustice. 

Our employees and leadership realized that merely being a great place to work wasn’t enough, so we made a commitment to sustained action and formed the BlueVine Diversity and Inclusion Council (BDIC). The BDIC’s mission is to foster an environment that attracts the best talent, values diversity of experiences and perspectives, and encourages belonging. 

We also held unconscious bias training for our employees to help us recognize bias, avoid discrimination and support a culture of diversity in the workplace. We’re excited to discover how the new team members we’ll be adding to our more than 300 BlueViners worldwide support and expand our efforts in meaningful ways.

Taking care of our customers and each other

2020 was such a tough year for everyone. And I’m so proud of the resilience, empathy, and unity our team showed every day. We took care of each other, and in doing so, helped take care of our customers, who needed us to be there for them and the people relying on their business.

People choose to work at BlueVine for the same reasons I did: the team, the product, the vision, and the opportunity to make a difference. 2020 showed us that we, as a team, could make that difference for our customers—and each other. We all got through a tough time together, achieving remarkable results along the way.

As we start 2021 with another Great Place to Work certification and so much excitement for BlueVine’s future, we all know the truth: it’s each other and the care, commitment, and camaraderie we share that make us truly great. Come join us.