We’re thrilled to announce BenchSci has been recognized as number 26 on this year’s Best Workplaces in Canada list and also certified as a Great Place to Work for the second consecutive year. We care deeply about making a positive impact on the world around us, which is reflected in our vision and culture. Our vision is to help scientists bring novel medicine to patients 50% faster by 2025. Our success comes from our commitment to creating an inspiring and healthy culture that puts our people first. We want to thank our entire team for helping achieve this recognition and giving us confirmation that we are continuing down the right path. Here are a few reasons why we’re a Great Place to Work:

Supporting mental wellness

As a health-focused company, ensuring our team’s well-being is one of our top priorities. This includes mental well-being as well as physical, which is why we increased our mental health benefits to $2,500 per team member, which covers an average of ten therapy sessions annually. We continue to offer mindfulness training and one-on-one coaching sessions with our Independent Director of Leadership, Dr. Kari Sulenes. We also provide each team member with their own Headspace account to help them practice mindfulness on their own time if they wish. Speaking of which, we know having enough personal time is vital for preventing burnout, so last summer, we created an annual mid-year BenchSci holiday to give everyone an extra day for themselves. Read more about our mental health benefits.

Developing great people managers

Great people managers are crucial to the success of team members and organizations. We developed a dedicated onboarding process for our people managers to give them the tools they need to ensure not only their success but their team’s as well. This includes courses such as Mental Health Training and Inclusive Leadership. We also developed additional leadership training based on our leadership principles and have regular “Ask Me Anything” sessions with our CEO, Liran Belenzon, to provide managers opportunities to ask questions and get clarity on whatever they need. By investing in the growth of our people managers, we also increase team member engagement and cohesion. 

Building remote community

Our sense of community has always been important; it’s even more so in difficult times like these. It’s a bit of a catch-22 that moving to a fully remote work model in response to the global pandemic has also made maintaining that community more challenging. We learned that, without the regular opportunities for in-person interactions we have in normal times, we needed to be much more intentional with creating opportunities to connect. Thankfully, we’re an innovative bunch, and we quickly found ways to engage with each other remotely. 

One of the first things we did was set up Slack’s “Donut” app to pair people in the company for weekly social calls via Zoom. We already used Slack as one of our main communication tools, so this was a natural progression. Plus, our HR software, Hibob, has a section where team members can list their “superpowers,” which make great conversation starters. Our People Operations team has also orchestrated a number of company events, including a games afternoon and a spelling bee with some great prizes. In addition, many of our team members were inspired to organize various activities, games, tournaments, and social groups that have become BenchSci favorites, including chess tournaments, remote social hours, rock paper scissors, and more. 

This strong online community helps us build personal relationships with our colleagues, which support us as individuals and strengthen us as a team. We’ve also worked to create the best remote onboarding experience we can so our new hires feel welcome as they acclimate to their role and the company. 

Emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion

Social injustice has and continues to perpetuate a lack of equitable outcomes, resulting in disproportionate barriers to the success of underrepresented groups. As a company that values continuous improvement of ourselves and our world, we are committed to helping change this. We’ve created a 12-month roadmap to guide us on our DEI journey, which details our plans to review all company processes, including our hiring practices, and develop training for team members and hiring managers, such as our recent anti-bias training. This roadmap gives us tangible goals and ensures we are actively working towards them. By prioritizing DEI, we are building an inclusive workforce that more completely represents the diverse points of view that make up our society. It strengthens our team, and more importantly, it’s the right thing to do.

It is with great pride that we celebrate this continued recognition. We wouldn’t be the company we are without our people. Their passion and dedication are what truly make BenchSci a great place to work. 

Want to learn more about our culture? Click here.