Jillian Harris, co-founder of The Jilly Box.Supplied
There are a lot of benefits to being employed by The Jilly Box Inc. But the best one comes from the values held and promoted by top management.
Jillian Harris, co-founder with Tyler Evans of the Kelowna, B.C.- based subscription box company and website marketplace, says employees want to work for companies that share their values and are a pleasure to work at.
“It’s not just about that one person that works for you and how efficient they are or how much money they’re making you. It is a responsibility to be a founder and an employer and to take care of your people,” she says. “And the better you take care of your people, the better your company will do and the better we all do.”
On that front, the company offers paid birthdays off, personal days, RRSP contribution matching and a $2,500 baby bonus for new parents, among other benefits.
Harris and Evans say their values are informed by the fact that they are mothers of a company with an entirely female board of directors. They prioritize a culture of work-life balance, ensuring their staff has the flexibility to thrive both professionally and personally.
“We try to consider the whole person, from mental health to family life,” says Evans. “How can people do their best work if they’re burnt out or not fulfilled in other areas of their lives?”
The two co-founders say this philosophy doesn’t just affect employees — it improves communities. “It isn’t just about paying somebody their salary and dusting off your hands. There is so much impact that we can bring as leaders to individuals and then to their partners and to their kids,” says Harris.
And the value-added attraction of working for The Jilly Box doesn’t stop with how the company treats employees, but includes the values it brings to the business itself.
Employees “want to work for a company that cares and gives back,” says Harris.
Indeed, that focus on values permeates the entire Jilly Box experience, where Harris and Evans champion small, local companies with similar values.
Dane Ashman, the company’s junior software developer, says he feels good as an employee when he watches the growth spurt experienced by small companies that Jilly Box promotes, from home decor and jewelry to beauty and wellness products.
The company also promotes the values of the companies that create each product in its boxes and on its website with symbols, which Ashman created, that appear alongside each product to indicate whether they are made in Canada, Canadian-owned, women-owned, BIPOC-owned, vegan, and/or cruelty free.
That helps customers shop by their own values, says Harris, who defies the big online retailers to provide that kind of experience. “We are offering another option.”
The company has also donated more than $1 million to local charities since it was launched in 2019 and gives paid days off for employees to volunteer in their own communities.
Those values are clearly resonating among the industry’s best and brightest.
Harris loves that people from the Canadian companies she most admires are now applying for jobs with The Jilly Box. “We must be doing something right if these brilliant and creative folks want to come work with us.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.