Convincing tech-savvy job prospects to come work at Episode Six over a competitor is particularly challenging in a place like Austin, Texas.
“Austin is one of the hottest cities in the U.S. that many companies and people are moving to,” said Chermaine Hu, chief financial officer and co-founder of Episode Six, which helps financial services companies build and launch payment products. “Between big tech and fintech, everyone is here recruiting similar types of professionals we are looking for.”
To set itself apart when attracting and retaining talent, the nearly 7-year-old company builds a reputation via word of mouth as a place that offers meaningful work and where an employee is not just a number in a large organization. It emphasizes to current or prospective employees its core values of teamwork, growth and pride in one’s work, and balances in-person collaboration with the flexibility to work from home.
“Compensation is obviously important — we need to be market rate if not better — but there is more to be focused on as we attract people,” said Hu.
Fintechs and
They also need to sell their story in a way that stands out.
“There are always people who get attracted to companies raising the next round and the next round,” said Ramit Arora, president and co-founder of Biz2Credit, a small business financing company. The 15-year-old firm pitches its long-term stability and the value of its role helping small businesses.
Diversity is often another part of the story.
“Fintechs are very intentional about recruiting individuals with diverse backgrounds,” said Robyn Patterson, a managing director in Accenture’s talent and organization strategy practice. “They embrace these cultural and experiential differences.”
Episode Six, for example, seeks talent from groups and programs for veterans and LGBTQ individuals. In VizyPay’s experience, diversity is a plus because the payment processing company serves many small-business owners who do not speak English as their first language. There are people speaking nine languages fluently at the company, including Khmer, Romanian, Tai Dam and Vietnamese.
The fintechs interviewed, which all appear on American Banker’s list of
“The Midwest specifically is not known as a tech hub of the world so we are looking to change that and get people who want to evolve that space with us,” said Elizabeth Rucker, director of sales partner recruiting at VizyPay. Most employees come through word of mouth; VizyPay also actively showcases its company culture on social media.
Fintechs are known for being more flexible than financial institutions in terms of workspace, which can be an advantage in attracting talent. Lack of flexibility in work schedule and in work location were two of the most cited reasons for employee attrition, according to new Arizent research.
“A lot of the fintechs have a ‘remote first’ policy, so they are open to hiring from anywhere and don’t require their workers to be in one location,” said Patterson.
Still, Biz2Credit, Episode Six and VizyPay all felt, to varying degrees, that in-person collaboration is valuable and sustains a more personal connection.
Episode Six has 125 staff members in 25 countries. Before the pandemic, most U.S. employees based in Austin went into the office, while the majority of those in other states and countries worked remotely. The company became fully remote during the pandemic. Now it is largely up to each team to structure a hybrid schedule. Everyone is encouraged to spend in-person time with their colleagues, but no one is forced to go back in person.
This flexibility has another advantage: People enjoy their time in the office more when they don’t feel forced to be there.
“People have very strong feelings now, whereas a few years ago they didn’t think about it much,” said Summer Tatlici, vice-president of people and culture. “Hybrid work was not really a thing on people’s tongues, nor was ‘I’m never going to work in an office again.’”
At Biz2Credit, “having people spend some time mixing in the office leads to greater collaboration and allows for individuals to interact with people who they may not normally have the opportunity to,” said Rohit Arora, CEO and cofounder of Biz2Credit (and Ramit’s brother).
The company is expanding its New York City location this year to accommodate growth. Leaders encourage employees in the Big Apple to come in for part of the week, but do not make that compulsory.
VizyPay has gone a different route. The company allowed remote work for a short period at the beginning of the pandemic, but management found it was not a good fit for many. Now, the firm is mostly back in person.
“That’s a big part of our culture,” said Rucker. “We want people who want to come in and be part of VizyPay’s culture as a whole.”
