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In April, Clio was hosting a party. All the hallmarks were present: balloons, cupcakes, the lot. Like any good party planner, the company studied the guest list. Clio’s team is making use of something called “distributed by design”; a hybrid work model its CEO Jack Newton teased to Vancouver Tech Journal last summer. Explosive growth has meant Clio team members are scattered across the globe (the company has offices in Burnaby, Calgary, Toronto, and Dublin). While it would make sense that a few attendees were international, some weren’t familiar. Luckily, those invites weren’t for Vince Vaughn or Owen Wilson. Instead of wedding party crashers, the newbies were from The New York Times.

What resulted was prime real estate in the media juggernaut’s foray into the return to work conversation, “Welcome Back to the Office. Isn’t This Fun?” There Clio was — right beside a search engine startup called Google. Clio’s VP people, Natalie Archibald, is even quoted: “‘To be able to have an IRL laugh rather than an emoji response. People are just excited for that.’” We reached out to Archibald (I don’t think I’ve earned that NYT “Ms.” naming convention just yet) for more on what’s exciting about working for Clio. Here are the highlights from our conversation with her, as part of our How to get a job series.

This interview was condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

James Matthews: How did you end up at Clio?

Natalie Archibald: I was a therapist, but for years I worked in the nonprofit sector and I worked in jails. I'm super passionate about the justice system and transforming it. But, I made the move into businesses and working in-house. I was working for an organization that was awesome but it took me a bit further away from that passion for systemic change and reform. I left the company and while I was considering my next move, a friend reached out and said, “Hey, there's this opportunity for VP [of] people at Clio. Would you be interested?” 

The minute I learned about Clio and learned about the role, there was an immediate connection – a deep mission alignment. I just knew that this was the place for me. I'm so happy that I made that move. So many other folks who are leaving roles right now and really contemplating their next move are wanting something that is personally gratifying for them. They want that deep value connection. And I think that's something really unique about Clio. People join us because they want to do something bigger than just clocking in to work nine to five every day. They want to be part of making this world a better place. We need it now more than ever, right?

JM: Can you please unpack what VP people really means?

NA: We recognize that organizational longevity is uncommon, especially in tech companies. Startups sometimes have this big explosion, then fizzle out, and that's unfortunate. We are on a mission to be a 100-year-plus sustainable company. The only way we can do that is to access the deepest potential within the most valuable part of our organization, which is our people. There is a reason why internally my role is called VP of employee success. We know that we have to make a promise to our people that matches the promise they made to join us. What we're able to offer them — experientially, technically, opportunistically, through connection — is going to be the differentiator. If we are able to cultivate the most empowered, smart, critical thinkers that are really committed to the change that we want to make in the world, that's going to be the thing that separates us from everyone else. 

So, VP [of] people for me is about being the most senior ambassador of our people. In doing so we really believe that we're going to be the market leaders when it comes to supporting our customers and supporting an industry that deeply needs help in transforming. The only way that is possible is through our people. It’s a position that has a huge sense of privilege. I don't take it lightly. It also comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility and accountability not just to our customers, but to every single person that we employ.

JM: Say I want to join Clio, or become a “Clion.” How would I go about doing that?

NA: We've got our traditional and non-traditional means, just like any other organization. I invite anyone who's interested in our company to visit our careers page. It’s always up to date with all the different opportunities that are available. We also encourage people to reach out and connect over LinkedIn. If there's someone who's in a really cool job that you admire or a job you want to know more about, we have the most open, engaging, and warm team members. They love to talk about their work. So there's also those informal means: connect with someone that you share an interest with and strike up a conversation. 

JM: What does Clio’s hybrid work model, “distributed by design”, mean to you?

NA: For me, it means being able to manage my own energy in a way that serves me. Matching my work day to my own energy management needs has been transformative. If there's a day where I really want to have lunch with my kids, I get to do that. I can work from home and build my day around that without skipping a beat at work. But if there's a day where my extrovert needs are untapped and I really need to get into the office to be around people in something other than sweatpants, I get to do that. It's completely based on what I'm doing or what I'm needing at that moment. I think that that's a real differentiator. We're actually cultivating people to be more mindful of their needs and creating the framework for a work experience that meets their needs at the moment.

JM: Macs or PCs?

NA: It's predominantly Mac, I would say, with a sprinkling of people who spend a lot of time in Excel and really love their PCs. But, we are a Mac company for all intents and purposes. And we love our Apple products in more ways than just computers.

JM: What are some other tools that all employees use?

NA: Our tech stack is with Zoom and Slack. We find Zoom is just a cleaner interface for people. Everyone has their preferences. But for us, we love having an embedded experience where people don't really have to think and they can just click on a link. Plus, we even have a built-in app store. If there's any company that knows the span of everything that we can choose from, it's us. We’ve learnt from the people we at Clio integrate with. 

JM: What are the hours like? What about vacation or paid time off?

NA: To optimize for flexibility and choice, we don't have strict hours. We do, though, try to have at least a couple hour overlap between time zones. Specifically, I will make sure that I am online early PST to ensure that I'm capturing key meetings and events for our Irish employees. With vacation, we actually were noticing that early in the pandemic people were taking way less vacation. They were looking at vacation as saving up for a big trip. When that wasn't possible, we realized people's mental health was suffering because they weren't recharging the way they needed to. We thought to ourselves, “if we can remove the barriers and remove the scarcity idea — that people have to beg for vacation and save up for a big trip — then maybe we can start changing habits where people can start taking a day a week if they need it.” 

So, we created a flexible paid time off or FPTO model. It ensures that people have the framework necessary to be able to take what they need when they need to take it. We also developed a series of communication expectations for managers. It ensured they still had coverage around big projects at key times of the year so that the work wasn't suffering. It’s something that we're seeing as a huge differentiator when people join us. We don't have a company without our people — the company and our people are one in the same. We ask ourselves, ‘how do we create a bridge between the two?’ This is one way.

The How (and why) to get a job story series is supported by VanHack. Hire from VanHack’s 300K+ diverse tech talent pool, fast.