You may have heard of a handy tool called Slack. Well, Kin’s customer in the spotlight this month is responsible for Slack’s much lauded UI design. Their name is MetaLab and the keys to their workplace success, according to COO Tim Wilkinson, is autonomy and keeping the workplace red-tape free.
Who are you, what’s your role, and your favorite hand-held food?
[TW] My name is Tim Wilkinson, I’m the COO of MetaLab. I would have to say my favorite hand-held food is definitely GoGurt™, because it’s the enjoyment of yogurt, but coupled with the convenience of tube-based consumption.
What’s the story of MetaLab?
[TW] MetaLab was founded in 2006 when our founder, Andrew Wilkinson, realized he needed to make rent. The natural solution was to start a web design company out of his apartment.
Now we’re a 22-person design agency located in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. We also develop and build fantastic products that we design, whether for our clients, or for ourselves like with Flow.
What’s great about working at MetaLab?
[TW] I think the best thing about working at MetaLab is the autonomy we give our employees. We don’t care when they work, or where they work (we’re 30% remote), as long as quality work is produced. We also have unlimited vacation and sick days, which has been a fantastic addition to the company ever since we implemented it in 2013.
Also worth mentioning would be the recent yoga session we had at the office. Some nice, relaxing team bonding. :-)
Please share some insight into MetaLab’s approach to employee and workplace operations. How has Kin played a role?
[TW] Our underlying goal is to just treat people like adults—we try to keep as much red tape and unnecessary processes and rules out of the organization as possible.
“Kin was a no brainer for us, and was a massive step up from the convoluted spreadsheet system we were running before.”
The systems we do use, like Kin, need to be easy to use for both the staff and those administering them, and serve a very clear and valuable purpose.
Anything notable going on lately?
[TW] We’re always working on lots of stuff on the agency side of things that we’re hoping to share soon. Keep your eyes on Flow for some major feature additions!
We’ve also just recently moved into our new office in Victoria. Finally moved out of our 550 square foot apartment that we had long grown out of!
