Tell me about your company. When were you founded? What do you do? And where are you located?

We are Cymax Group Technologies. Our headquarters are in Burnaby, BC. We are a leading e-commerce technology and logistics services platform for furniture vendors and retailers. Everything that we do seeks to accomplish one overarching goal – to provide a better e-commerce and logistics experience for our partners. We started back in 2004, and at the time we were just a simple website selling media furniture. We’ve now grown to about 270 employees across Canada and the US.  We help our customers with everything e-commerce sales related across various marketplaces like Amazon or Walmart, and also via our own websites, specifically Home Square and Cymax.com. We have two proprietary technology products to support our clients. We have Channel Gate, which supports our partners with their e-commerce work, and also Freight Club, which is our freight logistics solution.

What is the big problem that your company is tackling?

When the pandemic began, there was a huge increase in demand for furniture and the other products that we sell. People were working from home and changing their living spaces. There was also a significant push towards e-commerce as brick & mortar stores were closed. We were one of the fortunate companies that benefited from the shift in consumer behaviors triggered by the pandemic because we were already leaders in e-commerce. So, while our competitors were pivoting, we were already in a position to meet those new consumer demands for e-commerce furniture solutions.

What are you most proud of in terms of company Milestones?

The growth in our company, and how we’ve evolved in recent years. In the last 3 years, we’ve doubled our headcount. We’ve also shifted and evolved our culture to be remote-flexible.  We are creating an environment where people can feel like they can bring their whole selves to work, whether in person or virtually.

Another milestone we’re proud of is that we recently revamped our Burnaby office. During the pandemic, we invested in space and created a more collaborative area that we’re now using for events and as a space to bring our team together. We recently brought our entire leadership team to the Burnaby office for a two-day leadership summit. It was a great success and helped us feel aligned as a leadership team and able to offer support to our employees and maintain a unified direction.

How would you describe your company culture?

Our business has grown so quickly, and with that, we’ve hired so many new employees. We look for people who want to make an impact. Our people are scrappy, entrepreneurial, and they’re full of ideas. We are really happy to still offer a remote-flexible work environment, while preserving and promoting our company culture. Prior to the pandemic, when everyone was in-office all the time, there was so much opportunity for cross-collaboration. We’re recreating that with our remote-flexible environment. While most of our staff are based in BC, a lot of our senior leaders are based in Ontario. We’re planning team events like going to baseball games this summer – The Canadians in Vancouver, and the Blue Jays in Toronto.  And also, virtual events. For example, for Star Wars Day on May 4^th, everyone painted a little baby Grogu in an online team-building activity that we organizing.

What are three words you would use to describe your company culture?

One is customer-focused. Two is collaborative, and three is growth-mindset. We really value continuous learning. We’re a team. It’s really one team at Cymax Group. We have to work together in order to deliver our promise to our customers.

What is it like to work for your company, and why is it a great place to work?

I would say it’s a great place to work, for a lot of reasons, one of them being that it’s fun to work here! It’s challenging. It’s definitely hard work sometimes. If you work at Cymax Group, you have to not be shy about working hard, but it comes with rewards as well, like learning and growth. Another reason it is a great place to work is that we have a relatively high internal promotion rate. In 2022, 24% of our people were either promoted, or had a role change. That’s a big percentage of people who are continuing to grow with us. Even so far this year in 2023, we have 15% already who have either received a promotion or role change. There are so many opportunities to continue to grow their careers. It’s also engaging work, which is another reason we are able to promote from within and build up our people over time.

In their own words, what do your employees say?

Are you hiring?

Yes, we are absolutely hiring! Check out our careers page at www.cymaxgroup.com/careers.