Cultivator Profile: “Meal On Us” One Changemaker’s Kind Gesture Amidst the Pandemic
Meet Calvin McKee
Calvin McKee is no stranger to understanding the value of community, connection, and letting people know he cares. As the Facilitation Specialist at Shopify, Calvin supports the creation and facilitation of learning experiences for the Shopify employee base. He also specializes in their new hire onboarding program and builds team retreats. And somehow, he still manages to have time to lead a Shopify Employee Resource Group (ERG) and works with the Diversity and Belonging team to ensure a community for their LGBTQ+ employees. Needless to say, Calvin wears many hats.
Shopify strives to make commerce better for everyone. Calvin loves that this platform gives people the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and support themselves and their communities. With Shopify, entrepreneurs can build businesses, and rest assured that they have the tools and resources to create scalable and successful companies.
Calvin joined Shopify because of the culture and its human-first approach. He could tell right away that Shopify cares so much for its people and strongly encourages employees to try and learn new things.
Knowing the human-first culture of Shopify, Calvin wanted to find a new and innovative way to say thank you to candidates who were in the midst of the interview process during a global pandemic.
The Idea
Calvin created a virtual "meal on us" experience for interviewees. He said, "In the final stages of the interview process, we provided candidates a voucher for UberEats so that they could help themselves to a meal, treat, or coffee. It was a nice gesture to say thank you for their time, energy, and effort in the process."
Pre-pandemic Shopify created really memorable candidate experiences during the interview process. Some of these experiences included travel and accommodations, office tours, meals, and more. The pandemic rattled that approach to the interview experience. There was a deep desire among the talent acquisition team to continue a similar experience digitally-- a way to remain "human-first."
Back to The Drawing Board
The path to making his idea a reality wasn't always easy. One of the obstacles encountered was Uber's inability to provide vouchers for UberEats. After a trip back to the drawing board, the team got creative and scrappy and came up with a backup plan that eventually became much larger in scale to impact even more candidates.
With the support of his lead, an executive recruiter, and his team, Calvin successfully launched a program that surprises & delights their interview candidates. There's beauty in legacy, and although he no longer owns the idea and has changed teams, the team continues to keep the project going over a year later.
Advice for Fellow Cultivators
"Now more than ever is a fantastic time to experiment and connect with people in new ways. We truly crave relationship building and human connection, so the more human/community-focused your project or idea is, the more likely it will be well received! Be bold, and put yourself out there! The worst someone can say is no. To quote Kris Jenner, "If somebody says no, you're asking the wrong person."
Connect with Calvin & other changemakers like him by joining our Cultivators Community.
Share your ideas. Solve problems. Make a difference.
We’re building a community where your voice is heard, solutions are shared, and changemakers around the world can mobilize for change. If you are passionate about change, culture, and innovation, this is the place for you.