We’re Indie, That’s How We Move Fast
Staying independent as a company is non-negotiable for us. It allows us to operate in a way where we get to set our own metrics for success rather than having them dictated to us. And for us, success has always been making space for a culture of creativity, well-being and progressive values.
Stacy Gagnidze, Senior Strategist
Pierre-André Vigneault, Partner & Executive Vice President
“TUX has never had the mindset of growing the company just to sell it and make a buck. For us, this has always been about building an alternate vision of what “work” could be like for everyone – definitely something more liberating and positive.”
There’s a mix of different skill sets that everyone brings to the table at TUX. Some of us doodle, others are Excel wizards, but everyone gets time to focus on what they’re great at. There’s breathing room to drill down, focus, and push through (in a healthy way) to create projects we can be proud for ourselves and clients, too.
“We’ve learned the hard way what happens when we get highly talented people into the room but don’t give them enough time to focus on what they love to do. We’re planning projects with greater consideration of talent’s needs. We see the benefits on the quality of our work and our well-being.”
But TUX isn’t about solo sports. We get amazing work done by all chipping in and working together.
“If you were to look at our org chart, you’d notice it’s fairly flat. That’s because we want TUX to be a place that encourages collaboration over competition and leadership from everyone versus an elite group. We leave no room for ego and toxic hierarchy.”
We’re all for yoga at lunch time, but well-being runs deeper for us.
It’s about being fundamentally structured to be more conscious of our talent’s personal feelings, thoughts, and all the other fuzzy stuff that tends to get overlooked but matters the most. We host plenty of town halls, have committees and run surveys so decisions can be made by taking a lot of perspectives into account.
“We started the 4-day work week because in our field the boundaries are always blurred. Your personal identity and how you spend your time is your inspiration, it informs your product – so it’s only realistic for us to make more room for active rest because a short weekend just doesn’t cut it.”
“We’re currently looking into sabbaticals. We realized we wanted to create more flexibility for following curiosities and passion projects as people grow in the workplace. We’re creating our sabbatical model with everyone at TUX – literally everyone. We’ve been presenting the idea at town halls and getting input through surveys. This way we can create something that’s feasible and interesting for all of us.”
The result is a fairly happy crew. We’re happy to report our efforts are paying off with an average Happiness Score of 84% in 2022 🙂
Ugh. Let’s level. Perpetuating outdated, harmful ideas or encouraging unnecessary consumption through our work gives us a gross feeling inside. And we want to work with people who feel like this too – whether as talent or clients.
By considering the needs of clients, customers, and shareholders but also talent, suppliers, local communities and the planet – we’re re-imagining design, branding, and communications to generate greater economic, social, and environmental impacts for everyone.
“There’s lots of people at TUX who don’t take our field for granted. They care about the ethics in what brands promote. They care about pollution. Data privacy. This is great! We need people like this to help businesses be more responsible.”
Our mission is to be a positive influence on society by making creativity more responsible of others.
Over the years, we’ve created more and more space for working in ways that allow us to have a positive impact. We’ve focused on signing more clients who hold with progressive values and attitudes. Invested in internal committees dedicated to fighting the good fight like our JEDI, Volunteering and Personal Well-being teams. We even started a charity, TUX Karma, to hone our skills for good.
“As creative workers, our storytelling skills play an inherently influential role in society, for better or for worse. One of the most powerful ways we can use these skills is to aim them at initiatives that amplify the stories and reflect the concerns of community stakeholders.”