044: Designing the People Experience | Annie McCullagh, People Partner, Griffin

What does it actually take to build company culture in a remote-first bank? Annie, People Partner at Griffin, joined in August 2020 as the CEO's EA before Griffin had a website. Her interview invite went to spam. She nearly didn't reply. Five years later she's designing the people experience at one of the UK's most innovative banking infrastructure companies - and she boomeranged back after six months away because she couldn't stay away. In this Griffin Uncut episode, Annie and Mo Backer break down how Griffin Bank designs its people experience like a product, why belonging and delight are the North Stars for every company culture and people experience decision, and what remote-first culture actually looks like when 80% of your company spend is on people. What you'll learn about building company culture: Why people experience should be treated as a product How to design company culture rituals for remote-first teams What high autonomy culture looks like in practice (and why it can be bewildering) How Griffin Bank onboards new joiners into a remote-first environment Why "culture fit" is the wrong frame - and what to look for instead How to design in-person offsites that create genuine belonging Virtual vs IRL rituals: designing for everyone regardless of location Why working at a startup is making a bet, not just taking a job Griffin (griffin.com) is a fully licensed UK bank providing embedded banking infrastructure to fintechs, wealthtechs, and enterprise companies. Griffin's people team - called the Cultivate team - treats the employee experience as a product, with continuous iteration, feedback loops, and a design-first approach to company culture. 80% of Griffin's spend is on people. Every culture decision is a product decision. Memorable moments from this episode: The Bristol offsite designed to be of Bristol, not just in Bristol (graffiti workshop included) The day Griffin submitted its regulatory business plan after five years of work The no context Slack channel (and why nobody ever adds context) Appreciation time at all hands: creating space for gratitude in a remote company Dress to impress night: why remote teams need moments to show up differently High autonomy culture: why it sounds great on paper and can be genuinely shocking in practice This episode is for you if you're interested in: Company culture design People experience and HR strategy Remote-first culture and distributed teams Building culture at startups and scaleups Employee experience design Fintech and banking company culture Griffin Bank and how we work People operations and people teams Onboarding design for remote companies High autonomy work environments Startup culture vs corporate culture Griffin Uncut is Griffin Bank's podcast featuring honest conversations about building in fintech - from the founders, the operators, and the people designing what it feels like to work here. Subscribe for more conversations on: Embedded banking and BaaS Fintech company culture Building regulated financial products Startup and scaleup people experience Remote-first ways of working Links: Griffin Bank: https://griffin.com Griffin Careers: https://griffin.com/careers Griffin Culture: https://griffin.com/culture Griffin Uncut Podcast: https://griffin.com/podcast Griffin Sandbox (free, no NDA): https://app.griffin.com/register #CompanyCulture #PeopleExperience #RemoteFirstCulture #GriffinBank #GriffinUncut #StartupCulture #PeopleOps #EmployeeExperience #RemoteWork #FinTech #BankingCulture #HRStrategy #PeopleTeam #CultureDesign #StartupLife #RemoteFirstCompany #HighAutonomy #WorkCulture #FinTechCulture #EmbeddedBanking