As we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month, we sat down with Anne Benge, CEO and founder of EDC investor Cultura. Anne talked to us about company culture, the importance of office space, and why they support EDC. Check it out!
Tell us about Cultura
Creating environments for the workforce is what we do. As a business, we design and create places where people love to work. Attracting and retaining talent is the number one problem that Cultura solves for our clients.
With a name like Cultura, you must have a strong commitment to your corporate culture. Tell us about that.
We’ve built an inclusive culture. We are a family. We love where we work, and we do work we love. We live for making our clients happy. Our energy is infectious. Our core values are the foundation of our company: Influential, Inventive, Impactful and Dedicated. We hire based on them, they guide our decisions and are part of our DNA. It’s paying off. We boast a 99 percent employee engagement rate. In 2019, we were awarded #1 Best Places to Work in San Diego by the San Diego Business Journal (image right).
As we prepare for returning to the next normal, how do you see the office environment changing?
Let’s just state it up front, Cultura is pro-office. We believe businesses need offices. After a year of articles ranging from “the office is dead” to “everyone is more productive at home,” we cannot state enthusiastically enough that your business needs an office. Your office should bring your culture together, refresh, reinvigorate, and restore your people. Our job is to create an environment that enhances productivity. We did this for more than 10,000 San Diegans in 2020 by designing and furnishing places where people work.
We’ve all experienced so much during this past 12 months. Will you share your thoughts about the last year?
Our leadership team is entirely female (image left) so we’re very aware of the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We work hard to make sure our team reflects the diversity of our community. As our country experienced social justice movements following the death of George Floyd, we saw the importance of a supportive workplace. We learned that firsthand this year when an employee asked that we not work with an organization that failed to uphold our morals. It is impossible to keep work and personal life 100 percent separate. Recognizing bias; being self-aware and open to learning; and creating dialog in the workplace are our obligations. These practices will provide a benefit to everyone on the team.
Final thoughts you’d like to share with our investors?
We certainly appreciate all that EDC does to attract and retain talent in our region. It’s one of the reasons we invest in EDC. I learn so much from watching Mark Cafferty and EDC’s team run an organization that is focused, provides clarity, is reliable, and continues to be resilient. We look forward to working with EDC and other investors as we inspire positive change, dream ideas into reality, and grow together. #LoveWhereYouWork
Learn more: wearecultura.com
Instagram: @wearecultura