Diversity

Omnibus Project: Q2 2019 results

In April 2017, we launched our diversity initiative, the Omnibus Project, to promote diversity at Busbud and beyond. Every quarter, our team carries out up to 5 actions to help foster diversity and reports publicly on our progress.

We are thrilled to share the results for Q2 2019, ending June 30th. Here are our actions:

1) Spotify playlists to share with users

When people think about culture and different countries, they often tend to think about what separates them and to focus on the differences. We, at Busbud, tend to think about what unifies us. One of the many things we have in common is the passion about music. The style might be different from one country to another but the passion and pleasure it brings is the same. 

At Busbud, we have 17 different nationalities hailing from all over the globe. Many of us are passionate music aficionados, and we would like our customers that travels in different parts of the world to experience the music in those countries. This is why we created some different playlists curated by locals in some countries you can travel to. For this summer, enjoy our Quebec playlist that adds up to our Brazilian playlist. This will give you a taste of the wide music spectrum that our dear hometown has to offer. From the world famous Arcade Fire to new artists like Helena Deland, you can listen to Quebec artists in the province or everywhere else around the world.  

2) Volunteering cooking and serving food for the local community in Montréal 

In June 2019, Busbud team members participated in a volunteering activity at Robin des Bois, a local restaurant offering a 99% homemade menu using local produce. Its main mission is to bring public awareness to the many needs of the less fortunate in Montreal’s community. The restaurant also supports many local not-for-profit organizations in the Mile-End neighbourhood of Montreal.

In the 5-hour volunteering shift on a Wednesday night, some of us worked front-of-house, greeting customers and seating them, explaining the menu, taking orders, serving meals and drinks, setting and clearing tables. There were also 3 of us in the kitchen, weighing produce, washing, cleaning, peeling fruits and vegetables, and cleaning up. The goal was to get involved in the local community and to step out of our usual comfort zones. 

It was a great evening and we worked well as a team to meet the high standards of the restaurant. We all felt proud to be volunteering on behalf of Busbud and to work with the regular staff of the restaurant.

From left to right: Lili, Manon, Marc-André, Patricia, Liseth and Fabien

3) MTL Releve

On May 30th, we had the pleasure of sharing what we love about our work with students in the Montreal Releve program. Students of all backgrounds were invited to tour the (new!) Busbud office, meet with Busbud employees and learn about a selection of jobs at Busbud such as software engineer, customer experience specialist, partnerships manager, product manager and marketer. 

We started by presenting each of the highlighted professions in the freshly built Busbud office amphitheatre and shared the history of our career paths. In between presentations, we’d breakout for a moment and got to chat with the students to get to know them better and what excite them. This was definitely my favourite part. It was really interesting to discuss their perspectives on the job market in a few years, the importance they placed on being a polyglot and the need to learn constantly.

For the second half of the day, the students had an Ask Me Anything session with Busbud employees from our Engineering, Customer Experience, Product Management, Partnerships and Marketing teams. The students asked some great questions and got a whole lot of answers. Mike, our CTO & co-founder spotted a pair of them exiting one of the sessions motioning like their head was going to explode.

“There’s just so much to think about!” they told Mike.

“But in a good way, right?” Mike asked.

“Yes! We have soooo much to learn… and we could use a longer break” they added, smiling.  

“I love sharing my passion with kids and students, and am excited to see them project themselves as ambitious future versions of themselves. I’m thrilled Busbud employees had the chance to do the same. It was a great opportunity to pay it forward to help inform these students’ career decisions and inspire the next generation to positively impact our world.” – Mike Gradek, CTO & co-founder

Some of the students present in Busbud’s amphitheatre
Camille, Product manager at Busbud, giving a presentation to some of the attendees