Building Glassdoor for blue collar jobs - Anna Maybank of Breakroom

In today's episode, I speak to Anna Maybank, co-founder of Break Room, a platform with a mission to improve working conditions for low-income jobs by creating transparency, sharing salaries, working conditions, and employee ratings publicly. Break Room has raised more than 7 million dollars in funding from the likes of Pro-founders Capital and North Zone, has about 65,000 members, and more than 600,000 jobs rated on its platform.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• [00:32] Anna’sPersonal Journey
• [03:45] Anna’s Founder’s Journey
• [06:27] How Anna started Break Room (Identifying the biggest problems that need solving)
• [08:40] How Break Room works 
• [10:35] Break Room's Core Business Model
• [11:39] How Break Room is working toward solving the societal divide
• [15:14] Is the treatment of frontline workers improving?
• [17:37] How Break Room is incentivizing companies to make positive shifts in worker pay & job flexibility
• [20:16] Biggest lessons in Anna's journey as a founder
• [23.46] Importance of face-to-face conversations when collecting feedback
• [25:01] Big Room's main role in the recruitment industry
• [27:46] Break Room's 10-year vision

KEY LESSONS & QUOTES

• “We started Break Room from the perspective of ‘What’s the biggest problem we could try to solve?’ Then talked to lots of people who had the problem that we cared about” [06:43]
• “Don't just seek to solve problems that you’ve personally experienced. Go beyond that & listen to others” [08:52]
• “77% of people who use Breakroom tell us that their head office doesn't understand what's going on on the front line; just a reflection of the divide” [13:08]
• "Pay is a huge problem. 70% of those who took our survey say that the cost of living increase is the main factor in them looking for a new job" [13:39]
• "45% of people who use break room report that they get their schedule for work less than a week before they do that work. That makes organizing your life incredibly hard" [14:14]
• “In the future, I want to see us being able to prove that a company with a higher Break Room rating, with data that shows they are a better quality employer, is able to map that to better financial results and better financial outcomes for a company.” [19:33]
• "Better quality jobs result in better business outcomes.” [19:50]
• “Always remember to keep talking to the people who are using your product.” [20:40]
• “Companies need to realize that, the quality of jobs matters for the health of their business.” [26:17]
• “The future will see businesses start to value and measure the impact of the quality of their jobs in terms of improving business performance” [28:01]
• “Break room will be one of the sources of information & data that proves that better quality jobs are not just better for workers, but also for companies.”

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