How we work

We work differently and we’re proud of it. Our teams are empowered to solve the most urgent and relevant problems they see for our customers.

We all share the responsibility of making Wise a success. We empower Wisers to make decisions and take ownership of how they work best. Teams and individuals have different needs – that’s why we have company-wide principles, and then our teams set their own guidelines.

Two employees speaking in the office

We work in empowered teams

Empowered teams are central to the way we work. In our product and engineering teams for example you’re a key part of your team, coordinating your vision alongside product managers, engineers, analysts, designers, legal specialists and operational teams  — to name a few. Helping to decide what to prioritise and deliver. Working this way helps us move at speed and achieve our mission faster. 

Where as in customer support you’ll have the trust to solve complex problems, as we’re working smarter to address customer issues the most effective way. No matter your team everyone has a lead who supports them, and teams collaborate, so there’s always someone to talk things through with and tackle challenges.

People working in the office
A team working together on a project

We put our customers first

We’re working to create a fairer financial system for real people. So we make sure customer voices are the loudest in the room. Whether that’s working through feedback, inviting customers to test our product, or having them talk us through how we’re doing. We listen and we serve — no egos, no exceptions. 

Each team’s success is defined by the positive impact they’ve made for our customers, and each team has KPIs (key performance indicators) that let them know how well they’re doing. We should all be able to stand up in front of our company and explain how our work helps our customers. 

A team member working

We get better through feedback

Feedback is a good thing. Our teams get it early and they get it often. Anyone, in any team, can challenge anyone else’s ideas. You can even challenge the CEO. In fact, he’d welcome it. Our teams gain focus from working this way, it helps us move fast and recognise when we need to shift direction. And we all work hard to give genuine, direct, and respectful feedback to the teams around us.

Two people working together in the office
Two people working side by side

We learn as we grow

Our growth over the past few years has been fast. Very fast! Last year we almost doubled in size. Which means that half of our people have been with us less than a year. 

Fast growth brings challenges and we have our growing pains. Teams are working on so many different things at once, it can be hard to keep up with everything that’s going on. 

But we listen to each other, get stuck in and do whatever it takes to make the best working environment we can for everyone.

Two people presenting at a whiteboard
Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus during TechCrunch Disrupt London 2015
"Not trying is a sin, failing is not. Encourage yourself and others to try!"
Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder