MAKO Design + Invent Awarded with the Great Places to Work 2021 Certification

It’s been an incredibly difficult year for all of us. Despite the challenges brought upon by COVID-19, communities, businesses, and individuals continue to persevere. It’s why all of us at MAKO Design + Invent are so proud and honoured to receive the Great Places to Work in Canada 2021 certification.

Our company was featured in The Globe and Mail for ranking 41^st in the “Less than 50 Employees” category. As one of the best Canadian product development companies, we recognize this is a hard-earned award. We achieved this award thanks to the entire team’s dedication, camaraderie, and guts through these trying times.

As we transitioned to remote offices at home, we knew that we had to go above and beyond to keep our spirits up. We started by proving that MAKO Design + Invent is more than a company that cares about the bottom line. We pivoted and provided our world-class product development services to assist healthcare providers.

Near the start of the pandemic, we offered free designs and built essential parts such as mask shield pieces, clips, and respiratory valve components. Last May, we partnered with 3DPPGTHA to provide essential workers and healthcare workers with desperately needed PPE.

We balance these extra product development efforts with plenty of ways to de-stress as a team. Good leaders know a happy workplace is a more productive one. Great Places to Work (GPTW) specifically recognized MAKO for these perks we offer to our employees:

Flexible Workday Hours

Employees can choose two days per week to either start and end their day 1.5 hours later or earlier. 

Beer O’Clock

Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Every Friday at 4:45 PM, you’ll hear the collective hiss of a dozen beers opening simultaneously over a Zoom video call as we celebrate the end of the week. In this Kumbaya-esque meeting, the entire product development team goes around taking turns sharing their achievements of the week while giving virtual props to the team members who helped them out. 

Friday Takeovers

Jeopardy, hangman, bingo, or trivia! Once a month, on a Friday, one lucky employee from our Canadian product development company plans a game for the team. You’ll be surprised at just how competitive some of our people get!

About Great Places to Work

If you’re not familiar with this certification, Great Places to Work (GPTW) offers a robust certification program for Canadian businesses. The results of this program help businesses understand the current state of their workplace culture.

Additionally, business owners use this data to compare how their company compares to the best organizations across the nation. In short, companies that receive this certification are workplaces that treat their employees well, just as the name of this award suggests.

GPTW has over 30 years of experience in culture research and consulting for unparalleled benchmarking data and determining the best practices of other companies in the world. The culmination of the efforts: the Trust Index Survey. This is the key survey GPTW uses to measure and rank the best Canadian companies from coast to coast.

About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!