Why I Joined Digit
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” — Annie Dillard
What a beautiful, simplistic truth. But also, what a scary thought given that ⅓ of our lives are spent at work. We often spend more time at work (~90,000 hours) than we spend with our loved ones. However, 87% of Americans have no passion for their jobs, and 80% of American workers are dissatisfied with their jobs. How we spend our days matters. That’s why I made the decision to join the incredible team at Digit to build their People function.
When making my decision to join any company, I ask myself the following questions:
- Do I want to follow the leader?
- Am I inspired by the mission?
- Does this organization have a commitment to diversity and belonging? Can I bring my whole self to work?
Digit checked each and every one of these boxes. I want to tell you how.
Do I want to follow the leader?
In starting Digit, our Founder and CEO, Ethan Bloch, saw a human crisis and set out to fix it: 180 million Americans lack financial health. Let’s face it, managing personal finances is hard. Ethan started Digit to make it easier. His commitment to improving the financial lives of millions of Americans, coupled with his emotional intelligence and drive to create a world class culture, inspires me on a daily basis. I feel honored to join his leadership team. [Yes, I would follow him. ✅]
Am I inspired by the mission?
Digit’s mission is to make financial health effortless for everyone. Chances are, at some point in your life you have experienced some level of financial stress or know someone who has. 72% of Americans are financially vulnerable, 66% would struggle to come up with $1,000 in the event of an emergency, and 56% spend as much or more than they earn. National credit card debt is at a record high of over $1 trillion. Digit exists to help fix this crisis.
Digit allows people to save money without thinking about it. In fact, the average user saves $2,500 per year, money s/he can put towards specific savings goals such as tuition, vacation, an emergency fund, or even to directly pay down credit card debt.
Lack of financial health is a debilitating barrier. A barrier to a quality education, healthcare, housing, or just a better standard of living. I couldn’t be more proud to join the journey to eliminate this barrier and make financial health effortless for everyone. [Unequivocally, yes, I am inspired by the mission. ✅]
Does Digit have a commitment to diversity and belonging?
As a People leader, and an openly LGBT woman, a commitment to diversity and belonging (D+B) is a non-negotiable for me when choosing where to spend my days. Luckily, one of the things that impressed me most during my interview process was Digit’s early focus on diversity.
Even before I joined, this topic was top of mind for everyone at Digit. I was asked about D+B in every interview. I was told that I would be able to build an intentional D+B program. Still, I was skeptical. Too often, companies talk about diversity and belonging (or inclusion) as lip service. But then I saw it. Could it be? There were diversity metrics in Digit’s 2019 OKRs! [Ok, check. ✅]
We are committed to fostering an empowering, welcoming, and diverse Digit. We firmly believe that diversity and belonging is one of the ways we will achieve our mission. When our employees feel like they can bring their whole selves to work, when they feel equally seen, heard and valued, regardless of their race or ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, citizenship, or any other identifying characteristic, we are one step closer to creating an environment for our employees to do the best work of their lives. We are one step closer to making financial health effortless for everyone.
I couldn’t be more excited about joining Digit, and neither could our new VP of Engineering, Karthik Hariharan. Come join us, we’re hiring!
Carolyn Satenberg
Head of People @ Digit
