CRGs Chime In: Driving product change with preferred names

It took Gwen Gilkey (she/her/hers) six applications to change her name on her passport and over a year to have it reflected on all of her legal documents. “I’m intimately familiar with the reality of the name on your documents not matching who you really are,” says Gwen. “It’s why I’ve worked with OutChime and folks in the product and engineering organizations at Chime to make preferred names easier to set for our members.”

Chime Resource Groups driving product changes

Gwen is a member and pillar lead of the OutChime Chime Resource Group (CRG). Two years ago, we adapted the structure of all CRGs to include 2 co-leads and multiple program areas where Chimers could focus on a specific area. When we announced the new structure, Gwen Chimed In that she wanted to make Chime, the product, a more inclusive product by leading the Business Partnerships pillar for OutChime.

“OutChime has existed for over three years now, and I’ve always been involved,” she says. “But it started out as a more social organization — which is often true of CRGs as they find their feet and get established at Chime. Some CRGs exist as support groups, but as we’ve grown, CRGs have been invited to the table to discuss work that impacts our processes, products, and the broader community.”

At Chime, we’ve worked hard to foster an environment that empowers CRGs to drive change, even though it’s not always related to a company’s objectives and key results (OKRs). What’s more, this year, we decided to pay Chimers who lead ERGs — we believe it’s important work that is on top of Chimers’ daily jobs.

For Gwen, raising her hand to lead the Business Partnership pillar meant driving changes on the product side at Chime — from OutChime’s perspective. “Though the work we are pushing forward isn’t OKR-based, it is supported by leadership at all levels,” she explains. “That’s because it’s work that will help us become a better company and be more inclusive to our employees and members.”

Ryan King, our CTO, has been a huge proponent of OutChime’s product work, providing guidance around changes and lending his voice to promote and encourage involvement in the work. “The way he’s helped OutChime is very subtle but also very powerful,” Gwen says. “He truly believes that ERGs should be empowered to see problem areas and fix them, and he supports us in doing so.”

Why these product changes matter — not just for Chimers, but members too

The changes OutChime (and all CRGs) drive are important because our mission is to help people improve their financial lives, and to do that, we must do it for everyone. “As a trans woman, I know that if, every time I looked at my checking or savings balance, I saw a name that disgusted me, then I wouldn’t use the account or financial products as much,” she says. “By making Chime more inclusive of trans people, we’re helping them feel more comfortable using our products. That’s huge, because they are likely to benefit hugely from using Chime.”

“Financial services have closed the door to so many, so any way we can overturn that mold is going to help Chime help our members and achieve our mission,” she says. “As CRGs, part of our mandate is to find ways to be as inclusive as possible, both at work and in our product and services — preferred names is just one way we can do that.”

Driving change — even when it’s not on the roadmap

Gwen led the charge on adding preferred names to Chime’s app and member services so that members can decide which name they’d like to see displayed when they open Chime or when they contact our member services team.

“This work is completely different from what I do in my day-to-day,” she says. “It’s ultimately product management for product changes our CRG wants to see.” In doing this work, Gwen has discovered how important relationship building and collaboration are.

Once OutChime’s Business Partnership pillar decides on the change they’d like to see, the first step is to share the changes with the product lead for that area of Chime. “We’ll let them know what we’re trying to accomplish and get their buy-in and support to identify the people we should partner with,” she says. “If we need extra traction or help connecting with the right people, that’s when leaning on leaders is helpful.”

And though the work OutChime and other CRGs focus on takes longer than dedicated OKR-driven projects, they’re still important to Chime, Chimers, and our members. “At first, many will ask how a project like Preferred Names fits into their roadmap or prioritization, but we always get this work done because Chimers understand the impact it has on our members,” she says.

For those working to drive product changes from an ERG standpoint, Gwen has some advice:

• Keep an open mind, listen to people, and see if you can do work to address the things they bring up.
• If you worry about prioritization, work that’s important but not on the roadmap will never get done. Know that some of this work takes longer, but with buy-in from leadership and a dedicated team, you can take it across the finish line.

“In the long term, I believe this work will become part of Chime’s OKRs. Until then, I’ll continue to work with our CRGs and product teams to make sure it’s still a priority — because, ultimately, it matters to Chimers and our members.”

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