COURTESY OF BENCH 34 BCBUSINESS JULY/AUGUST 2017
T
he Danish word "hygge," dened by the
Oxford Dictionaries as "a quality of cosi-
ness and comfortable conviviality that
engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being,"
made that institution's Word of the Year shortlist
in 2016. It inspired a small library of new books on
cooking and home decor as well as a database of
articles exploring why the Western world became
obsessed with cardamom buns and sheepskin
rugs. (Were we sheltering ourselves from the dread
of the next U.S. president? Expressing the personal
fear and isolation that Brexit wrote large?)
So it's not surprising that Bench Accounting,
a fast-growing ve-year-old Vancouver startup
recently ranked as one of the country's best work-
places for new university grads, is demonstrating
that fashionable impulse to snuggle up. Its new
55,000-square-foot oŽce, occupying three 'oors
of Telus Garden facing Robson Street, makes bold
statements with concrete 'oors and exposed ducts
and piping, tempered with domestic touches like
replaces and quilted cushions.
"What if you had a living room that could t
your whole company?" asks Evan Birch, a Bench
accountant who worked with Perkins+Will Canada
Architects on the design. "We're a very mobile
workforce, a lot of people work from home, and we
wanted to make that as low-friction as that transi-
tion can be, as comfortable as a workplace can be."
The bookkeeping software company, co-
founded by Vancouverites Ian Crosby, Jordan
Menashy and Adam Saint, as well as Russian expat
Pavel Rodionov, has occupied four oŽce spaces
since moving to Vancouver from New York in 2013.
Now employing 250, Bench recently joined
forces with e-commerce giant Shopify, which
ožers Bench services to U.S. merchants through
its own app store. Those accomplishments, likely
as much as the sectional couch, are bringing the
company a feeling of contentment. But in its comfy
new digs, Bench has lots of room to grow. "It's kind
of like, you go from your college dorm to your rst
real apartment, to leasing a space," Birch says.
"And now it's like, 'We bought a house, guys!'"
Pull Up a Chair
Lounge areas have
residential-style
seating, lowered
ceilings and
houseplants
OFFICE SPACE
Calculating
Comfort
After outgrowing several other spaces
here and abroad, bookkeeping
software company Bench finds a
permanent home
by Marcie Good
