How It Began

Since 2008, The Shorty Awards has focused on spotlighting creators, brands, agencies, and nonprofits that create and publish engaging and purposeful content across digital and social media. They have two annual award categories, including the Shortys, which celebrates work across brands, agencies, and nonprofits, and the Shorty Impact Awards, which focuses on highlighting purpose-driven work that drives social change. 

With a small team and a busy schedule preparing for and running two awards programs, the Shorty Awards needed a reliable partner they could turn to streamline running HR, payroll, compliance, and access to benefits. They found that in Justworks PEO.

An Intuitive Platform 

When Junmian Sun, Managing Director of the Shorty Awards, joined the company, she was impressed with the onboarding process through Justworks. She recalled, “I remember thinking that the name of the company could not be more perfect and that it just works.” 

She continues to be impressed with how easy the experience is, from her experience as an admin and manager. Junmian said it’s one less tool she has to worry about. She added, “The less you have to think about it, the less you even notice you’re using it. It’s a testament to the success of the tool.”  

Junmian has a background in UX and system design, and from that perspective, she was impressed with the simplicity and modern design of the interface. She noted, “I think it fits our size. Because we’re a lean and entrepreneurial team, it allows our team to be much more nimble and move a lot faster.” 

Constant Innovation

In her role, Junmian is constantly looking for ways to use fewer tools that can do more so data can be easily accessed in one place. She turned to her Justworks account manager to see if they had any expense management tools within the Justworks PEO platform. At the time, Justworks’ expense management tool was still in the development process. Because the Shorty Awards expressed early interest, they were able to sign up and use the beta version. Junmian said, “Overall, having these tools [like Expenses] in one place helps us with productivity and operational efficiency.” She added, “You don’t have to be switching channels all the time, which is really helpful.” 

Beyond consolidating tools, Junmian also expressed that she likes the fact that Justworks is constantly innovating and improving its product offerings and features. She also appreciates how quickly things on the product roadmap are implemented. She shared, “I think the speed of go-to-market with some of these things that are needed is great.”

Reliable, Impressive Support

One of the highlights of working with Justworks has been the quality of support. Junmian shared, “The customer service team has been really proactive and helpful. They always follow up and check if we have questions.” 

With Justworks’ 24/7 support, she can always trust that she’ll be able to get answers when she needs them (and quickly too). Junmian added, “They always respond in a timely manner, especially when you think of how complex HR, finance, and all these things are. You can always expect to have a professional answer that will put you at ease.”