We’ve spent years implementing HR technology to fix workplace problems that technology was never going to fix. Calli Bakken built a career inside that system, watched it fail, and came out the other side with a different answer: if you want employees to show up fully, start by solving the problems they carry through the door.
After 15 years in HR, HR tech, and an employee engagement startup, Calli Bakken reached a conclusion most organizations aren’t ready to hear: companies had the data on what their people needed, and they chose not to act on it. No platform closes that gap. The will of leadership does.
That realization, combined with becoming a parent in early 2020 and navigating a broken childcare system firsthand, led her to found Wiggle Work. Her model helps mid-size employers (200 to 1,000 people) build community-integrated childcare that is financially sustainable, trust-building, and designed for the way families actually live. In this episode, Calli and Kim Bohr explore what it costs organizations to keep treating childcare as someone else’s problem, and what becomes possible when they don’t.
About Calli Bakken
Calli Bakken is the founder of Wiggle Work, a consulting company mobilizing workplace childcare as a strategic workforce solution, and the Interim Executive Director of Matthew’s Voice Project, a nonprofit supporting students experiencing homelessness. She is also the co-host of the Work Sucks podcast.
