How Wealthsimple’s switch to Notion simplified org-wide alignment with a wealth of shared knowledge

Industry studies show that employees waste a staggering average of 9.3 hours per week just trying to locate the information they need to do their jobs in an average of 4 different tools.

It’s a scenario that was becoming all too common at Wealthsimple. "When we ran our pulse survey, nearly 70% of users found it difficult to find data across our various systems," says Anne Steptoe, VP of Platform Engineering at Wealthsimple.

The company's rapid growth had outpaced its ability to organize and share information effectively, and it became clear that Wealthsimple needed a better way to manage its most valuable asset: its collective knowledge.

Imagine a bustling library where every book contains a fragment of your company's collective wisdom. This is how Kathleen Cauley, a former librarian herself, who now leads Knowledge Management at Wealthsimple envisioned the company’s solution. Just as a well-organized library enables visitors to quickly locate the information they need, Kathleen's goal was to create a digital "library" for all of Wealthsimple’s knowledge. Drawing from her background as a librarian, Kathleen understood that effective knowledge management goes beyond just implementing a new tool.

"Knowledge management is about people, process, and technology," Kathleen explains. "It's not just about having a place to store information, but creating a system that makes it easy for anyone to find, use, and contribute to our collective knowledge."

Creating that system required a thoughtful change management strategy that Kathleen says starts as soon as you start assessing tools, bringing your team along for the ride from evaluation to trial to see how they’re using each tool. “Our pilot group really loved the user experience in Notion,” she says. “The interface is sleek and easy-to-use. Plus we can use databases in so many different ways, from project management and planning to syncing content across different tools with Notion’s API and integrations.”

Building on the success of "employee products" in Notion, the next stage of the rollout focused on Wealthsimple's business products. With product development spanning multiple specialized tools, the Product team was eager to centralize planning in one shared space where all these tools could be embedded.

"Before, we had a mishmash of docs, decks, and spreadsheets floating around that only offered snapshots or links to work happening in function-specific tools like Jira and Figma," says Nicole Chiavacci of Wealthsimple's Product team. "Now, we're making more consistent and informed decisions faster because everything is connected and accessible to everyone in our Notion workspace."

The team now develops roadmaps and sets strategic direction for products in alignment with company goals, all centralized in Notion. This approach soon expanded, with every team's planning, OKRs, and work streams connecting to these same company-wide priorities.

Inspired by the examples the People and Product teams set using Notion, other teams across Wealthsimple were completing trainings Kathleen had set up so they could gain editor access to start contributing their specialized knowledge and team plans. Teams that once operated in silos now find themselves interconnected, with a clear line of sight to company-wide objectives.

By bringing company planning and product roadmaps into Notion, Wealthsimple wasn't just sharing information—they were creating a living, breathing ecosystem where every employee could see, understand, and contribute to the company's direction.

The impact of this alignment was reflected in Wealthsimple's pulse surveys, which showed a marked improvement in employee understanding of company goals and their role in achieving them. Usage of Notion skyrocketed, with employees spending less time searching for information and more time contributing to the company's mission.