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We recently won the Ad Age Best Places to Work Award for the first time. After the shock, surprise, and overzealous company celebrations, it got me thinking: How the hell did this happen? Looking back, it wasn’t a coincidence.
This award means so much to us because, unlike awards for creatives, it comes directly from employees. To even be considered for the award (we were in the 200 employee or less category), over 75% of people must rate their satisfaction with pay, benefits, culture and leadership as extremely high. For me, the victory left no doubt that the people who walk through the halls with us every day feel satisfied and fulfilled.
As I reflected on our success, I realized this was a bright spot from COVID. Back then, we asked people what help they needed to get through the pandemic and then gave them concrete support. But what we did next may be why we rose from the top 25 in the previous two years to first place in 2024: As we emerged from the pandemic, we kept asking questions, we kept listening , and we’ve been doing that ever since.
Related: Is Your Leadership Team Letting Your Employees Down?
1. Set up listening mechanisms
The lessons from this experience are worth sharing, not only because of the productivity gains of an engaged workforce, but also because we hug these people when they’re having a tough day – we care about them. After evaluating the three to five things that were most important to our employees, we ultimately awarded grants to set up home offices and fully covered mental health care. We also asked people about when they would like to return to the office and what form that should take – hybrid or fully remote.
We wanted the involvement of our employees because they were the ones who had to live the solution. For us as business owners, it was a simple equation to assess whether we could afford the costs involved: Is it more expensive to care for the people who work for us now or to replace them later? There are demanding and low costs for training and recruiting, as well as delays when work is moved while someone is replaced. To be honest, the decision was easy for us: we did what we could to make her happy.
When leaders put mechanisms in place to find out what employees need, employees feel invested in the outcome. We have since revised our parental leave policy so that birth mothers have 12 weeks and birth fathers have six weeks; We now cover adoption fees and also provide vacation to adoptive parents. Now we regularly ask questions that focus on people. The goal is to foster a culture in which both employees and employers pay attention to each other’s needs.
Related: How listening can help you build a culture of trust in your company
2. Align communication and action
COVID was a big wake-up call, especially for larger companies, as employers couldn’t expect one-sided loyalty. Culture is a much more important indicator of turnover than compensation. Therefore, employees need to feel heard and managers need to explain the thinking behind their decisions. Employees appreciate managers who listen and act objectively and not just performatively.
Of course, leaders’ actions won’t make everyone happy. So when you take steps to implement an initiative, be clear about the intent behind it – the benefits. We also found that people need to be reminded of how the company helps them (“don’t forget to use x”) because they aren’t always top of mind.
Our controller, Marla, keeps a running list of everything we do for employees large and small. If it’s important enough to implement, it’s important enough to record. But that’s not the end of it. The other important part of engagement is maintaining an open line of communication and feedback.
3. When in doubt, state your intention
As a manager, don’t view employees raising problems as “chirping” – these issues are important to them. However, we need to strike a balance between taking their concerns into account and avoiding a culture of complaint. You need to know when you’ve heard enough about the same issue to escalate it and take action.
We also need to make sure we are truly communicating and not just disseminating information. To this end, we have put our leadership group through training focused on understanding personality and communication styles and how people absorb and interpret information differently.
I’m a perfect example: I’m a creative person at heart and tend to be very spontaneous and feed off my audience. But we have managers who process information in a very logical and process-oriented manner. In the past, these different styles could lead to misunderstandings and even conflict. The key is to get into the habit of stating the intent behind your communication at the start of meetings.
When a manager says upfront: “I want to share my experiences and not be critical,” it defuses what could be interpreted as reserved criticism. This process allows people to give and receive grace for their communication. Therefore, if in doubt, state your intention. As we have evolved this type of transparent leadership over time, we now enjoy the open, vibrant workplace culture it has created.
Related: How to Build a Company Culture That Retains Loyal Employees
Balancing the employer-employee relationship
The dynamics between employers and employees have changed frequently since COVID. Still, hopefully we’ll get to a point where people can find fulfillment at work while also providing companies with the resources they need. We’ve seen that many people who prefer remote or contract work are starting to miss the in-person camaraderie and unscheduled moments that help us learn and get better. The irony is that the challenges of the pandemic made it easier to create an even better environment for this. In our experience, when companies listen carefully and find the right balance for both sides, the rewards will pay off.