In the war for talent, company culture reigns supreme. And in the agency world, client service is at the heart of all we do.
At Stratacomm, we believe the right thing to do for our team is also the right thing to do for our clients. It’s simple: take care of our people and they will take care of our clients. Our team and our clients clearly agree.
Our most recent anonymous employee survey confirmed 100% of our team says they are “proud to work at Stratacomm.” At the same time, 94% of our team also agree, “Stratacomm is an inclusive workplace where the diversity of staff is appreciated.” These internal successes come on the heels of our annual client survey that confirms 100% of our clients “would hire Stratacomm again.”
Such industry-leading validation is not achieved by happenstance. Instead, we carefully nurture and fiercely protect our values-based company culture. As we regularly seek to raise the bar, here’s just a snapshot of how we support our people today:
Health & Balance. We place high expectations on our team and in return, we facilitate a healthy work-life balance. This includes an open vacation policy with regular resourcing meetings to ensure nobody gets overloaded. We also discourage non-urgent emails outside of traditional working hours.
Maximum Flexibility With Personal Accountability. Our “Work from Anywhere” policy lets employees flex their days to work early, work late or take breaks midday – in any location of their choosing – so long as their responsibilities are met. While we maintain modern offices in DC and Detroit, we encourage collaboration but don’t mandate a return to onsite work.
Competitive, Transparent Salary Bands. We invested in a consultant and in proprietary salary data from our industry’s leading trade associations to establish and share data-driven salary bands with employees. Data is reviewed annually to ensure competitiveness and equity.
Continuous Professional Development. We launched a new performance management system to improve goal setting, facilitate more regular and thoughtful feedback, and streamline the annual review process. We are about to launch a new learning management system with robust training offerings. We even cover the cost of any book or audiobook someone says will help them grow professionally – no strings attached.
Top Benefits. We offer highly competitive health, life and 401k benefits packages, parental leave, flexible spending accounts, a monthly mobile phone stipend, a home office stipend, and more. We also offer one-on-one retirement planning available through our partners at RBC.
Fun. It’s one of our company values because working at Stratacomm should be enjoyable. This past year we invested in the opportunity for everyone across the agency (in DC + 15 states) to travel to a holiday party to meet and celebrate with colleagues. Our team organically created “virtual study halls” so people can work independently via video meetings as if they were in the same room with background music and small talk. They also organized and host a regular book club, and our Teams platform replicates in-person water cooler talk on topics like sports, recipes, movies, fitness, pets, music and more.
All the above said, culture is not about a fixed moment in time. It’s part of an evolving process, takes regular care and feeding, and, in our case, is fueled by an incredible Stratacomm team. Watch this space to see where we go next together.
John F. Fitzpatrick co-manages Stratacomm, an integrated communications agency with deep expertise in transportation, new mobility, energy and sustainability. Among other client-facing and internal roles, his area of responsibility includes the agency’s People & Culture Department.