A friend recently posted about his staffing troubles.
My response
Company culture is what will keep a team together, not a big paycheck or prestigious work. You’d be surprised how little people are willing to get paid when the culture is right. (just saying) Millennials in particular give no fucks about the money if they hate their job. A few questions I’m always asking myself:
We will sometimes take full days off to go to the beach, the museum, Science Center, etc. As a business owner, you know exactly how much $ of productive work-time that costs! But alas, this is what keeps people together, and I’d argue, helps them be more productive. We’ve dedicated a full blog on just our Friday activities.
We call it: Friducation.com
We have parties, go to concerts, make lunch together, play video games, and more. Can people on my team get paid more at larger agencies? Most likely. Will they be happier? I highly doubt it. My team’s happiness is a major priority to me.
Love is a four letter word: T I M E
Everyone on my team writes weekly logs that’s shared with me. I invest a ton of time getting to know them both personally and professionally. What their goals, aspirations, dreams, and desires are. And I’m constantly asking myself, how can I help the people in our family get closer to what they actually want. Which let’s be honest, is not more client work.
How we hire
With regards to hiring, candidates don’t get a phone interview (let alone an in-person interview) until they successfully get through three questionnaires. These questionnaires are pretty intense. We ask all types of questions, some work related, some philosophical. I don’t want to waste my time on a dud, or worse, hire a dud and have my team infected with dudiness virus. That said, I can only evaluate a potential hire based on the merits of our culture. Again, culture is the key here. We have a shit-load of documentation going into the finest detail of who we are as a people, and what we represent. We’re unapologetically raw about this. It freaks people out. Both clients and public. But those who get it, stay for the long haul. Here’s an abbreviated version of what we rep: PixelDreams.com/about/At-The-Core/
