By Mike Tierney

For the AJC

Strolling through the lobby of an elegant Buckhead office tower, amid the suits and the skirts, was a backpacked 20-something in shorts, sweatshirt and Crocs.

Anyone familiar with the building’s tenants had little doubt where the young man was headed: to the 34th floor, reporting for duty at the funky marketing automation software provider. A loose, playful atmosphere prevails there, though enough gets done that the company’s growth chart resembles a home run ball’s flight off the bat of Jason Heyward.

Since Pardot (par-DOT) was named metro Atlanta’s top workplace last year for small companies (150 employees or fewer), it has undergone a name change, bade farewell to the CEO/co-founder and been acquired by a public firm with a global reach.

Yet, employees engaged in Workplace Dynamics’ survey, conducted soon after the upheaval, responded with enough upturned thumbs for the newly christened "Pardot, an ExactTarget Company" to repeat as leader of its division.

For some, the weeks preceding the acquisition last October were filled with consternation — not only over job security but whether a culture noted for benefits and perks to die for, along with an inviting workplace atmosphere typified by folks on small in-house scooters, was in jeopardy.

Adam Blitzer, who birthed Pardot with former college classmate David Cummings, regarded the ambiance as sacred and sought assurances from ExactTarget, based in Indianapolis, that it be retained.

Blitzer was put at ease when the company’s CEO, on an office tour, came upon one of the many reasons the happy faces abound: a full-time massage therapist. A half-year later, the masseuse remains, as does the pingpong room, free breakfasts and plentiful snacks, wackily appointed work stations, a telescope, exercise balls … and scooters.

(The pinball machine in the lobby? Gone, through no fault of Pardot. A co-tenant that cleared out took it, though Biltzer nonetheless approved the purchase of a Foosball table.)

“People ask, ‘When do you ever get work done?’ ” said channel manager Chris Heiden, 27, who came aboard in the early days.

Blitzer and Cummings, who departed with the sale to ExactTarget, came up with a daring hiring formula at launch in 2007. Themselves in their 20s, they focused on age-group peers barely out of college, with wide eyes and slender resumes. The checklist: self-starter, energetic, positive, team-oriented, supportive of others. If those criteria were met and the job vacancy was not an ideal match, the candidate might get brought on anyway.

“Everybody here gets along great,” Heiden said. “There is an open-door policy to go and talk about anything,”

Seeking advice? Momentarily juggling too many balls and need to briefly offload one or two? Just ask, according to Heiden.

“Nobody says, ‘That’s not my job, I can’t do it.”

Though Heiden takes advantage of the liberal telecommute policy, operating out of his Peachtree City home three or four days per week, fellow Pardot veteran Mathew Sweezey, 30, reports daily. “It is so creative here,” said Sweezey, who connects so well with colleagues that he had just returned from a weekend snowboarding getaway with five of them.

Attendance at weekly Monday meetings is encouraged, and the turnout spills out of the compact room into a lounge area. Jeans and untucked shirttails are the norm. Presiding, the blue-jeaned Blizter calls the session to order, saying, “Oh, cool.”

New hires, introduced to applause, are required to reveal their nickname. An agenda highlight is the awarding of the Pundies, a play on the Dundies from the television sit-com “The Office,” worth $100 in recognition of above-and-beyond effort.

Afterward, the staff digs into a sushi lunch, on the house. Many carry plates back into the room for the periodic noontime multi-media seminar, this time on the history of heavy metal music. (Others squeeze around a television in an office to continue regular viewings of old “MacGyver” episodes.)

More formal continuing education is available through full tuition reimbursement to employees. Pre-acquisition, grad school fees were partly covered by the company, one of numerous popular perks. “If anything,” said Heiden, who had feared a cutback, “it’s gotten better.”

OK, the free car washes and monthly house-cleanings are history. Replacing them are the more traditional bonuses and stock options, plus “wellness bucks,” $105 per quarter to be spent on health and fitness activities. Heiden applies his to triathlon expenses.

The most prominent eliminated perk is the no-track vacation, whereby employees determined their own uncapped holiday schedule. Perhaps the best measure of Pardot as a welcome workplace was negligible abuse of the unusual format, and some workers expect to take more time off under ExactTarget’s more conventional vacation practices.

When Joni McSorley joined last year as a recruiter for the services team and learned of the myriad extras, she thought, “Surely this isn’t real. What’s the catch?”

Still, McSorley, 24, is most appreciative of the work-play balance and lack of micromanagement. “I’ve had to learn not to take it all for granted,” she said.

The company’s irreverent tone is reflected in Sweezey’s preferred and accepted job title of “evangelist,” though his file goes with director of marketing, research and education. He observed, with evangelical fervor, “If you take away all the perks, you are left with people at the top who have good ideas and give you all the emotional support you need.”

Though Pardot must now answer to a parent company, “We still have a lot of fun,” Sweezey said. “And a lot more resources at our disposal.”

The most noticeable change is the office color scheme. Pardot was partial to blue, and Blitzer had ordered up new coats of paint for the walls, joking that some were bruised from overexuberant scooter riders. ExactTarget’s orange now rules.

A potential downside of Pardot’s success is recruiters swooping in, trying lure employees to rival firms. However, Blitzer could recall only two in the past year voluntarily bolting even as the staff doubled to about 120, upping the all-time count of defections to three.

“Providing the best possible work environment is our only defense,” he said, disclosing Pardot’s winning strategy — two years running.