A simple premise drove Tom Beaty as he launched the management consulting firm Insight Sourcing Group 13 years ago: Create an environment in which he would like to work.
Not just by having employees referred to as team members, but insisting on a collaborative nature that emphasizes we instead of me.
Or not just by allowing consultants to mostly connect from their offices with distant clients rather than dispatch them for long stretches on the road to babysit those businesses. Beaty, the CEO, turns down potential clients who prefer that consultants be onsite for extended periods.
Or not just with the typical contemporary rec room containing Foosball and a dart board, which Insight offers. But miniature golf, whose nine-hole course winds its way throughout the third-floor space in the Norcross headquarters. (The cups were drilled, at Beaty’s direction, when the offices were retrofitted, and scorecards were printed.)
Or not just with year-end bonuses, which other companies might tuck into a paycheck, but ones distributed in memorable fashion. Once, he opened a crumpled bag at a staff meeting and dumped out bunches of large bills clasped together — $1,000 apiece for the 26 employees. More recently, with the payroll having doubled since then, Beaty interrupted a meeting by phoning in with an invitation to Phipps Plaza. There, he awarded all comers with $100 for each year of service, with the requirement that it be spent within two hours on items they normally would not purchase.
Who would not sign up for such perks?
But Insight, a boutique company of 68 that focuses on optimizing procurement-related costs, is not for everyone in its field. A willingness to drop one’s duties to assist a colleague in need is not only encouraged but expected.
“We are really quick to help each other if someone is struggling,” manager Sarah Edwards said.
Even if someone has a personal conflict. She had planned an anniversary dinner with her husband when a project of hers suddenly needed a reboot. A workmate not involved with the assignment told her, “Just go home,” then scooped it up and finished the task late that evening.
“That’s just the nature of our company,” Edwards said. “We’re not competitive in that way.”
Beaty claims to appoint executives by determining if they can make decisions “that are not in their own self-interest.”
Insight does not come by such employees accidentally. Their thorough job screening involves all-day interviews with staff both experienced and new. Beaty acknowledges that matching candidates with the cultural fit is, if anything, overemphasized.
Said Edwards, “We can have somebody who’s the smartest person in the world on paper. But if they aren’t comfortable being around other people or they don’t like to be part of social events … that’s potentially a red flag.”
Introverts need not apply.
“People aren’t shy around here, to be blunt,” said executive vice president Brent Eiland, meaning those at any level. Young’uns are welcome, the average age a mere 32.5 years.
Edwards found just after she first filled her desk drawers that suggestions from anyone were solicited. “Why do they care about my opinion?” she thought. “I barely know what I’m doing yet.”
Last year, a colleague proposed a summer internship program that was considered and rejected, then tweaked into a one-week boot camp for college students. It was well-received.
In fact, employees who do not sound off at meetings might get debited on their performance review. Edwards was compelled to advise one, “Speak up more. Tell us what you think.”
Insight further sets itself apart by the few travel miles racked up by consultants. Many limit their hotel stays to a few days per month, with Beaty’s blessing, provided they can fulfill a client’s expectations from afar. “Life is too short just to work all the time,” he said.
When Eiland bumps into consultants at other firms, he tends to hear, with a tinge of jealousy in their voices, “I don’t see you at the airport anymore.”
The policy has enabled senior vice president Brian Houpt to coach his son’s baseball team, just as Beaty has done with his kids. “There’s an expectation here to be part of your children’s lives,” Houpt said.
As for a spirit of innovation, there is no greater evidence than the desks on the left wing in Insight’s space. The company crafted software to track clients’ spending that proved so effective, a separate technology outfit called SpendHQ was spun off.
From Beaty exercising full disclosure of financials at the quarterly staff meetings to the gifts handed out (the latest: high-end earbuds), it is hardly amazing that annual turnover is minimal.
Edwards was quick to answer whether she could report daily to a more traditional consulting company.
“No, I could not,” said the expectant mother, noting the work-life balance that attracted her to Insight. “I have a lot of respect for the large firms. I just know that’s not a lifestyle I wanted.”
Insight Sourcing Group is the Top Small Workplace in the AJC Top Workplaces 2015 survey. See the next four companies
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