By Mike Tierney
For the AJC
The heads of the three companies recognized as metro Atlanta’s top workplaces — Steve Wagner of Virtual Properties Realty, Mike Pitcher of LeasePlan and Adam Blitzer of Pardot at ExactTarget — field questions on various topics ranging from communication and employee training to gearing up for a brighter economy.
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Q. What steps do you take to communicate with your employees in order to maintain an effective workplace?
Wagner: We have advanced web-based communication platforms. Our key staff members operate under an open-door policy. We have monthly office meetings and staff members typically hang around up to an hour after the meeting to answer questions. We also have at least one social/networking event a month.
Pitcher: We have quarterly "town hall" meetings. It gives me and the rest of the executive management team an opportunity to get in front of the employees with updates. They are an open forum for employees to ask questions about anything. Our CFO sends out monthly updates on performance. We have a monthly internal employee newsletter. Just to change it up sometimes, we will blast voice mail messages to all team members. We have an intranet site where we post information across the business for all employees to access.
Blitzer: While employees are welcome to telecommute whenever they wish, we do encourage everyone to be in the office on Mondays for our company-wide meeting. We cover important news and address any questions from employees in an open Q&A-style format. If anyone has questions that they'd prefer to bring to me privately, my door is always open (literally). Individual teams take part in daily check-ins, lasting 10 minutes or less, in which they sync up on priorities for the day and make sure to address any roadblocks to success.
Q. What specific challenge or two in your workplace have come up in recent years and how have you dealt with them?
Wagner: The real estate industry seems to constantly be changing. One moment, there can be enormous demand for a certain type of service, skill or expertise. Almost overnight, that demand might dry up, only to be replaced by something else. Trying to get our employees/agents to understand what is going on and make the appropriate adjustments can be a challenge.
Pitcher: My two biggest fears are complacency and disconnecting. We have done so well over the past five years, financially and with client and employee satisfaction. We continually look to raise the bar and keep programs fresh and new. In terms of goals, it's hard to stay at that high level. We have to avoid becoming disconnected with our employees, with everyone so busy. The challenge is to maintain our record-high employee engagement.
Blitzer: One of the biggest challenges we've had is maintaining a disciplined hiring strategy that can keep up with our company growth. While it can often be tempting to hire anyone who can get the job done, we've managed to remain focused on hiring candidates who will add to our unique company culture, not detract from it. We want employees who are self-starting, positive, supportive and in it for the long haul.
Q. How important is employee training to the company’s success?
Wagner: All positions receive continuous training. The fact that we created our own in-house licensed real estate school demonstrates our commitment to training. We provide free continuing education training to agents.
Pitcher: Everyone is offered training and we encourage 40 hours per year. No stick, all carrot. We try to make it easy with a variety of formats: online learning, audio books and face-to-face. We just introduced "Ted Talk Tuesdays," which offers 15 minutes of training during lunch.
Blitzer: All of our new employees receive customized position-based training when they begin. Last year, we added a new across-the-board training program to acquaint all new hires with our company culture and our product, which means that we now have a full-time staff member dedicated to ongoing employee training.
Q. What have you tried that might be considered out-of-the-box with the goal of establishing or enhancing your workplace as desirable?
Wagner: We go all out with respect to our events. Our annual December holiday party is perceived as being extravagant within our industry; it is free our staff and agents as well as a guest. We also hold monthly "agent mixers" that are designed to be fun. We take our employees on an annual weekend vacation/retreat.
Pitcher: We provide a huge amount of extracurricular activities, with athletic options and philanthropic opportunities. We have a Fun at Work Committee that organizes Goofy Golf, Friday afternoon football tailgate parties and cookouts where management cooks for all employees. We sponsor events such as health fairs and weight-loss competitions with an emphasis on changing lifestyles.
Blitzer: We've tried a lot of things: Ping-Pong tables, free catered breakfast every morning, flexible telecommuting and free massages, just to name a few. We've found that these unconventional employee perks have helped to bring in some of the top talent in our field, so we won't be doing away with them anytime soon.
Q. How has the weak economy of recent years hurt or helped you to become a desirable workplace?
Wagner: We have made substantial adjustments in our company structure to help our agents and staff save on industry-related expenses. We have added training specific to taking advantage of the new opportunities that are present in this new economy.
Pitcher: The weak economy helped since we had to pull together through the lean times in order to achieve the growth we are seeing now. Honesty and openness helped us create a team environment. We challenged team members to become more efficient and productive in their roles, and they responded positively. We invested in technology and lean process initiatives, and both are starting to pay dividends.
Blitzer: We have been fortunate enough to still be successful despite the weak economy. While many companies have been forced to downsize in recent years, we were able to keep growing — at a rapid pace. The fact that we were still growing while other companies were doing the opposite helped us to become a more desirable workplace in the eyes of job seekers.
Q. What is on your plate that might help the company repeat as a top workplace?
Wagner: Offering a compensation structure — profit sharing — to our agents. This will reward our agents and help us to retain them and attract new agents.
Pitcher: We are constantly looking at new channels and opportunities to grow our business that would, in turn, create new opportunities for our employees. We are also looking at our workspace.
Blitzer: In October, we became a part of ExactTarget. Being part of a larger organization means that our team has infinitely more opportunities to advance their career across the ExactTarget family. Oh, and we finally repaired our miniature motorized scooter.
