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At Advertise Purple, we have free lunches every Wednesday. We have numerous happy hours celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and the like. We have great health insurance and a great 401k offering. We have unlimited paid time off. We got snacks! The list can literally go on and on… and on.
But I’d argue that by far the most important perk we offer is the empowerment we offer our employees – particularly employees who are young and looking to take the next leap in their careers.
From allowing managers to adopt their own leadership styles to encouraging employees to pursue Google Analytics training, project management training, public speaking courses such as Toastmasters and even Masters degrees, putting your employees’ success in the same conversation as company success is immeasurably commendable, and it’s exactly what we do at Ad Purp.
If a great idea comes from someone junior, leadership doesn’t innately question it. I personally have seen countless initiatives put into practice that were products of spitballing off the bat, but ended up landing and being a success. I’ve seen employees flown out to Paris to attend a conference and be able to check “international business trip” off their bucket list.
And most importantly, I’ve seen an organization that doesn’t merely say it cares about its employees, but I’ve seen a company that takes matters into its own hands to hire from within and grow a team from within. No “superstar” hires that shake everything up and disrupt the office culture.
It starts with hiring. It’s kind of difficult to describe what it takes to work at Advertise Purple, but somehow some way everyone that walks in to the office for the first time may start out a little green and in need of some support, but without fail they all become true Ad Purple People (can we make that a thing?)
This is the only company I’ve worked at where everyone hangs out outside of work, everyone is kind and respectful towards one another, and even all of the dogs can coexist successfully (most of the time).
I think we’re all secretly pinching ourselves every 5-10 minutes wondering if we truly found a place that wants us to grow in and outside of the business, a company that’s literally been listed twice as one of the country’s “Fastest Growing Companies” by Inc the past two years, and is on the cutting edge of marketing, making big bold bets that for the most part pay off ten-fold.
We’re also put into a position where we’re never not learning. While there’s a bit of healthy competition in the office, skills and expertise are shared freely. We want everyone from all the various facets of the company to be “in the know”. As corny as it is, it’s true: if any of us fall behind, we all fall behind.
So, how does that look in practice? Well, leadership gathers the entire team to make big announcements about best practices 2-3 times per week. The same amount of dedication that goes into making sure our employees are prepared goes into making sure our clients are dealt with adequately. That’s essentially why the business model works.
So, I’ll leave you with a quote from Anna Wintour of all people, that I think resonates with the culture here: “People respond well to those that are sure of what they want”. Leaders at Ad Purp know what they want from their employees and more importantly, know how to get that out of them. So, in a world where a lot of people don’t know what they want, the empowerment of leaders who put their confidence in you and want you to succeed is priceless.
