HCM Named #1 Best Place to Work by BBJ

How does your company work to increase retention?

Employee retention is a natural extension of our culture of inclusiveness, openness and communication. People love to work at HCM and stay at HCM because we treat them as an individual, as part of the team and we appreciate their contributions. We value their ideas and foster their growth, so people naturally want to stay in that environment. Plus, they get to work on cool projects.

How would you pitch your company to a potential hire?

It’s an opportunity to be part of a team dedicated to doing great things, to learn and grow in an environment where your voice is heard and your opinion matters.

How do you promote work-life balance among your employees?

We have policies in place that encourage flexible working hours and a wellness committee where grassroots efforts to support work-life balance can flourish. Our culture instills open communication within the studio teams to ensure everyone feels comfortable in managing their personal obligations and experiencing their interests and passions outside of the office.

What steps do you take to engage employees at different stages of their life and career?

We provide a buddy program when team members first join, to provide them with a guide through those challenging first couple of months at a new job. We match employees up with a mentor to help support and develop them as they navigate their career path at HCM. We encourage inter-studio experiences, so team members can work on a wide variety of project types, both in style and scope, to allow them to have choices and variety. We have leadership opportunities, as mentors, as project managers, as committee leaders and as community liaisons. We provide a wide spectrum of benefits, such as wellness, financial planning, succession planning and retirement transitions.

Are you trying to attract millennial/younger workers? If so, what strategies are you using?

We are focusing on social media and technology in various ways, both through our recruitment and on-boarding strategies. We want to encourage that feeling of experience, of belonging, of being connected as well as being cutting-edge with how we approach projects. We focus on sustainability, community involvement, mentoring and grassroots efforts for tackling today’s challenges.

What’s the office stance regarding meetings?

We don’t want to needlessly fill our team member’s time with unproductive meetings. Our culture at heart is collaboration, and we have intentionally designed our space with different types of gathering spaces. We have huddle spaces, collaboration desk areas with the latest technology to interact across offices and virtually share project work. We have traditional large conference room spaces, and smaller meeting spaces that can either be reserved ahead of time or grabbed ad-hoc by using technology outside of the offices to reserve the room in real time.

How do you deal with interoffice disagreements?

We encourage open communication at all levels. Our firm is intentionally and culturally flat. We have an HR team that works with everyone in the firm to provide the tools to encourage individual problem solving and following up on any internal employee challenges. Debate and discourse are natural and expected in our industry, but when discord occurs, we want to make sure everyone is heard and has the support to work through these challenges.

What is one of your favorite things about your workplace culture?

We encourage those with an entrepreneurial spirit. There are so many opportunities here to dive in and participate, and that’s the best way to provide that motivation for employees. If you have a great idea, share it. If you want to participate in a committee, join it. Seek out mentors and take active control of your future.