Best Places to Work in Austin 2022 List Honors Effective Spend
The Austin Business Journal has named Effective Spend as one of Austin’s Best Places to Work for the 4th time! Being recognized in 2018, 2020, 2021, and now 2022, is a huge accomplishment and honor. This year, ABJ recognized 70 local businesses ranging in size from 10 employees to 250+ and representing a wide range of industries, including technology, professional services, commercial and residential real estate, and more.
“Keeping employees happy and engaged is a primary concern for managers during the Great Resignation,” said Will Anderson, ABJ’s Business Manager.
Effective Spend ranked #16 out of the 20 top small private businesses in Austin. ABJ’s Best places to work recognizes companies that go above and beyond to develop and reward employees. Winners are based on anonymous surveys designed and administered by Quantum Workplace, the survey measures six key dimensions of employee satisfaction, including:
- Trust in Leadership
- Manager Leadership
- Personal Engagement
- Team Dynamics
- Communication and Resources
- Individual Needs
To honor this year’s winners, ABJ held an awards ceremony on June 30th at the new Moody Center in a space-themed celebration.
This past year has brought some monumental changes at Effective Spend. In September of 2021, the company purchased a landmark building in East Austin, the site of the much loved “You’re My Butter Half” mural. The move to their new headquarters was a sort of homecoming for the company, which opened its first office in East Austin in 2010.
The company’s Los Angeles team, which launched in 2020, also continued to grow in 2021 and opened the company’s first LA office in Culver City, California.
As part of the survey process, employees were asked to describe their work environment using a word they feel best embodies the company’s work environment. For the second year in a row, the top word Effective Spend employees wrote in was “collaborative”.
“Truly, Effective Spend strives to create a collaborative environment, allowing employees to work together, across teams, platforms, and divisions to engage clients and team members in an interesting, fun, and successful way,” said CMO Natalia Wulfe.
With the move to their new Austin headquarters came plenty of adjustments – not only in location – but also in work flexibility for employees. During the COVID pandemic, Effective Spend adjusted so that team members could work safely and comfortably from home. When employees began returning to the office, the company moved to a hybrid environment where employees are able to continue to work two days per week from home.
“With this hybrid design, we can benefit from the in-person interactions that come with our team being in the office together, while still accommodating our employees’ interest in working from home part of their week,” said Brian Wulfe, Founder & CEO of Effective Spend.
Maintaining a company culture that encourages employees to connect with one another has been essential to the company’s employee satisfaction, client retention and accelerated business growth. From Friday lunch club to yoga in the office to skeeball sports leagues, Effective Spend is constantly looking for ways to connect with employees. The company hosts employee gatherings throughout the year such as their annual Halloween party, Cinco de Mayo potluck, Employee Appreciation Pajama Day, Pride celebration and company-wide Casino night.
“Finding ways to bring our team together in and out of the office has strengthened our culture during a time of wide-spread pandemic disengagement,” said Brian Wulfe. “Not only does this encourage positive relationships within teams, but it helps create an environment where team members communicate better and collaborate more effectively.”
Another value at the heart of Effective Spend’s company culture is community philanthropy. Over the last year, the company organized multiple ways for employees to volunteer together, including a trash clean-up day around Ladybird Lake with Keep Austin Beautiful, participating in a donation drive for Movember, working at the Central Texas Food Bank to box up meals for families in need, and volunteering at the Austin Farm Animal Rescue. The company plans to host a blood drive with We are Blood later this summer.
“Effective Spend is proud to provide employees with so many opportunities to grow professionally, connect personally, and give back to the community,” said Natalia Wulfe. “And we are incredibly honored that our Employees voted us one of Austin’s Best Places to Work for the 4th year.”
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Interested in working at Effective Spend? We are hiring! Check out our current job openings in Austin and Los Angeles.
Company Update
In August 2022, Effective Spend joined forces with Optimad Media, relaunching as Optimal! Now with a more robust team in eight offices across the country, we are excited to offer our clients a wider variety of services, take on new challenges, and give our team even more tools to develop their professional skills. Learn more about this partnership in our blog post here.
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