Best Places to Work in Austin Award Goes to Effective Spend for 2020
Effective Spend has been named one of 2020’s Best Places to Work in Austin. This is our company’s second time receiving this prestigious and competitive award from the Austin Business Journal. Only 65 businesses made the ABJ’s cut this year, ranging in size from micro businesses (10-24 employees) to large businesses (250+ employees). Effective Spend is 1 of only 20 top Austin companies recognized in the small business category (25-49 employees).
ABJ’s annual list highlights Austin-area companies with the best culture and employee engagement. It provides one of the most trustworthy lists in Austin, with rankings that are primarily determined through confidential employee surveys.
Designed and administered by Quantum Workplace, the survey measures six key dimensions of employee satisfaction, including:
- Trust in Leadership
- Personal Engagement
- Manager Effectiveness
- Team Dynamics
- Communication and Resources
- Individual Needs
The survey results are aggregated and scored against the other nominees, resulting in the list of finalists.
Effective Spend first debuted on ABJ’s 2018 list and has also been recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies on the ABJ’s FAST50 list and the Inc 5000’s list of the top 250 Texas companies.
“As a digital marketing agency, our people are by far our most important asset,” said Founder & CEO, Brian Wulfe. “We’ve seen that the more we invest in our team, the better we perform as a company. Being named as one of the Best Places to Work in Austin is confirmation that our employees feel valued by leadership and see a clear path for career growth.”
Supporting a “Best Places to Work” Culture in a Time of Quarantine
2020 has been a unique year for building upon our positive company culture and keeping employees engaged. Many of the social aspects that make our office culture so great – from happy hours to chili cook-offs to Foosball tournaments – have been unavailable since March, when employees began working remotely due to the COVID pandemic.
Since the early days of Austin’s stay-at-home order, the Effective Spend crew has come together to find creative ways of staying connected and keeping productivity and employee morale high.
It’s no surprise, then, that the word “collaborative” was the word that employees most commonly noted in the ABJ survey to describe Effective Spend’s culture.
Several team members have volunteered to lead weekly guitar lessons, twice-weekly yoga sessions, and weekly trivia & game nights. Other team members have adapted some of our long-standing office traditions for social distancing, such as delivering fresh-baked sourdough to employees’ doorsteps and organizing curbside baking exchanges.
“We are proud of our team and the culture we all help to build,” said Natalia Wulfe. “Our team has done an incredible job of not only participating in our culture but shaping it. It is truly a grass-roots effort, rather than a top-down initiative. This has never been more apparent or critical than now, during the COVID pandemic.”
Our Takeaways
There’s plenty to be taken away from this honor, but one anonymous employee survey summed it up perfectly:
“Effective Spend is easily the best place I’ve worked throughout college & professional life … everyone seeks to make everyone else feel included and important to the organization, whether you’re just starting or have been around for years.”
While the social aspects of our culture may look a little bit different for a while, the core tenants of our culture remain. Our drive to deliver excellence, our passion for digital marketing expertise and our team camaraderie continue to bring us together to do our best work, no matter where we are working.
Interested in Joining Our Amazing Team?
Yes! We’re still hiring! Thanks to our diverse client portfolio and high client retention rates, we’ve been able to continue growing our team even during a pandemic. Check out our current job openings.
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