Business benefits:
• Increased recruitment, retention.
• Enhanced employee satisfaction, work/life balance.
• Effective creativity and productivity tool.

Statistics:
• Work options offered since 1990
• Telework used by: 12-15 occasionally
• Flextime used by: most

"Like others in our industry nationwide, we are leaner and working harder, but we see offering work options as a free benefit that has many advantages for the employer."
– Sydney Hunsdale, Chief Operating Officer

Work options attract and retain the best
More than any business, the success of a marketing agency hinges on the quality, loyalty and creativity of its employees. In a young, fast-paced industry, employees tend to change employers often to move up the corporate ladder. A mid-size firm, DDB Seattle boasts a lower turnover rate than most local advertising agencies . Besides outstanding benefits, the company has nurtured a family-friendly atmosphere and offers customized work options to departments and key employees.

Chief Operating Officer Sydney Hunsdale views work options as a good fit with many tasks and positions in advertising.  “By the nature of the work we do, marketing, advertising and public relations units can provide some flexibility in work location or start time,” she says. “To keep the best talent and to keep happy, creative employees, we are willing to make adjustments and changes to the standard arrangement of 8 to 5 at the office.”

Advertising and public relations also are extremely competitive industries, driven by deadlines and the need to keep clients happy. “Our employees are who we are,” Hunsdale says. “We need people who can provide the best creative services on target, on time and within budget.” Work options are work productivity and employee retention tools that help DDB to be one of the best in the business.

Work quality and quantity increase
Ultimately, Hunsdale has discovered, DDB’s flexible attitude results in increased work quality and quantity. “People are actually willing to work more if allowed some freedom in how and when they work. They are trying to have a better balance in their lives,” Hunsdale says. “If you're too rigid or work them too hard, they leave or just dry up and don't produce good work.”

Creative and customized options
Because the work of each of DDB's  departments is specialized and unique, the agency has chosen not to write a detailed work options policy. “One plan wouldn’t work for all,” Hunsdale says. “We have such a variety of positions and tasks.” The company does publicize the fact that management is open to individual requests and department suggestions on arrangements that meet work and employee needs. An alternative arrangement might mean working from home one day a week or as needed, working part time, job sharing, shifting start and stop times, or a combination of those options. As a medium-size business, management is able to consider requests individually and often to negotiate solutions that are a win/win for employer and employee.  Managers take into account the effect on other staff, potential productivity gains and the value of the employee.

Teamwork, communication addressed
Selective participation and good communication and coverage plans enable work options to enhance rather than detract from the teamwork that is critical to an agency. Deliberate cross training and specific back-up plans improve the overall ability of the agency to respond to clients. Work groups with members using work options tend to exchange more information and be more willing to cover for each other. DDB has left many communication decisions up to the teleworker and manager. For example, when to provide home telephone numbers to clients is an issue addressed on a case by case basis. For employees who deal directly with clients, the decision depends on the frequency of telework and the staff/client relationship. Voice mail and email easily permit the use of occasional telework without needing to provide home numbers. However, if the call is handled professionally and their needs are being addressed, most clients either do not care, find it refreshing or are working from home themselves.

Work/life balance breeds loyalty
Managers can tick off the names of key staff that would have left for other opportunities had the agency not been so accommodating. 

Formerly an account executive, Hillary Miller has always worked her 40 plus hours per week. Until her daughter began kindergarten in September 2004, however, Miller worked Monday through Thursday in the office, then put in another eight hours from home between Friday and Sunday when her child slept or was cared for by her husband.  Appointed Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning in 2004, Miller attributes her own retention and ability to keep her career on track during child rearing to her employer’s flexibility and willingness to consider alternative work arrangements. “I don’t think I could have gotten that deal anywhere else,” she says.

Media Payable Coordinator Cynthia Williams commutes to downtown Seattle from Port Orchard in Kitsap County. She loves her 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. flextime schedule.  With DDB’s headquarters in New York and a satellite office in Washington D.C., the accounting department also benefits from these extra hours of coverage.

 “I greatly appreciate that my employer has always had flextime,” Williams says.  “The ferry system doesn't always accommodate work schedules and runs on its own time, so the fact that my employer lets me set my own hours is of great value to me as a commuter. Traffic can be a nightmare, so by having flex hours I'm able to put in a full day plus have some time to myself at night and not be so stressed out. I have always counted flextime as a benefit that I would greatly miss if it ever went away,” she adds.

Managing Partner Janice Merlino says, “It costs too much to replace employees. Besides, it sounds trite, but if people are happier, they do a better job. People are less grumpy, so I spend less time dealing with personnel issues.”

Work/life balance valued
Similar to industry averages, 70% of DDB's staff is female. Women–and men–enjoy work options that provide a better balance between the stress of a deadline-driven, high-pressure industry and the desire to spend more time with family. Employers like DDB are listening. “It's the way the world is moving,” says Merlino. “If you fight it, you will lose good employees to me.”

Managing partner walks the talk
Managing Partner Hunsdale works from home as needed. Initially she set up her home office to eliminate having to come in to work on the weekend. “When I work at home on a weekday, it is mainly driven by the fact I have a lot to do and I need peace and quiet for some tasks,” Hunsdale says. Her other goal was to increase the number of evenings she and her husband and their two teenagers can have a family dinner together. When at the office Hunsdale juggles a number of client and staff meetings. “On my telework days, I am more accessible to staff than when I am in meetings in the office all day,” Hunsdale points out.

Work options still good fit in leaner times
The combination of telework and flextime and lots of laptop computers mean employees stay connected and productive more hours of the day and more days of the workweek.  When Human Resource Director Stephanie Pearson needed to juggle her son’s late arrival day at school, she could stay productive and accessible.  Telephone calls to the East Coast can be made from home in the early morning hours without the need to drive to the office.  And creative staff can brainstorm together in a coffee shop or work without interruption from home to meet project needs.

“Like others in our industry nationwide, we are leaner and working harder than in the 90s, but we see offering work options as a free benefit that has advantages for the employer,” Hunsdale says.  “Flextime alleviates commuting pressures for some employees, but has also been an opportunity for expanded hours of coverage in some departments. Telework not only helps work/life balance, it also is, first and foremost, a work productivity tool.”

Revised April 2005 by Commuter Challenge. Original version © 2000 Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program. This publication contains material written and produced for public distribution. You may reprint this written material, provided you do not use it to endorse a commercial product. Please reference by title and credit Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program and Commuter Challenge.

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