Howard Hill doesn’t wash his dirty laundry in public, but he comes pretty close.
Every Thursday morning, Hill, an account executive at The Promotion Network Inc., piles his laundry into his backpack and takes it to his 30th floor office on Madison Avenue in New York. There he uses the office’s washer and drier.
“It’s a big convenience for those of us who work long hours,” said Hill, age 27, who has a bachelor’s degree in advertising and has been with the Dallas-based marketing agency since 1996. “Besides, the laundry room in my apartment building is always crowded.”
There are 15 staff members in the company’s New York office and nine use the free appliances. “Two people a day sign up in advance and we bring our own detergent,” Hill said.
The washer and drier aren’t the only unusual benefit The Promotion Network offers: Hill also has a free gym membership, which he uses to run and lift weights. He gets a free massage at the office and the kitchen is filled with free food.
“It helps me to know that my employer respects me and wants to make my life a little bit easier–and it also gives me more time to get work done,” Hill said.
The Promotion Network, which also has an office in Chicago, is known for its unusual perks. The privately owned firm, which has annual sales in excess of $13 million and 102 employees in three locations, offers all employees free health club memberships and fully stocked kitchens.
Even more unusual perks are found at the firm’s Dallas headquarters, where a chef prepares meals, a masseuse gives free massages and its on-site exercise facility has staff trainers. In Chicago, in addition to a masseuse, perks include an on-site day-care center and tickets to Cubs and Bulls games.
The unusual benefits reflect the philosophy of the marketing firm’s CEO, Roger Winter, 51, who founded the firm in 1983. Among the brands Winter promotes are Oreo cookies, Gatorade and ESPN affiliate marketing.
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“I treat people the way I would like to be treated,” said Winter, who is married and has seven children, ages 7 to 26. “The benefits are unusual, but they’re not expensive because of lower turnover–the industry rate is 17 percent but ours is only 5 percent–and, as a result, lower client turnover.”
The CEO introduced his first perk, the fully stocked kitchen, in 1983 in Dallas. He and his managers decide which offices get which benefits.
The Promotion Network’s “low turnover proves the company’s on the leading edge of a trend–businesses know it benefits their bottom line to make the work environment friendly for employees,” said Kathy Kane, president of K2 Work/Life Solutions Inc., a Freehold, N.J.-based company that outsources work/life initiatives for corporations. “Employers are trying to find new ways to show employees they’re committed to them from a whole life perspective–and these benefits do that.”
And it pays off, too. “I work as hard as I can, because the company has created a climate that is so rewarding I never want to leave,” said Nancy G. Shamberg, 29, an account executive in The Promotion Network’s Chicago office.
Shamberg uses the masseuse and season tickets to sporting events. She enjoys Monday morning staff meetings with breakfast prepared by an outside caterer. And she also takes yoga classes at a local health club.
The account executive, who was married last August to Gary Shamberg, an options trader, has no children, but an extra perk for her is that “when I’m having a rough day, I go play with the kids in day care just down the hall. It’s a reality break.”
And she understands the value of work/life benefits. “Happy employees mean happy clients,” Shamberg said.