YW PROFILE

Environics Communications, Inc.

Nice guys finish first 

AUTHOR YW STAFF

At Environics Communications, Inc. (ECI), the company credo is kindness. Staff at this award-winning public relations and public affairs agency base their success on treating each other and their clients with respect and goodwill.

Taking Responsibility for People and the Planet

Located in a downtown Toronto tower on Bloor Street, the Environics offices reflect a serious focus on safety and well-being for its workers. A standard ergonomic chair is assigned to all staff, regardless of position at the company. Speakers are brought in on a regular basis to talk about health-related issues. A chiropractor has advised workers on proper sitting posture, exercise, and ways to avoid repetitive stress injury. The benefits plan includes an annual private consultation with a dietician for personalized advice on healthy eating.

In 2008, Environics switched to Bullfrog Power and made other changes to become the first carbon-neutral PR company in North America. Carbon was reduced by more than 30% in 2008 over 2007, with offset credits purchased for the remainder. One of ECI’s green practices is to fund bike purchases for staff who want to reduce their reliance on cars.

“Aggressive and Nice” a Winning Combination

Bruce MacLellan, President of Environics Communications Inc. likes to hire SWANs— people who are smart, workers, aggressive and nice. In fact, being a genuinely nice person is key to getting hired at Environics. “We’ve really placed a high priority on recruiting people who show great respect for each other and who treat each other well, who are team players,” MacLellan explains. “We like to hire people who get more assists than goals… which I think is a mark of real professionalism that you take such an interest in your colleagues and their advancement.”

Asked how the traits of aggressiveness and niceness can work together, MacLellan replies, “I think that they are compatible, and I think it’s just how you go about being aggressive. For me, it’s aggressive in terms of a really high standard, a tremendous focus on getting results and exceeding expectations, a real determination to make something work and to figure out how to make it work. Great players like Sidney Crosby or Wayne Gretzky got more assists than goals in their career, but they certainly got lots of goals, too.”

“Being nice can also mean coming first,” he adds. “We’ve won more than 125 different awards at our industry awards events. We win, on average, between six and seven out of 10 business pitches that we do.... Despite that, we’re determined that we’re going to have a culture that includes being nice.” Vice-President Catharine Heddle agrees, “I think we’ve hired people who are kind, and so it shines through in every interaction we have with one another. It’s something that’s so deeply valued by all of us that it comes very naturally.”

MacLellan and Heddle’s assertions are reflected in the company’s high employee retention rate. In more than 14 years, only five people have left to go to a competitor firm. Who wouldn’t want to stay with an organization where the personal touch takes precedence? Jennifer Glickman, Account Director at ECI, says, “If you happen to have a particularly busy week or two, you could come in on Monday morning and find a bottle of wine on your desk or a note from the president thanking you with some extra cash to go out for dinner with your partner. It’s little things like that, which I think make such a big difference and speak volumes, even though they’re small.” From the time she began at Environics, Glickman felt supported with a buddy system upon recruitment, which paired her with a coworker for her first few weeks and beyond as needed, and in an environment that respects her need to take time for her young family during work hours, including working part of her week from home.

All staff attend annual retreats and regular social outings. “We’ve gone canoeing; we’ve gone skiing; we’ve gone skating; we’ve done scavenger hunts; we’ve been to a whole bunch of concerts. We’ve been to U2 and Madonna and the Rolling Stones,” says Glickman. “The whole office goes. We’ve gone to Leafs games before. It’s amazing.”

Rewards for hard work include a profit-sharing plan that has provided paid bonuses to all staff in each of the company’s 14 years of operation.

Great Ideas Can Come from Anywhere

That’s why Environics Communications funds courses for staff that are not necessarily related to their jobs. “I am a big believer in continuous learning, and I also think that personal growth is just as important as professional growth,” MacLellan maintains. “The kind of work we do—marketing—requires people who have broad perspectives and who are in a sense worldly, because we’re working with clients to help them interact with the world; so everything you can possibly know about different skills and different hobbies or interests, it’s probably going to come back and help you at some point in your career and professional life as well.”

Of other learning opportunities at ECI, consultant Gema Rayo, says, “They’ve had a brainstorming expert come in and offer expert strategies for coming up with original, great and effective ideas. And this has been really helpful when you’re planning and implementing client campaigns. They’re great in terms of offering courses in anything you’re interested in, including personal development.”

Getting Involved

MacLellan encourages his staff to make a difference in their community. “I encourage people to volunteer and it comes back to that all-rounded learning and being a well-rounded person,” MacLellan says. “I think when people volunteer, whether it’s for a food bank or the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the local theatre company, they’re learning. They may be learning more communication skills from what they’re doing or they may be learning about another part of society they didn’t know about. I’ve also been active as a volunteer in various causes, and it taught me a lot.”

Heddle adds, “I do a lot of volunteer work. Bruce has been incredibly supportive of the time that that takes. He also tends to support the charities that his employees get involved with at a senior level as well. As a company, we support the Toronto Community Foundation and have given training programs for their member organizations.”

Working within Reason

Don’t expect to get applause for working overtime at ECI. Here, it’s believed that an overworked consultant is an uninspired one. Staff are discouraged from deviating from a 40-hour week, and they’re encouraged to make time for family needs and other matters that are important in their lives. As Gema explains, “Managers from Day One say, ‘we do not encourage long hours here. We don’t want to see you burnt out. You’re not going to get a reward for being the most burnt-out employee’. If anything, it’s looked down upon, which is so refreshing to hear, and if you have a personal matter to tend to, or something that comes up, it’s okay to go to your boss or to your manager and just explain to them. They understand that we have lives outside of ECI, which is great that they respect that as well. And I think that it generates better results, because we’re more motivated that way.”

Besides bringing in experts to talk about health matters, and providing a bicycle fund, the culture at ECI encourages healthy habits. Gema says, “The majority of the food that we have catered includes salads, healthy wraps and sandwiches. You won’t see any greasy food around here. When we have our meetings, the presence of healthy food is always there.”

Reaching Out to the World

ECI is committed to encouraging environmental consciousness in the business sector through its Sustainability and Clean Energy practice. MacLellan explains, “We bring first-hand experience and knowledge about what’s involved for a company becoming green and walking the talk. We bring our overall communications skills to help them as they do adopt green practices, to help them to determine the best way to communicate it to their key audiences, from their employees to their customers to the news media and others.

“Our practice leader for that is in our Washington office, and the new government in the United States, Barack Obama, has made a lot of promises about developing clean energy sources, investing R&D into alternate energy sources to reduce the dependence of the United States on oil. So we think that that’s going to create an opportunity for a lot of businesses. For many Canadian companies—younger, smaller companies developing new technologies they want to take to market—they absolutely have to be looking at the United States market, so by having a Washington person there who is knowledgeable, we can bring more value to companies in Canada.

“I think it’s a very exciting time, and it actually has to happen for the good of the planet.”

On all levels, ECI cultivates an atmosphere of goodwill within and without the office. Glickman’s viewpoint is a reflection of the general feeling at Environics when she says, “I have no reason to leave. I’m happy. I like the work I do. I like the people I’m working with. I’m encouraged to find things that are more challenging to me, if I find that I’m not being challenged. I’m very lucky, and I recognize the fact that I’m very lucky.”

At Environics Communications, nice guys do finish first.

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ISSUE 11-2 OF YOUR WORKPLACE MAGAZINE.