Small Business Benefits: Treat Your Team Better

How small businesses can treat their team well and keep employees happy

HDco has a unique mission: to be the choice employer for female creatives in Missouri. Yes, we’d love to expand our client portfolio, serve our community with more nonprofit work, and master new areas of marketing and advertising. But we can’t do any of that without a strong team - and a positive office culture. 

We’re a small, women-led agency with a sole owner, which means we don’t answer to anyone but ourselves. Some may think that small businesses lack the employee benefits of bigger companies, but we believe our benefits package proves them wrong. 

Here are just a few of the benefits that our team enjoys. 

Flexible scheduling 

If you want a happy team, you have to give them flexibility. Each Tuesday is a work from home day for our team, and they’re encouraged to book appointments and run errands throughout the day. People use Tuesday’s how they’d like: some stay home in their pajamas, some use it to knock out personal responsibilities, and others come into the office - in their sweatpants, of course. The point is that how they spend their Tuesday’s is their prerogative - as long as the work gets done, nobody asks questions. 

We also offer flex scheduling throughout the rest of the week. The team is welcome to come in as early as 7:30 and leave as early as 3:30, but some do choose the 9:00-5:00 route. When our team comes in at a time that works for them, we all work better. 

Maternity leave

Statistics show that only about 12% of Americans who work for a company with 1-49 employees have access to paid family leave. Sadly, this is not surprising for a country with one of the worst parental leave programs in the world

As a women-led agency, maternity leave is something we’re really passionate about. We offer new moms six weeks off at 100% pay, and an additional seven weeks at 60%. And after mom comes back to work, she is welcome to bring her baby to the office as long as she needs. We’re proud of this policy and the way it empowers our team of working women.

Profit sharing

We share our profits with our team because we wouldn’t have any without them. Anywhere from 10-25% of our net profits are dispersed among the office. Our profit sharing scheme deposits these bonuses into our employees’ 401k accounts, which, yes, everyone is eligible for. 

Client Perks

Some of our most unique benefits come from our “Client Perks” program. This program allows our employees to use our client’s services at no cost to them. It benefits our team to know and understand each of our accounts, and of course, it’s money in the pockets of our clients. Some of our client perks include services at The Strand Salon & Spa, Kelly Howe Coaching, Hanft Chiropractic, Body Refinery Gym, Rho Engine Room, The Laser Clinic and Evolved Personal Training. These clients improve our team’s personal lives, and when our employees feel fulfilled and happy outside of work, they bring a better version of themselves to the office every day.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of our employee benefits, but it’s a good look at what we do to keep our employees happy. What’s the best work perk that you receive? Share in the comments below!