Keeping up with the Kulture-Dashians

The reality is, company culture matters.

What makes some people love Mondays and others dread them? It’s probably not the free Krispy Kremes. People excited for work are people happy to spend another week with coworkers they care about, clients they enjoy working with, and a place that offers a sense of belonging.

I remember my first creative job at a REAL ad agency. At that time it was THE PLACE to be if you were a creative. It had a company culture that encouraged long hours, popularity and big egos.

I was young, super ambitious and down for whatever it took to be recognized in this new world. It didn’t take long before I realized that being a celebrity at this agency was much harder than I expected. A culture that promoted popularity meant clawing your way to the top. And oftentimes fighting dirty.

I couldn’t – or didn’t want to – keep up with the Kardashian popularity of my advertising peers. I found it to be an environment that lacked the personal depth and connection I was looking for.

Over a decade later, I find myself at another REAL ad agency, but one with a much different approach to company culture. This one focuses well beyond the millions of likes I get on my Instagram. Okay, 37 likes, but who’s counting? At Eicoff, I found a sense of belonging through a culture that thrives on meaningful principles, like:

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Here we have a culture that focuses on a personal connection between peers, managers and the clients we work with everyday. No doubt popularity fits into the mix on some unspoken level, but here we focus on “we” rather than “me.” Teamwork cultivates relationships with our clients that are collaborative, and mutually beneficial. It says to our clients, “We have your back and you can depend on us.”

Being direct is in our DNA.

At Eicoff, transparency is the name of the game. When we communicate clearly with each other, we are better able to communicate with our clients. An honest and open work place produces confident employees, and clients that trust in our partnership. There are no closed doors or closed mouths. Communication is our specialty.

When we think Eicoff, we think family.

A sense of belonging is what sets Eicoff apart. We care about our people and believe a balance between work and personal life is not only important, but a necessity for happiness and productivity. When one person is down, the rest are always there to pick them up.

The reality is, a company culture that caters to popularity and recognition for things that, well… just don’t matter, is like trying to Keep up with a Kardashian.

A company that rewards their employees through productive feedback and a sense of personal worth is a company that will make you a Better, Faster, Stronger (thanks Kanye) employee. And that’s pretty fab.