When business partners Peter Bowles and Paul Cockerton launched Dynamo PR in 2011, they were keen to buck the industry trend of a high staff turnover. And as the business has grown they’ve looked for ways to make it an attractive place to work.
The company was inspired to follow Netflix’s example of offering its employees unlimited holiday. “We were finding it difficult to organise staff leave as we were running it all off spreadsheets,” says Cockerton. “Plus, staff often didn’t take all their holiday for the year and were carrying it over to the next, which created confusion.” Dynamo employees were quick to take advantage. “One of our staff went on a six-week drive to Mongolia, fully paid,” says Cockerton.
Although some businesses may find this a problem, Cockerton says that by requiring staff to give sufficient notice of their holiday plans, arranging cover is straightforward. And he insists that the business does benefit. “People come back from holiday feeling revitalized and the end result is that their work is fantastic.”
The company, which has 25 employees in its UK office, has found unlimited holiday easy to manage – employees coordinate leave with their colleagues, which helps build trust. “We think that the flexibility and perks we offer have wider implications for building a positive company culture,” says Cockerton. It seems to be having the desired effect – in the past two years no member of staff has left the company.
With holiday allowances already a winner with their young team – the majority of staff are in their 20s – the company’s co-founders upped their cool quota by bringing in what they call the “Don Draper clause”, which means that staff regularly receive treats such as chocolate and vouchers.
Bowles and Cockerton, both Mad Men fans, introduced the policy in 2014 after a recruit – who’d previously worked in Silicon Valley in California – insisted she would only take the job if Dynamo would guarantee her regular chocolate deliveries. They met her offer and decided to widen it to all staff. The business now tailors staff contracts to include treats such as spa days and rollercoaster rides. Dynamo set up a Twitter account to capture the excitement of staff when they receive their gifts. Recipients tweet a photograph of their deliveries, mentioning the Don Draper clause.
The business also allows flexible working. Dynamo uses cloud technology to share documents and spreadsheets, so staff can work from home when they need to. And the business gives its staff annual pay rises.
By encouraging a satisfied workforce, Dynamo has benefited from having a cohesive team and has won significant clients, including Cambridge University Press, HTC and Yelp.
Much of Dynamo’s work surrounds technology and crowdfunding campaigns. Its most recent Kickstarter project aims to finish the filming of Dennis Hopper’s final movie: The Last Film Festival.
“We’ve doubled our revenue every year since we started,” says Cockerton, “and we have doubled the staff. That can’t go on for long, but it’s a good sign of a growing business.”
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