Margie Traylor and Bret Giles, co-founders of Sitewire Marketspace Solutions, value customer loyalty just as any responsible business owner would. Traylor and Giles, however, also understand the equal if not greater importance of employee loyalty in building and operating a successful company.
The pair founded Sitewire, a Tempe, Ariz.-based integrated online marketing services company, in 1999, just two years before the events of Sept. 11 sent the economy into a downturn that hit their industry particularly hard.
"It was a bad time for marketing in general and we had huge competition," recalls Giles, the company's president. "We were smart about how we hired, but nonetheless it was a pinch for us."
He and Traylor, Sitewire's CEO, were confident, however, that things would turn around, so they made the pivotal decision to eschew layoffs and work collectively to weather the storm. The fledgling company cut as many expenses as it could afford and employees took pay cuts. In the end, their risk and sacrifices paid off.
When business started to pick up again in 2004, many of Sitewire's competitors were scrambling to rebuild their depleted staffs while Sitewire, with its dedicated team intact, was ready to take charge from where it left off.
"Even though the industry was suffering and we were suffering, everybody stayed on and weathered the storm. That reinforced what a close knit team we are and prepared us for our success now," says public relations representative Lacey French.
The company turned its first profit in 2005 with annual sales of $3.3 million. Much of that success is a result of the trust and respect Traylor and Giles have instilled in the company's culture and that are apparent in many of Sitewire's workplace programs.
Workers are encouraged to speak out and contribute to company decisions at monthly breakfasts with the bosses, quarterly one-on-one meetings with Traylor and Giles, or just whenever they have an issue they want to address.
"We're all very actively engaged and invested in what's going on with the company and in making sure we're financially sound," says Josh Yeager, director of client strategy.
The office, which now consists of 22 full-time and 8 part-time employees, gathers once a week for "Pit Stop" meetings to discuss what's going on in the company and review financials, goals, and accomplishments.
"We like to involve everyone in planning, rather than [Margie and I] going off into the weeds and coming back and telling everyone this is our plan for the year," Giles says.
French, like her coworkers, appreciates the level of trust and individual ownership Traylor and Giles affords all Sitewire employees. "Even when I was an intern, I was able to participate in pit stop meetings, and everyone's opinion is equally valued," she says.
When significant goals are met, everyone also shares in the celebrations, which usually involve games and raffles for prizes such as gift certificates and free airline tickets.
Recognition is not strictly a top-down matter at Sitewire. Employees have the opportunity to recognize their peers' accomplishments through spot bonuses. When someone feels that a teammate has gone above and beyond on a project, they can make a request to reward their coworker with a $100-$300 bonus as appreciation.
Sitewire boasts an employee-run Culture Club, which is responsible for ensuring that the quality of work/life remains fun and engaging. Companywide events include monthly celebrations of birthdays, weddings, and other personal milestones, baseball game outings, and Sitewire Olympics, a competition of sports and brainteaser games.
"Culture Club was designed to embrace all the programs that would help us above and beyond our 401(k) and other standard benefits to encourage people to stay," says Traylor. "It's one of the leading factors that cause us to have such great retention and success in recruiting."
The company's sense of cohesiveness even extends to the area of learning and development. Employees who have attended training workshops and conferences return and present to the rest of the company what they learned so that their peers benefit from these educational experiences. Sitewire also publishes an employee-written corporate newsletter, which aims to keep the staff informed of emerging trends and new technology.
"We work in an industry that's fairly nascent and hasn't been around that long," says Yeager. "The industry itself is changing and we have to be dynamic and changing with it. Nobody here is afraid to admit they've made a mistake because we know that we have our teammates in place as a support net."
Traylor and Giles attribute their management style to lessons learned from their previous corporate experiences. "We already knew what didn't work from being in corporate America," Traylor says. "We wanted minimum turnover and employees who want work-life balance."
Their decision has resulted in a company with a loyal customer base and dedicated employees who exhibit passion for their work and a commitment to their peers and the organization.
"If everyone were in it just for the dollars, they'd be going elsewhere," says Giles. "There's a quality of life we offer here that they can't get anywhere else."
Company: Sitewire Marketspace Solutions
Web site: www.sitewire.net
Industry: Online marketing services
Location: Tempe, Ariz.
Number of employees: 22
Sales: $3.3 million (2005)
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