When Tracy Myer started thinking about business school a year after she began working for Washington, D.C.-based Interactive Applications Group (iapps), she readily shared her thoughts with the company without fear of reprisal. "Everyone was excited," Myer recalls.
Not only were Myer's coworkers supportive of her decision, but her supervisors were equally encouraging. "They really took an interest to make sure that I was learning and gaining the most out of my experience there," Myer says. When she started applying to schools the following year, she was allowed to work a more flexible schedule so she could prepare for the GMAT.
"It was really difficult working fulltime and studying," Myer says. "The company bent over backwards. They allowed me to work only a few days a week as long as I made up the hours."
While many employees are uncomfortable discussing graduate school or career changes with their employers, the 20-person staff at iapps, an Internet consulting company, is used to communicating openly with managers and coworkers. Employees are even rewarded for speaking up about problems they think need to be addressed. The most pressing issues are assigned to "champions" who work on finding solutions.
Most employees attribute iapps' open, down-to-earth culture to President and CEO Miles Fawcett. Fawcett founded iapps in 1994 shortly after graduating college. The company's initial focus was on business-to-business financial transactions though Fawcett did web development on the side for additional income. Eventually, he dropped the business pursuits to concentrate on providing online services to nonprofit organizations.
"iapps was a startup at a time when dot-com mania was really taking hold," says David Goldsmith, vice president of strategic development. "A lot of web firms were growing at fairly phenomenal rates, but they were also known as creating 'churn and burn' environments. You'd have this perpetual reservoir of talented people; it didn't matter if you burned them out. You'd have someone else come in."
iapps, on the other hand, strives to be a lifestyle company, Goldsmith explains. "That was explicit, and that was really an extension of Miles and his personal values," he says.
Fawcett believes in maintaining an office environment that fosters healthy, balanced lifestyles for employees. Workers at iapps are only expected to put in 37.5 hours a week and are encouraged to use flextime as needed. Employees are welcome to bring their children and even dogs to work. The company also subsidizes high-speed home Internet connections up to $45 a month so workers can easily telecommute.
In fact, Goldsmith has been working from his home in Salt Lake City for the past year. He participates in meetings by phone and flies to D.C. every few weeks. "Generally our policies are pretty much tied to our desire to be a lifestyle company," he says. "It's rare for us to come across competitors that are as committed to that as we are."
In return for the company's trust and respect, iapps workers show great loyalty to their employer. For example, when Myer realized she needed to make her graduate school applications a full-time priority, she gave her supervisors a generous 14-week notice. "I had enough respect for the company and for my colleagues to put 150 percent into my last three months," Myer says. "Had it been any other company, I could've just walked out the door."
Like many others in the Web development industry, iapps has faced considerable economic challenges over the last three years and has had to reduce staff. Management, however, has tried to make cut backs with employee concerns in mind. For example, iapps provided laid off employees with a generous severance package. "Given our values, we said we're going to do it," Goldsmith says. "We know it's going to hit our bottom line, but we know it's going to be really hard for [those who lost their jobs]." Interestingly enough, former iapps employees continue to be invited to company social events and most attend.
The company has managed to maintain high morale despite cutting back on flashy perks. They no longer have massage therapists offering 10-minute backrubs and employees now have to pay for their once-free Nantucket Nectar juices, but the company maintains a competitive benefits package, an employer-matched 401(k) plan and tries to contain the costs to employees on health insurance.
"There were years when staff expectations were very high and very demanding in terms of benefits," Fawcett says. "I think there's a very different expectation now. Now there's appreciation for what we have rather than frustration with what we don't have."
To bolster morale, Fawcett throws ice cream parties for the staff at the end of each quarter. Workers often plan team outings to go bowling, watch movies or barbecue. Recently, the company voted to organize a group canoe trip as a reward for their hard work.
iapps' dedication to its employees has not gone unnoticed. In 1999 and 2001, Washingtonian magazine recognized the company as one of 50 great places to work in D.C. The nominations came through staff members.
"They always go above and beyond the call of duty for their employees," Myer says. "When things were going great, the employees reaped all the benefits, monetary and non-monetary. When times were a little more difficult, everyone pulled together to help each other out. It's not like the executives had crazy salary packages and we were all on salary freezes. It's a very egalitarian company."
Goldsmith explains that the difference between the highest and lowest paid workers at iapps is about 50 percent. Just as salary distinctions are modest, so is the company's acknowledgement of its accomplishments.
"I'm not sure our policies set us apart," Fawcett says. "I think it's our culture, people's attitudes, and that goes back to the trust and respect issue."
Company: Interactive Applications Group (iapps)
Web site: www.iapps.com
Industry: Full-service online consulting
Location: Washington, D.C.
Number of employees: 20
Sales: $2.5 million in 2002
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