Company Culture: Despite five previous appearances on the Best Places to Work list, Promotional Consultants (PCi, asi/300790) isn’t standing still. Linda Heckman, controller for the company, says the distributor is transitioning from an owner-centric model to a team-centric culture. That involves “empowering our management team and workforce to impact PCi at a higher level – by making decisions, designing and running processes and programs.” As a result, she says, “everyone is accountable for helping our team, our clients and our vendors be successful while having fun.”

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Appearances on Best Places to Work

The fun includes birthday and holiday lunches, mindfulness training and team-building events such as a murder-mystery night and mini golf. And not only do employees appreciate the generous insurance, 401(k) and profit-sharing bonus plans, they also appreciate each other: PCi scored high on the Best Places to Work survey regarding staff cooperation.

COVID Changes: PCi works on a hybrid schedule, with everyone together in the office on Wednesdays. That’s part of the flexibility that Heckman cites as the number-one reason people love working for the company. Also, the distributor instituted a “Seasons of Joy” bonus program “to recognize the extraordinary efforts that our team has taken on through COVID,” Heckman says. In addition to the company’s existing profit-sharing program, the new initiative allows for two bonuses (the first in December, and the second this coming July) to be paid to full-time, non-sales team members.

Parting Tip: “Your culture is the most powerful tool to attract and retain great people,” says Heckman. “Empowerment, engagement, recognition and a great benefits package are key to building a strong culture.”