OLAF GROWALD
Balcom Agency, the 39-year-old ad and marketing firm in Fort Worth, knows a thing or two about strong workplaces. The agency has won a slew of awards for best place to work. The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, in naming Balcom among the Best Workplaces for Women in 2016, noted more than half of management is women and lauded the agency for CEO Stuart Balcom’s care for employees’ high ethical standards and focus on productivity over “clock-punching.”
The agency, in another award conferred by the chamber, was named a best workplace for employees aged 20-40, judged on criteria including benefits, community involvement, and recruitment and recognition of young professionals. “Everybody’s worked for somebody,” Balcom, 62, says. “Either really great bosses or really lousy bosses. You take all those great learnings and put them to work.”
Turning point: Balcom bought out his partner seven years ago and brought in five principals who today own 23% of the firm (Steve Cantrell, Carol Glover, Ashley Freer, Alan Parchman and Toni Stuard). In 2019, Balcom had 24 employees; today it has more than 60.
Culture: The agency’s core values are B nice, B responsible, B collaborative, B curious, B creative, B brave. Balcom describes the firm as “collaborative and transparent,” with strong doses of serious combined with fun.
Succession planning and nailing down a business valuation en route to recruiting new principals and creating a path to ownership for new ones in the future: “The idea was to create a sophisticated succession plan. When I’m gone, I think the brand will continue.”
Nonprofits: The agency gives a significant amount of pro bono services annually to nonprofits such as Presbyterian Night Shelter, a Wish with Wings and others. “Every executive serves on two or three boards. Everybody is involved in something here. ”
Some of the perks: Flexible hours for family and other personal needs; Blue Zones-certified healthy workplace; monthly B day celebrations for birthdays and employment anniversaries; “mother’s room” in the office; office closed between Christmas and the New Year; employees get $2,000 a year for continuing education.
Who thrives at Balcom: “If you’re really a professional, you’re going to be very successful in this company. If you need a lot of direct telling of what to do next, you’re not going to make it here.”
Outgrowing the building CEO Balcom owns near downtown: “We can’t put any more people in here. I’m really not sure what we’re going to do.”