How Do You Create a Best Place to Work?

Robert Glazer is a member of EO Boston and the CEO of Acceleration Partners, a leading independent affiliate management agency with 160 employees.

The company was honored with Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, recognizing the Best Places to Work in 2019. The Employees’ Choice Awards program relies solely on the input of employees, who elect to provide feedback on their jobs, work environments and companies via Glassdoor.

We recently asked Bob Glazer about the award and what contributes to making a “Best Place to Work.”

What is most striking about the Glassdoor acknowledgment is that it comes from employees. Can you tell us what it means to you?

We love hearing from our employees and really value their feedback which makes this acknowledgment all the more special. This honor affirms the company culture we’ve created and is made possible by our team that works day in and day out to make Acceleration Partners an amazing place to work.

In too many growing organizations, growth and financial success come at the cost of culture and employee satisfaction. Can you identify a few keys to balancing both aspects of a business? 

Acceleration Partners’ core values drive our company culture; they help determine who we hire, who we partner with, and how we conduct our daily business. In combination with our strong set of core values, we offer employees flexibility to pursue both meaningful work and the people and activities they find fulfilling in their personal lives. With 160 remote workers around the world, we’ve made work-life integration a priority. We believe this is key to creating a high-performing and relationship-oriented workforce that is motivated both inside and outside of work. It’s a framework we call Capacity Building.

Can you identify the essential ingredients for being a “Best Place to Work”?

First and foremost, what makes Acceleration Partners a best place to work great is our people. They truly exemplify our culture and are a big reason why people are drawn to work here.

One of the most important aspects of our culture is authenticity. In far too many companies today, there is a disconnect between what is talked about and the reality of their day to day work and that starts with the leader. We try to create alignment between what we think, what we say, and what we do at Acceleration Partners and find people who share our values and vision. We have a differentiated point of view and realize that we can’t be all things to all people.

The people who love working here feel that alignment and integrity. Acceleration Partners is not for everyone, but I think anyone who realized it wasn’t the right choice would say that we are consistent and it just wasn’t the right place for them. I actually hope that why people love Acceleration Partners or find it not a fit are actually one and the same.

What kind of organizational structures or programs do you have in place to support employee satisfaction and culture?

One of our key cultural programs is our annual Acceleration Partners Summit, a four-day event filled with learning, socializing, team building activities and celebration for all we’ve accomplished as individuals and as a company throughout the year.

Prior to the last two Summits, we asked employees about their dreams and goals. I read every submission and surprised a group of people each year by making those dreams come true. These included making a financial contribution to a team member’s family to help him and his spouse realize their dream of adopting a child to reconnecting a team member living in London with a close cousin who had moved to Australia by flying her over to the UK for a visit.

How do you measure employee engagement or satisfaction? 

Every week we send out a question to team members via TINYpulse to receive anonymous feedback on a variety of topics. TINYpulse makes it easy to assess how our team feels about everything from their job and team members to what they’d like to see from the company’s leadership team as well as express any concerns they might have. This allows our leadership team to be in touch with the pulse of the organization and stay abreast of any issues.

We also measure an annual employee net promoter score and host regular town halls and team meetings where we ask for questions and feedback.

Because the Glassdoor award comes from employees’ reviews, we also asked Acceleration Partners’ staff to share what makes the company a great place to work.

“Acceleration Partners has a positive and collaborative work environment. Leadership is transparent and trusts its employees. There is a great amount of flexibility and great work-life balance.”

“The organization is growing exponentially and there’s a lot of opportunity for advancement and growth within positions. You’re encouraged to challenge yourself daily and be uncomfortable at times, knowing these challenges are helping you excel. I’ve discovered a passion that I didn’t know I had and would not have been given the opportunity to discover if it had not been for my position here.”

“Transparent leadership, strong work/life integration, a trustworthy community who care about your career growth.”

“Acceleration Partners is led by an honest and transparent leadership team, held together by awesome and amazingly talented people, and offers a flexible as well as an empowering work environment.”

“It is truly an honor to work with a leader whose vision is to not only encourage and inspire the digital marketing industry to be performance-based but who also wants to change the work-life paradigm so employees can feel fulfilled both inside and outside of work.”