Agency Culture

As Dedicated to Our Staff As We Are to Our Clients

A few years ago at an agency off-site, one of our senior managers posed a simple yet provocative question: Are we as devoted to our employees as we are to our clients? The answer of course was yes, and staying true to that promise became an internal DeVries mantra from that day forward.

The proof of our agency culture is in the minds and hearts of the staff themselves, so we check in with them from time to time to see what they think. This word cloud was created from the top ten responses in a recent employee survey asking, “How would you describe the DeVries culture?”

Being dedicated to our employees means creating a culture where individual differences are not only respected but celebrated. Where training and development opportunities are ample. Where the mood is “disciplined informality” – buttoned-up when we need to be without ever losing our sense of humor or fun. It’s a jeans policy five days a week, because we trust our employees to be “client-ready” when they have to be. It’s one of the most generous time-off policies in the industry.

It means inter-division happy hours and a much-loved annual holiday party open to dates and spouses. It’s recognizing the desire of our staff to make a difference in the world and empowering them to do so through an ongoing agency relationship with Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, in which our staff mentor high school girls. It’s the DeVries Summer Service Day, our newest agency tradition, one in which we partner with local charity NY Cares for a day of community service followed by a celebratory get-together for the entire agency.

At DeVries we support the lives our employees have outside the office. Respecting work/life balance is a core tenet of our management philosophy, which means telecommuting and flexible schedules are a viable option for many employees.