AdAge Best Places to Work 2021: Thoughts on a Big Honor
Published: January 12, 2021
Author: Laura Rodnitzky
It goes without saying that 2020 was a challenging year for all of us. Since early March, we have dramatically shifted our lives in the face of a global pandemic, grieved the loss of family and friends, confronted the realities of systemic racism and our role in maintaining or dismantling it, and lived with the tension of economic and political uncertainty. In the workplace and at home, we’ve learned to take nothing for granted.
And in a week when we learned we were once again ranked near the top of Ad Age’s Best Places to Work (2021), I’ve never been prouder to be part of 3Q.
In the workplace, we had to find new ways to support our teams and individuals, build community, and onboard new 3Qers in a fully virtual world. We led by our values: Accept No Limits, Act for the Greater Good, Be Inclusive, and Own It. And we encouraged and responded to feedback from all parts of the organization to help meet challenges as they arose. This happened on a number of levels that involved every single 3Qer:
- We adjusted our perks and benefits to enable team members to build out their home gyms, create ergonomic home office set-ups, purchase air purifiers during the fires that ravaged the West Coast, buy light therapy lamps, continue to get snacks and weekly lunches at home, and alleviate the unexpected costs of child care for working parents as schools closed.
- We created new training curricula around stress management and change management to help employees navigate uncertainty, and we created new resources on remote management, psychological safety, and team leadership to support our people managers.
- We held monthly Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Town Halls to discuss topics ranging from values-based leadership to implicit bias to the history of racism in America, and we asked 3Qers to be open and vulnerable in challenging discussions about race, racism, and belonging.
We also saw 3Qers lead efforts to support each other and our larger communities. I am proud of the many ways 3Q team members translated our values into action, stepping up in 2020: to create new and unique opportunities for connection and collaboration (like trivia events and a pet gift swap), to continue having important discussions on DE&I (through the diversity book club and the #diversity Slack channel), and to support each other (raising funds to help a team member’s family cover medical costs) and support others (employee-led donations provided funding to 15 organizations fighting for social justice or supporting underserved communities, and pro bono marketing efforts contributed to a handful of organizations focused on social justice).
While I can’t wait until the time we are able to be back together in person, I am confident that the resilience, kindness, and openness of 3Qers will allow us to continue to grow stronger, even while we are physically apart. As always, I am proud to be surrounded by so many wonderful human beings and look forward to continuing to grow and do great things together.
