We’re having a collective digital “cheers” to the 2019 Bespoke Communications Awards winners over the next few weeks.
Meet Covet PR, our winner for the “Best Agency to Work For” award. Covet PR is a national public relations firm devoted to healthy consumer food, beverage, beauty and lifestyle brands. In addition to creating amazing campaigns for disruptive brands in the CPG space, the ladies over at Covet go out of their way to make sure their team can have a work-life balance. Our judges were impressed with their generous PTO, 401k program and of course, summer Friday hours.
Winning the 2019 Bespoke Communication Award for Best Agency to Work for feels indescribable! It is a true reflection of the investment we have made in our talented team, culture and bi-coastal office integration. So how will we celebrate? With a heartfelt toast of gratitude and a chilled glass of bubbly in hand!
At Covet PR we’re most excited to put our inspired efforts towards growing the clean CPG space, bringing better-for-you products into the homes of consumers worldwide. An industry trend on our radar is the decline in consumer trust resulting from the distraction and inundation of the “fake news” surge. Because of this, setting ourselves apart as leading industry experts backed by the story-telling component of PR remains more paramount than ever.
We are by no means a ping pong table and keg beer culture, so we have forged our own path to offer what is of value to the unique and talented team we employ.
Always! With presence now in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and San Diego, we’re working behind the scenes to build out new service offerings to offer clients.
With the rise of social media in this digital age, the line between public relations, brand marketing, and influencer relations has blurred. In order to stand apart as industry leaders, we value talent that can pivot efficiently to meet market and client needs. As we see more and more crossover in the fields listed above, innovation is of the essence. We keep this notion top of mind in order to be forward thinking as an integrated agency, offering services beyond traditional media relations, strategy, and execution.
Internal processes We manage and monitor hours very closely as a company, with the sole purpose of being able to allow our employees the ability to achieve work/life balance (a rarity in our industry!)
We factor in each person’s account load, internal hours, responsibilities as a manager, and PTO so that we are realistic in our expectations of employees and can allow them to leave their work at home in pursuit of whatever they are most passionate about. Allowing for schedule flexibility is also an internal procedure we embrace to let people take care of themselves and their lives in real-time.
If someone has to go to the dentist, pick up a prescription, or go to the DMV for an appointment during normal business hours, they are empowered to do so whenever the need arises so they can come back to work with their mind right and feeling their best self!
Robust benefits offerings Working in our niche gives us the unique opportunity to be surrounded by all things health and wellness all the time. But that doesn’t automatically mean we are the healthiest, fittest, most zen people on the planet (we still work in PR, duh.) However, to combat the day-to-day stress that comes from putting out client fires, and the fatigue from pouring your heart and soul into this industry, we offer the richest benefits of any small to midsize PR agency in the country.
We factor in each person’s account load, internal hours, responsibilities as a manager, and PTO so that we are realistic in our expectations of employees and can allow them to leave their work at home in pursuit of whatever they are most passionate about.
Outside of formal benefits offerings like medical insurance, generous PTO, and stipends for parking and transit, we offer generous leave policies, a 401k match program, and flexible schedule options during Summer and on Fridays to reward our staff for all of their hard work.
Additionally, we make a point to poll our staff twice a year to get direct feedback on the types of benefits that drive them to do great work and incentivize them to grow with us.
We are by no means a ping pong table and keg beer culture, so we have forged our own path to offer what is of value to the unique and talented team we employ.
The impact on employee retention We are so fortunate to have had some of the best PR talent out there to support this agency and its client roster over the course of the past 4 years.
And while employee turnover is the reality facing every company – especially those with startup roots – we have managed to retain talent well beyond what statistics show (in our industry, and among millennials) due to our sound process and robust benefits offerings.
In continuing to roll out competitive and industry-leading benefits, we have recruited amazing talent from agencies of all sizes and from all markets that are proof that our employee experience is truly like no other.
Generous PTO (not unlimited) Unlimited PTO is something we have intentionally avoided out of the desire to truly give our employees their PTO as time OFF. Often times, unlimited PTO policies cause employees to either have to work while they are traveling, or worse, work excessively long hours before and after PTO to prep for and catch up from their trips.
As publicists, we are generally always plugged in (the news never sleeps) and on call for clients. So when people want to enjoy time off to travel, be with their loved ones, or simply relax and unplug, we want work to be the last thing on their mind so they can be present and invest their time in themselves.
As such, we offer 15+ days of PTO annually (which increases with tenure), as well as ample paid holidays and office closures to support a healthy balance of work and life. Flexible working hours It is important for us to be flexible to the needs of our staff and instill trust in our teams to do what it takes to get the results their clients are looking for.
This is why we offer remote flexibility once a week and allow employees to take time out of their busy days to tend to their personal needs without having to request time off.
Additionally, in the Summer months, we close our offices at 3 pm on Fridays to allow employees to enjoy the weekend a little early (especially since all of our media friendlies are well on their way to the Hamptons by then.) 401k match program One of the most unique characteristics of our business is that we happen to employ an all-female, almost entirely millennial workforce.
Because of this, we view our HR department as a resource to help educate employees on things like family planning, wellness options, and financial wellness.
One of the ways we do this is by teaching them the importance of saving early and often to build a better life for themselves once they leave the workforce to enjoy life and time with their family.
Early in Covet PR’s life, we began offering a retirement savings plan benefit with a dollar-for-dollar match of up to 4% to all staff. This has become an increasingly popular benefit that most companies in our industry and of our size do not offer.
Our survival must-haves would be a STRONG coffee, our precious laptops, our cell phones for those client emergencies, some of our favorite beauty products to be camera-ready at a moments notice, tons of snacks (we go 50/50 on healthy choices and guilty pleasures) in case we have to jet, and a loud fully charged speakers to pump out our favorite tunes and keep us energized throughout the day.
