The pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty when it comes to going back to the office, but Boston-based Hill Holliday has come up with a new way of working that it believes will transition it into the future.
The growing agency, which notched seven new wins since the end of 2021 in the healthcare sector alone, has adopted a “wherever and however” work policy and opened a new hybrid-enabled headquarters to accommodate those working from home with new technologies. It’s hired 41 new people and filled four newly created leadership roles. And it’s undertaking its first major rebrand since opening in 1968.
“It's a whole mix of things, it's not one thing,” said Hill Holliday CEO Karen Kaplan. “We're kind of changing everything up at once, which I think is really, really exciting.
Enter the 2022 Small Agency Awards at AdAge.com/SAA2022
'Wherever and however'
Since the start of the pandemic, Hill Holliday began allowing the 600 staffers in its network to work “wherever and however,” but it wasn’t until this year that it officially implemented the new policy. As part of the program, staffers can work on the west coast or anywhere in the world. It also gives employees the opportunity to choose between being fully remote, hybrid or fully in the office.
While the opportunity to work outside of Boston—or its New York and Greenville, South Carolina offices—is an option, Kaplan says time zones can be tricky to navigate and if possible she would prefer people to be within driving distance to the offices or within reasonable time zones. But she added: “We’re letting people figure out what works best for them and meeting them where they are."
"My motto is magnet, not mandate," said Kaplan. "We’re trying to create these opportunities for people to reconnect in the way they want to.”
Right now, 10% to 15% of its staff are fully remote, 15% are fully in the office and the rest are somewhere in between doing a couple days a week in person, according to Kaplan.