People all over the country are debating President Biden’s proposed student debt relief plan. But Connelly Partners, a marketing and advertising agency based in Boston, made a decision about the crisis long ago. 

“There was a startup here in Boston that was headed up by a classmate of mine from Babson years ago,” said Steve Connelly, founder, president and copywriter at Connelly Partners. “He saw this giant hole in the market around the weight of student loans, how it was not just weighing down the economy, but it was also weighing down the mental energy of the kids that are accumulating these massive hunks of debt.”

Connelly Partners began working with that startup, called Gradifi, in 2016. The program is aimed at employers with the goal of helping their staffers achieve financial wellness. “We started working with him in the early stages to brand it and launch it; and then we became one of the very first clients,” said Connelly, whose agency's client stable also includes golf brand Titleist and Gorton’s Seafood.

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The agency began by paying down its own staffers' student debt. “Any employees that come in with student debt, we set up this account to pay their debt directly—so it doesn't go to the actual student, it goes to the lender. We kick off the program by paying $1,000, and then we contribute $100 a month to their student loans,” said Dana Wantman, Connelly’s chief client and integration officer. 

Those funds aren’t coming out of a paycheck pre-tax—they’re coming out of Connelly’s own pocket. Since the program started, the agency has spent “just north of” $325,000” to reduce student debt, Wantman said. 

Unusual employee benefits at the agency don’t stop there. Connelly offers a program called CP Abroad, which allows staffers to work in its Boston, Dublin and Vancouver offices.

With the CP Abroad program, agency employees can choose to live and work in any of those offices for up to three months per year—and their round-trip flights and accommodations are paid for. 

Additionally, Connelly has an employee recognition program that was revamped this year, according to Chief Creative Officer Alyssa Toro. “We redid our milestone programs,” Toro explained. “So at five and 15 years, you can take a one-month sabbatical. That was very purposeful because it’s hard to get people in the agency business … to stay more than five years.”

If an employee stays at the company for a decade, the agency sends them to Bermuda for a long weekend. And at 20 and 25 years, employees get a seven-day, all-expenses-paid vacation to a place of their choice. 

“All of these benefits that we’re talking about really stem back to our company values, which are curiosity, ambition, integrity and empathy,” Toro said.

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