Reference no: EM133355490

Assignment:

T3 is an independent advertising agency launched by Gay Warren Gaddis in Austin, Texas, in 1989. It has grown rapidly, thanks to Gaddis's ability to stay in front of tumultuous advertising and marketing changes. Traditional agencies have approached their work by considering ads on the air or in newspapers and magazines. In contrast, Gaddis and her staff have specialized in developing integrated campaigns that harness all the ways to communicate about a brand, including communication via the web. Innovation continues to be a company value.

The company's careers web page says T3 looks for "Great thinkers. Individuals with curious, open minds. Relentless problem-solvers constantly looking for new, often unconventional, solutions." The company is structured without the boundaries that traditionally separate functions in the advertising world, so employees can bring their perspectives together to solve client problems. That innovative spirit has not been limited to advertising. Gaddis also thinks creatively about managing her firm's human resources. Six years after starting T3, Gaddis observed that four of her key employees were all pregnant at about the same time. If they all proceeded in the traditional way, taking a few months' leave, Gaddis would be scrambling to keep her agency running without them. So, Gaddis decided to try something unusual: She told the four employees they were welcome to bring their babies to work. While some big companies establish on-site daycare, Gaddis simply counted on the employees to work flexibly in the presence of their children.

Many people would assume that babies at work would be a distracting environment, but the new program was a success. T3 kept the policy in place and even gave it a name: T3 and Under. So far, 80 babies have come to work at one point or another. Gaddis says parents are so appreciative that they try extra hard to make the arrangement work. One such parent, Emily Dalton, feels reassured by being able to just swivel her chair when she wants to check on her baby: "You are not worrying," she told a newspaper reporter, "You are being spit up on, but you are not . . . calling somewhere to check on your child." She admits that she has to be extra flexible when her baby, Annie, is awake but adds, "I powerhouse when she sleeps."

When the babies reach nine months or start to crawl, the parents are expected to make daycare arrangements. Bringing babies to work is, of course, only one employee benefit. T3, which now has offices in New York and San Francisco as well as the one in Austin, offers medical, dental, and vision insurance; various life insurance policies; disability insurance; a 401(k) plan; paid time for vacations, holidays, and sick leave; and discounts on gym memberships and cell phone plans. There are also some other unusual benefits: breakfast on Mondays, candy on Fridays, a book club, and a "bring your dog to work" policy. As for this last policy, the T3 website comments, "While we do not have hard metrics on what [dogs] do for our creativity or productivity, we believe they play a part in adding balance to what can be a very unbalanced business."

Advertising may be an "unbalanced" business, but so far, T3 seems to be coping well enough. Furthermore, T3's fearless leader, Gay Warren Gaddis, was named Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year for Central Texas in 2014.

QUESTIONS

1- Of the employee benefits mentioned in this case, which do you think are essential for keeping a creative workforce engaged at T3?

2- What are some advantages of the agency's T3 and Under policy? What are some of the risks? How can the company address those risks?

3- At what other kinds of companies, if any, do you think a "bring your baby to work" policy might be effective as an employee benefit? Why?