Communication Arts creative on hiring, too

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a four-part series looking at how Boulder County companies in different fields hire and retain employees in an increasingly tight labor market.

BOULDER — Although Communication Arts hires a lot of artists and designers, traditionally an under-employed field, company President Janet Martin says finding employees in today’s tight labor market is still a struggle.
“It’s a constant challenge. You have to be ever-vigilant.”
Communication Arts is a Boulder-based architecture and design firm that is known regionally for its work on the Pearl Street Mall, Boulder Crossroads and with Westminster’s Promenade. The company has an impressive list of clients worldwide, however, including the National Basketball Association, The Taubman Co., The Rouse Co. and United Artists. Martin hired 15 employees in 1999, expanding the total number of workers to 75.
Martin receives about 10 portfolios a week from designers and architects interested in working at Communication Arts. She says about 50 percent of the company’s new hires come directly from colleges and universities.
Communication Arts makes its presence known at local universities through lectures and critique sessions. The company also has internship programs with the University of Colorado, the University of Arizona, the University of Cincinnati and Syracuse University.
“Internships offer us a greater recruiting reach into the student population,” Martin says.
Communication Arts offers six paid internships a year and frequently hires interns after they graduate. About three to five students apply for each internship, Martin says.
The company also has standing advertisements in trade magazines and professional journals.
While Communication Arts generally has a pool of applicants to choose from for its professional jobs, that’s not the case when it comes to support staff.
“Over the years we’ve tried most everything,” Martin says.
Finding employees who are willing to work for less than $25,000 a year is difficult in Boulder, where housing costs are high. Martin says she offers competitive salaries and benefits, which include a 401(k), fully paid health insurance and disability insurance.
But sometimes that isn’t enough. Martin relies on temporary agency employees for about 50 percent of her support staff hires. Many agencies allow a company to hire a temp after 30 days of contracting with the agency. Although this can be expensive, since the company has to pay the agency fee on top of the temp’s salary, there are benefits.
In essence, the time while the worker is employed by the temp agency can be a trial period, Martin says. Temporary agencies also check references and screen employees.
Once an employee signs on with Communication Arts, the company has some creative ways of keeping him or her around.
Communication Arts offers a bonus plan based on project performance. The bonuses come out of a pool based on net profitability and can be in the thousands of dollars, Martin says.
In addition, the company gives each employee a $300 yearly education or books allowance and tries to send as many workers as possible to seminars, conferences and project openings.
One employee each year receives Communication Arts’ Eames Fellowship, which allows two weeks of travel and a research stipend. In 1998, the winner studied in Copenhagen; last year’s winner went to Rome.
There are also company parties and picnics, along with a night at the movies and an annual billiards bash. There are corporate gifts such as hats and fleece jackets and vests. During stressful times, the company pays for in-chair massages for workers. Martin also makes sure there’s food in the refrigerator.
“Ice cream sandwiches are a big hit,” she jokes.
But none of these perks are single-handedly going to keep employees around, Martin admits. Rather, they help create a corporate culture, and that’s what makes workers happy.
“We try to create a culture that’s about respect and acknowledgment of the individual and the team,” she says. “We try to treat people with clarity and fairness.”
If all that fails, Communication Arts has a few intangibles going for it. First of all, Martin points out, the company has been in business for over 25 years.
“We’re an established company. I think people respond to that,” she says.
Another plus is that Communication Arts works on projects that sometimes get a lot of publicity. Some employees are lured by the company’s artsy atmosphere and the prestige associated with working with big projects and winning awards and contests.
But being located in Boulder is only a slight advantage, Martin says.
“Many young designers would prefer a large metro area, but the older designers like it here.”