Core Values Impact Company Culture 10.27.2011
DEVLINHAIR Productions, Inc. is a boutique agency that expands and decompresses our project staff to proactively solve our clients’ immediate and long term needs. Based on this business model, Dorothy Devlin and Barbara Hair have been hiring best-in-class freelancers for more than 20 years. Now more than ever, the competition is fierce to maintain and cultivate the premium freelance pool. And it’s not just about the money, because freelancers typically charge the same rate to similar companies requesting the same type of work. It all comes down to company culture.
With whom do you want to spend the majority of your work day? That’s a question we ask our clients at pitches, a question we ask ourselves at DEVLINHAIR when looking for quality freelancers and a question the freelancers ask themselves when more than one opportunity presents itself. We’ve been told many times, it’s the culture at DEVLINHAIR that brings freelancers and clients back again and again. The reinforcement of how important company culture truly is came to light after DEVLINHAIR employees, as a company, read “Delivering Happiness,” by Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh. Although the book is chock full of many lessons any business can use to improve itself, the pages that were spent on the importance of a company’s culture, i.e. it’s brand, was very enlightening. In fact, Hsieh says, “At Zappos, our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff-like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers-will happen naturally on its own.”
Much like Zappos, DEVLINHAIR has formally defined our culture and brand, through our core values: 1. Integrity, Honesty and Respect 2. Give 110% to Our Clients, Each Other And Ourselves, 3. Inspire Creative Thinking and 4. Be Irresistible. These core values are not only shared by DEVLINHAIR staff employees but by our freelance staff aswell. We are committed to hiring and firing individuals based on their ability to commit to these values as they define our company culture.
At DEVLINHAIR, our freelancers are our part of our foundation. We not only work to hire the best of the best, but to have them coming back again and again, like our clients. In fact, in many ways they are our clients as well. DEVLINHAIR believes our culture is most important and the reason why we are able to maintain our high level of talent from the freelance community.