High growth companies are usually hyper-focused on driving sales, revenue, traction and business development.
A company-wide yoga class? Improv lessons for the sales team? A manicure bar on a random Friday? Not exactly a priority.
But research shows those employee perks, events and rewards can actually create the culture that helps attract and retain the talent key to maintaining a high-growth company's momentum. A new Chicago startup, called Buoy, just launched to take the employee perks off a company's plate.
Buoy is an office perk service that aims to help companies improve culture. They facilitate experiences with vendors who offer events and perks in four categories (wellness, bonding/development, productivity/gifts, food/beverage), which range from yoga classes to mentorship programs to happy hours. The price varies depending on the activity (ranging from $6 per person to upwards of $80) and companies can choose to tap into Buoy perks weekly, quarterly, or just one-off perks to test the waters.
"To a high-growth startup, we can be a huge time saver and partner for the leaders of the company so they can focus on their product, while being able to make sure they’re fostering a cool workplace culture," said cofounder Liam Stanton. "For larger companies who have big quarterly events, we can take one more thing off their plate in a time crunch."
Stanton founded Buoy with his cofounder Chris Dobbins, after seeing their companies spend significant time and energy planning perks and events to improve company culture with varying levels of success. They figured a service that could provide that outside assistance would free up employees to do other work.
"Across the board, it’s rare that there is one person dedicated to planning these perks and experiences," he noted. "Usually it falls on someone’s lap who has a zillion other things to do, and using us can be a stress reliever for them."
Since launching in January, they've onboarded 101 vendors to their "Perk Partner" network, and done over 100 events with their client companies. They've signed up five companies so far, including Taylor Group, Arrive Logistics, Element Healthcare Partners and Redwood Logistics. Buoy negotiates deals with the vendors based off scale, and takes a cut of the savings they pass onto their clients. They're largely bootstrapped so far, Stanton added.
Improv classes have been the most popular perk so far, Stanton said. "It can vastly improve team collaboration, ability to think on your feet, and encourages a positive mindset," he pointed out. "It’s also something that people are usually not the most eager to try on their own, so when we bring it into their workplace, it’s a fun and engaging way for them to give it a try."
Stanton and Dobbins believe that as Millennials, who prefer purpose-driven workplaces that foster personal development, and are becoming the dominant population in the workforce, providing these perks and events will be key to keeping people happy in the workplace.
"We are out to help create workplaces where we’d want to work: cool spots where people have good relationships with each other and trust across levels," he said. "Our perks and experiences are designed to foster those types of workplaces. We aim to lessen the amount of Sunday scaries going on in the Chicago area."
