Q&A with Hirons
This month, we wanted to learn how our members engage with their employees. We spoke with GIPC Member Representative Deana Haworth, Chief Operating Officer for Hirons, to learn more about how the full-service advertising agency puts their staff at home plate!
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Hirons functions as an ESOP organization, what does that mean, and how did it start?
Tom Hirons founded the agency in 1978, immediately after graduating from Indiana University in Bloomington. Over the years, Hirons developed a reputation for excellence in the fields of advertising, public relations and digital. The company grew, first in Bloomington and later in Indianapolis, adding staff and capabilities to best accommodate industry trends and its growing list of clients.
As his career progressed, Tom sought to create a succession plan not only for the leadership of the company but also for the benefit of all current and future team members. This desire was the genesis of his decision to create an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, known as an “ESOP.” On Jan. 1, 2010, Tom sold 30% of his ownership shares to be held in trust and eventually distributed to all long-term team members via the ESOP.
An “ESOP” is a type of employee benefit that gives employees ownership interest in the company in the form of stock shares. You may hear executives at different companies talking about wanting their staff to be “invested” in their company’s success, but at Hirons, that’s much more than a talking point. Our employee-owners are, quite literally, invested in the company’s success. An ESOP acknowledges the reality that we are all dependent on each other to do the best we can do, as a team and as individuals.
Being an “ESOP” organization means Hirons’ employee owners stand to gain on multiple fronts from their hard work. It means Hirons’ clients see an unparalleled level of commitment from our team members when compared with other firms. It means that every person who visits Hirons for any reason doesn’t simply meet “employees,” they’re talking with the firm’s owners.
Like most ESOPs, Hirons’ annual distributions are tied to a vesting schedule in much the same way that employees at traditional firms need to work a set number of years to be vested in a retirement plan. And Hirons employee-owners don’t contribute personally to our ESOP, as it is fully funded by the company. We are rare in that we provide team members with both the ESOP and a 401(k) plan with matching funds.
The creation and maintenance of an ESOP is highly regulated by the federal government and our ownership trust account is run by a trustee who is legally mandated to manage the account in the best financial interest of our employee-owners. The trustee works with an independent appraiser to establish an annual stock value.
There’s a fair amount of work involved in establishing an ESOP, but we have found it to be a great fit with our firm’s values. On July 30 of this year, Hirons will celebrate 10 years of being 100% employee owned. That’s something we can—and will—all celebrate together.
What is the most rewarding aspect of being both an employee and an owner?
Employee-ownership has a noticeable impact on company culture. Every employee-owner at Hirons understands their individual power to increase Hirons’ share price based on the quality of their work. Everyone contributes to profitability, everyone can help control expenses, and no one is an island. There’s more incentive to build and sustain a positive work environment when you understand that your compensation and personal wealth depends not only on your own performance, but on the performance of your entire team. It creates a sense of interdependence that helps us be both more supportive of and more accountable to one another. But the most rewarding aspect, I think, is each of us knowing that our hard work doesn’t pay off for ourselves alone, it pays off for all the people we work with every day.
From Chili Cook-Offs to the Bat Award, your team is always finding ways to make the workplace fun! What has been a favorite activity for the team?
It’s hard to pick one favorite activity! For instance, we celebrate “Founder’s Day” every year in June. Tom Hirons and his wife, Julia, join us, we bring in (way too much) food, leadership expresses gratitude to staff, and we have a fun activity. In 2022, we worked with our client, the Indianapolis Indians, to have the Hirons team go to a daytime game together. The day of the celebration, we had just gotten to the ballpark when a sudden summer thunderstorm hit. The game was called off, most of us got drenched—but we still had a great time.
Could we have simply stayed in the office and ground out a couple more hours of work that afternoon? Sure. But giving our employee-owners a few hours “on the clock” to do something celebratory lets them know their hard work all the other days is seen and appreciated. And, in the long run, our team works better together because we spend the time to get to know each other.
What advice would you offer to GIPC Organizations who want to further engage with their employees?
My first piece of advice is this: engagement begins with recruitment. It’s easy, especially in a tight labor market, to feel the pressure of just hiring someone who can get a job done without thinking about whether that person’s values track with the company’s or what kind of coworker they’ll be and how they’ll fit into your existing team. Let’s face it, employees—even employee-owners—don’t get to choose their own coworkers. If you want to show your existing staff how much you value them, it’s well worth putting significant time and energy into hiring people who’ll be great coworkers to them. If your values are aligned, as individuals, as coworkers, and as a company, your people will want to engage with each other and with leadership.
My second piece of advice is to be intentional and persistent. Creating a positive workplace culture doesn’t happen overnight, and neither does planning those “fun” activities. Some of my staff would probably tell you they work harder planning some of those employee engagement days than they do on almost anything else! You have to be willing to give the time and resources to the effort, and know that it may take a few attempts before everyone is bought in.
Third, recognize hard work—routinely. Planning fun events isn’t enough. Don’t just tell employees their hard work and professional development matters, show them. At Hirons, we’ve created a regular cadence of employee recognition: weekly, monthly, and quarterly.
Every week, we solicit virtual “high fives” from employee-owners to their colleagues. For a team member to individually say “thank you” or “great job” to a teammate is important, but saying it publicly makes it much more meaningful. And deliberately taking time to do this each week creates an atmosphere in which gratitude and recognition are clearly valued, and a company where the mindset is to keep our eyes open to the great work of our colleagues.
Once a month, we share “kudos” from our employee-owners. Kudos are intended to recognize employee-owners for outstanding work that goes above and beyond even our own firm standards of “outthink, outwork, outperform.” We include kudos in our monthly newsletter and celebrate them during our quarterly owners’ meetings with a drawing for gift cards or other rewards.
Once a quarter, Hirons’ leadership presents “Bat Awards” to the employee/s who have scored a “home run” on behalf of our clients. Bat Award winners receive a custom Louisville Slugger baseball bat to recognize them as “heavy hitters” for Hirons.
My final piece of advice is don’t guess—ask! We survey our employee-owners. We ask them what kinds of things they want to do, what they like about our workplace culture, what’s missing for them, all of it. It may seem like extra work upfront, but it prevents a lot of false starts. Trying to engage people when you don’t know what really matters to them is wasted time. If you put in the effort to hear and understand them, you’ll be rewarded with a happier, more loyal team!
Anything else you would like to add?
Our mantra at Hirons is “Be Bold,” and that applies to more than just the day-to-day work. We want to hire bold people who have bold visions for our agency and our clients. We’ve crafted a bold strategy to engage employee-owners and built a culture where each of them can do great work and have fun doing it!