#17 Razorfish
As Generation Y has entered the workforce, the workplace has found itself adapting to different concepts of what constitutes a positive work environment. For marketing agency Razorfish, who proudly states it was "born digital," there has always been an understanding of work 2.0--and Gen Y feels right at home as a result.
"Our clients come to us and expect us to be experts in social media," says Group VP and Client Partner Bryan Van Dyke. "We use the space to understand thinking for our clients, so people [at Razorfish] have Facebook up and they'll be talking and posting. It's not only encouraged, it's expected."
Employees utilize Twitter, too. "We use Twitter to put out a lot of marketing promotions--if we get written up, we have people that Tweet about it," says Molly Chapa, Recruiting Coordinator. Adds Information Architect Michael Gunn, "My boss tweets from the road about meetings and presentations so I know what's going on with him."
Of course, there's a lot more going on at Razorfish than Tweeting. The 200 or so people in the Chicago office turn out award-winning campaigns at lightning speed. "I'm constantly being challenged," says Gunn. "I work with a lot of different people, and everybody has the same goal in mind: to create great work."
One of the ways the work is achieved is by keeping everyone up to speed on the state of the company and its goals. Once a month, Razorfish holds "town hall meetings," where a series of topics are discussed, work is presented, problems and the outcomes are communicated and information is shared with the opportunity to ask questions. "I'm part of a group that meets a couple times a month to discuss and improve different activities," says Van Dyke. "Employee surveys are sent out to improve all areas across the office. We then have meetings and present the results. We plan social events that allow us to learn about different groups and to get to know each other to collaborate in the future."
Collaboration, communication, Twitter--these are the elements of the new workplace, and for employees at Razorfish, it feels like home.
