When Rick Eiserman became CEO of the Southern California
branch of Young & Rubicam Brands, the advertising and marketing agency’s conference room was almost entirely filled by a massive wooden table.
The table was where the agency’s executives met and did business with its senior clients, and 40 people could fit around it.
Not surprisingly, it caused quite a stir when Eiserman ordered it
taken out. The table, which had to be disassembled to move it
out of the boardroom, was rebuilt in a large open area of the
organization, where it became a lunch table — and more often
than not, a dinner table.
“When we’re in the middle of a huge amount of work or if we’re in
the middle of a new business pitch, that’s where we gather at night
so people aren’t away in their offices, just working,” he says. “We’re
getting together, we’re sharing and building that culture, that community of the agency.”
Eiserman moved the table to send a message to his employees. He
wanted a strong company culture to help his branch of Y&R Brands,
which pulled in more than $400 million in billings in 2007, stand out
in a global company that has 182 offices in 82 countries. As a result,
the culture has become a major factor in the attraction and retention
of talented employees.
Here’s how he turned Y&R Brands So Cal into a tightly knit community.