Most companies recruit and retain employees using a common assortment of benefits including competitive living wages, access to free or affordable healthcare, a 3% match on retirement, staff appreciate celebrations, and paid professional training. However, a few of Durango’s best businesses really stand out thanks to some extra creative perks and exceptional employee investment strategies. Interestingly, this spare-no-expense approach may have beneficial ripple-effects across the wider community.
Reward Expertise
With seven decades in business, Wagon Wheel Liquors has a reputation to uphold. No surprise owners James Dempsey and Christi Williams invest a lot in staffing their store with experts. “We start people at a wage that is higher than is what they would get at another place,” Dempsey notes. As a result, their team possesses a combined century’s worth of knowledge about wine, beer, spirits, and liquor!
But the most standout benefit may be the unlimited paid time off. The official policy is: take the time you need and cover your shifts. Employees value the peace of mind knowing they can step away from work to manage their lives or recuperate on vacation.
But, what keeps employees firmly rooted at the store has little to do with money. Instead, it’s the positive, supportive culture they love. “You get treated well. You’re respected,” says wine buyer Scottie Wells.
Little Treats a Big Deal
Treats. Turns out, they aren’t just for pups. They’re also a big deal for the people serving in doggie day care and pet boarding! “There’s a lot of burnout in animal care,” attests Stacy Sutton, owner of Willow Tree Kennels. Since opening operations in 1982, the company has found myriad ways to treat its employees with compassion and respect.
Creative perks include tip sharing, work bonuses, flexible schedules, plus additional benefits like free dog food for senior staff and all employees enjoy free boarding or daycare for their doggies. And then there are the gifts! WTK employees receive the perfect tools to boost job performance and satisfaction. Fanny packs, hats, jackets, and rope leashes are great for the puppy playground.
Like Sutton, most WTK team members started at the kennels as teens. She credits her own and others’ long tenures to the intentional efforts to train, mentor, and nurture the young, emerging workforce.
Be Nice to People
Payroll processing and HR solutions are highly technical services, heavy on legal compliance. And while most processing companies are replacing human employees with AI bots, The Payroll Department, Inc. is doubling down on human as a service. That is, people helping people run successful businesses.
“You can’t have good customer experience without good employee experience,” says CEO Michael Hennon. To attract and appease top talent, TPD doubles the conventional retirement match, provides a monthly HSA contribution plus an annual wellness stipend to purchase gym memberships or fitness equipment. Paid time off for birthdays and volunteering, free bi-weekly yoga at the office, retreats packed with rafting or ax-throwing, hot springs, plus professional enrichment training—the perks trickle ever on!
The bulk of these perks date back to TPD’s founding in 1993. Owner Bryan Dear’s core philosophy of BNTP (Be Nice to People) has enabled the company to balloon from a staff of three to a team of 21 employees serving over 900 clients!
Perk Up Leadership
For Joe Lloyd, CEO and founder of Durango Joe’s Coffee, nothing fills his cup quite like shaping the next generation of leaders. More than a casual sippery, the local coffee house actually serves as an epicenter for savvy business and leadership training thanks to its innovative DJU—Durango Joe’s University.
“We don’t have management positions at Durango Joe’s; we have leadership positions,” Lloyd explains, noting that management skills largely boil down to organizational talent. Leadership is vastly different and must be ingrained.
Founded in 2004, Durango Joe’s has blossomed to multiple locations run by roughly 170 employees—the majority between ages of 17 and 23, working part-time. Lloyd does not shy away from hiring less experienced young people. Nor does he mind that the barista gig may only be a stepping stone to some other career. Lloyd loves seeing his baristas go on to become successful architects, doctors, bankers, or entrepreneurs who all acquired transferrable skills and a work ethic as robust as any dark roast all while behind the coffee counter.
Value Quality
What happens when dudes brewing beer in the garage churn out award-winning beverages paired with exceptional food? You get a fun work atmosphere hyper-focused on quality. What began as Steamworks Brewing Company swiftly expanded into Peak Food and Beverage Co., which now also umbrellas the original flagship plus El Moro Spirits and Tavern, and Home Slice Pizza.
According to HR Director Lisa Blue, Peak coordinates some 300 employees. Typically, turnover and burnout run high in hospitality and food service. Peak bucks this trend by enabling employees to own shares in the business, affording them equity in profits and voting rights. At present, Peak is 40% employee-owned with a super stable management whose tenures span 15-20 years.
“Our team really believes in taking care of employees,” Blue says. This care is also evident in Peak’s annual brag-worthy employee appreciation week, complete with a Wheel of Fortune big prize giveaway!
Spread the Love
Judging by the evidence, investments bolstering rich connections across the team have the greatest impact on retention. Happy employees can deliver outstanding service with leftover fuel in the tank to enjoy family, friends, and hobbies. At the end of the day, that’s a boon to the whole community.
...what keeps employees firmly rooted...has little to do with money. Instead, it’s the positive, supportive culture they love.