I started Audacity to create the company for which I always wanted to work. Humanity makes up a strand of our company DNA. We believe all people deserve to be treated with respect, from our suppliers and customers to every person on our team.
Our belief in humanity means we pay a living wage, and we don’t pay by the hour. I’m not interested in renting blocks of time. I’m interested in compensating the Audacity team for the value they bring to the organization, no matter the time needed to perform the job or when they choose to do it. We’re also creating an equity offering to allow the team to share in our mutual successes.
As you might imagine, this belief significantly impacts our team’s lives. As an example, one of the team hit me up because they unexpectedly needed to take their child to the doctor in the middle of the day. My response was, “Why are you telling me this?”
It’s not that I don’t care for their child’s welfare. I care for this team and their families very much. What I don’t care about is them taking time out of their day to do the things they need to do, as long as they get their jobs done. Of course, we need to know if a teammate will miss a meeting, but other than that, their time is their own. If I’ve hired you, I trust you to manage your own work and your own schedule.
There are also significant financial impacts on the team. One has been able to hire someone to help with domestic projects, allowing them to clear their head and their environment. Another has told me that for the first time they’ve been able to save an emergency fund. A third has just bought their first home.
But what does this have to do with your marketing?
Here’s the easy point: by paying a living wage, Audacity can hire and retain the best talent to work on your marketing. But let’s go even deeper.
We’re hiring the best talent. We’re not dictating their hours. They can afford to live and invest in themselves. We’re reducing both financial and personal stress in their lives.
Stress makes people nearly three times as likely to leave their jobs. It impairs their ability to think strategically. It reduces their creativity. You don’t have to take that from me; you can ask Harvard Business Review.
Consider the obverse. Because we’ve reduced the team’s stress by compensating fairly, the Audacity team is less likely to quit. That improves our clients’ marketing in two significant ways. The first is continuity. Our clients are likely to work with the same people throughout the life of their contracts. That team has a deeper understanding of our clients’ businesses and industries. The second is cost. Since we’re not incurring turnover costs, that allows us to pass that price break on to our clients, which likely offsets our higher compensation costs.
Less stress on the teams’ lives improves their ability to think strategically and creatively. Who doesn’t want better strategy and more creativity in their marketing?
John’s the founder of Audacity Marketing. When he’s not racing motorcycles, he’s building marketing strategies for Audacity clients and anyone else who’ll listen.
John’s worn all the marketing hats, from consultant to agency owner to executive to university professor. He’s held leadership roles in industries from staffing to behavioral health to capital-C consulting. He’s branded or rebranded over 100 companies.
John buttresses 25+ years in marketing with an MBA from Georgia State University.
John lives with his girlfriend Suzanne, his dog Seamus, and his daughter Annie when she shows up from college.