Corrigan Krause named one of Smart Business’ 2023 Culture Honorees
We Use Social Media
Sharing our culture on our social media platforms works as a constant cycle of authentic support for our staff, giving them public recognition for the hard work they perform every day. This support, in turn, cultivates the culture we’re so proud of. Our followers, who include current, former and future employees, clients, prospects, and more, see our posts, strengthening their understanding of the excellent workforce Corrigan Krause has. After all, it’s the people at Corrigan Krause who make our culture.
In addition to our staff, we also feature the creative perks and benefits that are integral to our culture. During our busy tax season, we hold stress busters like “power hour” where we bring a cart of snacks and drinks around to everyone’s desk for an afternoon pick up, corn hole and putt-putt contests for some friendly competition, and we bring in meals so our staff doesn’t have to worry about planning all their meals for the week. Outside of the office, we host deadline celebrations, employee golf outings, family fun events, and a holiday party. We use social media to share the comradery these events develop.
We Communicate
Communication is absolutely key to our culture, both internally and externally.
Our internal communication efforts are driven by employee engagement. When our staff boots up their computers for the day, the home page for their internet browser is Corrigan Krause’s intranet. The page is set up with scrolling images that link out to more information, a newsfeed, quick links to documents and programs, and, most popularly, the scrolling slides of personal “out of office” photos our staff. All of this content is submitted and maintained by our staff, ensuring that it is the exactly information they need to not only successfully meet the need of our clients, but also stay connected with each other. Celebrating a son’s first piano recital, a daughter’s college graduation, or a new puppy joining a family, our team cares about what is going on outside the office in the lives of their colleagues.
Communicating externally is also important to Corrigan Krause. We take great pride in the content we create and share on our four social media platforms – LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We highlight all that our wonderful staff does – promotions, community involvement, panelist appearances, etc. It is all shared with our followers to show we support our staff as they grow and develop into experts and leaders.
We also connect with our newsletter subscribers through regular email blasts. From general interest to information specific to our specialty areas, we send out important information aimed at keeping our subscribers up to date on the latest accounting and industry news, deadline reminders, and Corrigan Krause-sponsored events. These emails serve as a way to keep in touch with our subscribers, without any sales requests. Part of our culture includes educating our subscribers and reminding them that Corrigan Krause is ready to assist with anything they might need.
We Built a Hybrid Culture
After abruptly moving to 100% remote work like much of the rest of the country for the majority of 2020, Corrigan Krause piloted a hybrid work schedule for our staff. This program proved so beneficial to both the effectiveness and happiness of our staff, that it is now an official, long-term policy at Corrigan Krause. Our culture of communication allowed open dialogue between leadership and staff so, even when many were being asked to return to the office full time, our team could continue working the schedule that worked best for them where it worked best for them.
This flexibility allows our team members to prioritize their families and personal lives, just as Corrigan Krause prioritizes our staff. Our culture is built on prioritizing a real work/life balance and cementing our hybrid work model is just the latest tool we leverage to ensure our staff is supported both in and outside the office. In the past year, we’ve had two staff members need to work from remote locations for part of the year and another need to work days at the hospital as they supported a parent through chemotherapy. Our hybrid policy allowed these staff members to not only stay a part of the team, but seamlessly connected to their supportive colleagues.
Our firm headquarters also supports our hybrid work model. It is an open, bright, single-floor layout that makes it much easier to collaborate across departments and get to know more team members more deeply, but it also has dedicated Zoom rooms and state-of-the-art technology to enhance virtual meetings.
Our Culture Impacts the Success of Our Firm
The focus of our firm is on ensuring the health and happiness of our employees. We believe this positively impacts our clients – the key to our success as a company – in a number of ways.
Our culture has a direct impact on retention and, in the thick of “the great resignation”, we had incredibly high employee retention. The tenure of our staff also remains high – over 25% of our staff has been with the firm ten years or longer. The longer our team members stay with us, the better the bond our team has and the better we can serve our clients and grow as a firm.
Our culture allows an intern to knock on a director’s door at any given time and an appointment to meet is not always necessary. This policy contributes to transparency and all team members feeling comfortable to not only provide feedback and express concerns, but also approach anyone and any level at the firm. Our leaders want to hear from our younger staff.