Great Entrepreneurial Place to Work

Founded: 2006

Employees: 25

What they do: Independent NYC-based communications agency specializing in business-to-business public relations.

Why it’s great: Before founding DiGennaro Communications (DGC), Samantha DiGennaro had a lot of experience working at big PR agencies. While she may have loved what she was doing, she says the companies felt “soulless.” 

To create a warm and exciting environment, the loft-style offices of DGC have a ping-pong table, a Nintendo Wii, and wine night on Fridays. The company also has a social committee that plans team activities like bowling and trips to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. DGC is emphatic about celebrating success. One method of recognizing achievements made by the staff is “The Hit Board,” a spot in the office where team members can post their greatest accomplishments for the month. On the last day of each month, all the employees gather around the wall, vote on the top “hit” and award prizes to the top three. Prizes have included $30 dollar gift card to Best Buy for top prize $10 Starbucks for runners up. The team then awards a “hit of the year” at year’s end. 

The company also has an incentive for any new business leads created solely by an employee. DGC will pay 10 percent of all net fees collected from the new business. All DGC employees also are eligible for annual discretionary bonuses. In 2010, DGC awarded every single employee a bonus. DGC provides 100 percent of the equivalent of single person coverage of medical, dental, and eye care. They also offer a 401K plan with 4 percent corporate matching. 

DiGennaro also feels it is important to be flexible with her employees and treat them exactly how she wished she was treated by her previous employers. To that end, DGC considers itself a family-friendly company, and offers flexible work schedules for employees, based on their own individual needs. A couple of her employees currently work from home and split their time between home and office in order to attend to childcare needs.