Ingram's May 2023

SMALL COMPANIES

CLOVER & HIVE Here’s an employee benefit you don’t just find anywhere: While its mission is to help prospective buyers get into a new home, Lee’s Summit-based Clover & Hive has a program to help employees purchase new homes of their own. That’s merely one example of how this subsidiary of Summit Homes, the region’s biggest home-builder, is consistently thinking of innovative ways to improve not only busi ness, but the team member experience. And it seems to be working: In each of the past two years’ annual engagement surveys, the custom builder has had 100 percent participation from the firm’s 30 employ ees. “We put a heavy focus on management practices, which our team finds is one of our best practices,” says Kyle King, division manager. “As leaders, we focus on the team member as a person and what they can bring to the team on an individual basis. That’s done by having weekly or bi-weekly touch-base gatherings and quarterly connection meetings that focus on goals and personal development by having a casual, off-site meeting with their leader. “In this, we are keeping a pulse on individual development and continued growth to ensure that we are enhancing the ability to be ready when advancement opportunities arise,” King says. “We feel this helps with communica tion by building trust and knowing their leader has their best inter ests in mind.” Clover & Hive also has monthly town hall and quar terly planning meetings that bring the entire team together to offer up-to-date communication and help plan the quarterly goals for their department and the entire organization. With training and develop

ERISE IP If the leadership at Erise IP keeps this up, we’ll have to redefine “workplace”—the traditional understanding of what constitutes “work” isn’t entirely holding up there. For starters, this intellec tual property-rights law firm allows employees to choose when and where they will work to accomplish client goals. Employees receive fully paid health insurance and up to 12 weeks of paid maternity and paternity leave. Erise also closes its office between Christmas and New Year’s Day, a separate time-off benefit from standard vaca tion days provided to employees. In addition, Erise has no specific sick-time allotment. If an employee is sick or needs to care for a sick family member, they can either work from home or take time off. Those are pretty attractive features one might expect at a resource rich megacorporation; this Overland Park firm is doing it with a staff of 46. Taking an enterprise from a startup to a best-in-the-nation powerhouse in its silo, and doing it in just 11 years, meant redefining the status quo in the legal profession. Erise’s track record of suc cess for a client base that includes Garmin, Sony, and many other internationally known brands is made possible by the work environ ment the firm’s founders intentionally created. So it prides itself on industry-leading benefits, prioritizes work-life balance, and backs up its team-first approach to serving its clients with merit-based rewards for all employees, from support staff to the shareholders. In addition to the significant autonomy employees have over their work hours and working location, there’s a huge trust factor: They will find the best way to exceed client expectations without compromising fam ily and other personal obligations. “As a boutique law firm, Erise has less overhead and fewer management channels than traditional firms,” says co-founder Adam Seitz. “Every person playing a role in a client matter is valued.” So shareholders and other senior attor neys are not walled off from associates and support staff; contribu- tions and knowledge from all levels of the team are encouraged.

ment, team members train as a group monthly as well as training on an individual and department basis. The company also provides two leadership training courses, one for those who are in higher-level leadership and one that is for future leaders of the organization that are recognized by their leaders. Pay and benefits flow from market research done each year to ensure that salaries remain competitive, a process that includes salary and bonus structures. Bonus structures for individual position groups and a profit-sharing bonus are available to the entire team, while benefit programs, both medical and non medical, are constantly evolving. They include medical/vision/dental, TD/LTD/life insurance that is company provided, along with a 401(k) retirement plan match. The firm also offers $1,000 charitable-giving match, that new-home purchase program, work from home, wellness initiatives, VTO, self-managed PTO, and fully paid 10-week mater nity and 4-week paternity leave. In its last two engagement surveys, Clover & Hive team members have described the company with one word: Family. “Our culture,” King says, “is always at the forefront of our mindsets.” (Left to right): Zalman Kohen , President and CEO; Chelsea Fanders , VP of Marketing; Brad Kempf , VP of Land Development; Liam Daines , CFO; Kyle King , Division Manager; Darrell Naeger , Director of Design; Valerie Gindlesberger , Director of Architectural Services.

In a sector where bonus money is traditionally the province of attor neys, all employees are eligible for merit-based bonuses. Worth not ing: Erise’s equity shareholder ranks, and executive committee are 50/50 gender diverse, which places Erise among the top firms across the country: Nationwide, less than a quarter of equity partners are women. For those working from the mother ship, the office space is more in line with the technology clients it serves than traditional law firms, where senior attorneys are secluded in their own spaces. Bright, open space fosters collaboration from all team levels; there’s a casual dress code, and in-office perks such as snacks, a game room, and local beer and cold brew coffee are on tap. (Back row, left to right): Adam Seitz , Shareholder; Eric Buresh , Shareholder; Mark Lang , Shareholder; Robin Snader , Shareholder. (Front row, left to right): Jennifer Bailey , Shareholder; Megan Redmond , Shareholder; Carrie Bader , Shareholder; Michelle Marriott , Shareholder.

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May 2023

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