Fairness, respect and fun carry the workday
More often than not, the first part of an earnings call is filled with dull, number-laden monologues read by company executives.
Camden Property Trust starts its calls with trivia.
In the minutes before the calls begin, the company plays a song or series of songs for the participants waiting on hold. The first listener to email the company with the song title and artist or correctly guess what the songs have in common gets to help pick the music for the following quarter’s call.
Ric Campo, the company’s chairman and CEO, believes in having fun at work. It’s part of the Camden ethos.
Treating employees with fairness, trust and respect, Campo said, is a key part of why the Houston-based apartment developer is regularly voted as a top workplace among local and national surveys.
This year, Camden claims the No. 1 spot among large companies in the Houston Chronicle’s annual Top Workplaces survey.
Employees say they’re encouraged to be innovative and are given opportunities to grow. They say they feel valued and trusted.
On a recent Friday, about a dozen employees sat around a conference table eating Tex-Mex with the company’s president, Keith Oden.
They had gathered for one of the company’s regular “lagniappe lunches” where employees from different departments get together to share a meal with a top executive.
“They definitely take care of their employees,” said Thomas Marmolejo, an employment manager who has worked at the company for about 20 years.
Camden employs 500 people in Houston and 1,626 across the United States. The company operates 158 apartment complexes across the country.
Benefits include a matching 401(k), a discount stock purchase plan, tuition assistance, adoption benefits, clothing allowance and apartment discounts. Camden’s vacation suites program provides employees fully furnished apartments when they are visiting cities where the company operates apartments.
Lately, the company has been focused on financial literacy.
“We’re spending more time trying to do our own curriculum: How do you buy a house? How do you buy a car? How do you save money?” Campo said. “We want our employes to be financially secure.”
New hires are automatically enrolled in the 401(k), and everyone’s contribution increases 1 percent each year until a certain level is reached.
An employee relief fund provides financial assistance to employees experiencing financial hardship due to a natural disaster, family emergency or other unexpected event.
When 22 Camden employees were displaced from their homes after Hurricane Harvey last year, the company provided them fully furnished apartments, including utilities, cable and internet at no cost for three months. Employees who stayed longer received rental discounts, and the free utilities, cable, internet and furniture rental continued.
For the past eight years, Camden has paid annual bonuses to all employees. This year, everyone received $1,000.
The company gives incentives around health care, too, to encourage people to eat right, exercise and see the doctor for preventive visits.
“You get a $25 gift card if you get a physical and we pay for the physical,” Campo said.
Katie Pucek, a senior team lead in the contact center, appreciates the ability to healthy a good work/life balance.
“I have a little one at home,” she said, “so I like the flexibility and support I have as a working mom.”