Company culture doesn’t stop at the office door, warns Simplx.

Dave Locke, Managing Director at Simplx, argues that small-medium sized businesses who fail to spend adequate time together outside of work hours will miss the mark across many areas - including talent retention.

Simplx: About the firm

Simplx are hired by companies looking to bring back a ‘human element’ to their marketing endeavours, and it appears the hierarchy adopt the same strategy towards the people they work with.

Recently, the firm has taken after hours trips to Luna Park - an amusement park located at Milsons Point, on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour. It is this calibre of bonding time during team nights that Locke believes can make or break a firm’s company culture.

“Exploring the city together as a close-knit group has been really enjoyable, and it’s a great way to introduce some of our newer people to the attitude we have as a collective,” states Dave Locke, Managing Director at Simplx.

Indeed, the concept of work opportunities now offering a greater ‘work-life balance’ has been identified as a huge pull for those belonging to Millennial and Generation Z demographics, but Locke dismisses the concept. He argues that the pursuit of such an ideal between the two spheres of work and personal life misses the mark, as the workplace should be an entertaining and enjoyable environment in itself.

For their services, the firm’s philosophy is that people buy into the experience of a brand as well as the product, looking for the human connection to make their purchasing decision. Engaging in face-to-face interactions, Simplx acquire new customers through in-store promotions and business to business sales across Australia.

Once again, great emphasis is placed on getting a sense of what’s fun for their contractors by Simplx, who are devout believers in forging a company culture that goes beyond the average 9-5. This is what they believe helps tokeep their best talent engaged;

“You’ve got to spend some time bonding together after hours,” Locke says. “A nightmare of mine would be if people adopted a ‘9-5’ attitude, living for the weekend whilst working with us, I’d be mortified.”