Smells Like Team Spirit

Audrey Hall, president and owner of Eco Serve Pest Services, points to her company’s values as the sole reason for winning second place in Buffalo Business First’s Best Places to Work in 2025. Her father started the business as a Saturday-only service in 2000 — now they serve Western New York Monday through Friday with a structured schedule. Every job is carried out between the set hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. so extra work doesn’t get piled on at the end of the day. The goal? Reducing burnout while upholding Eco Serve’s core values of honesty, empathy, authenticity, responsiveness, teamwork and service standards (HEARTS).

“We talk about our values all the time,” Hall said during a recent webinar sponsored by Applause. “We talk about them during the interview, during an employee’s first day and at all of our monthly meetings.”

Establishing core values with intention is just one path toward incentivizing employees to stay focused and passionate about their jobs. In fact, establishing employee incentives beyond pay raises and paid time off is becoming increasingly important: According to a recent Gallup poll, half of all U.S. employees are open to leaving their current organizations for new horizons.

“Today, team members are job hopping at a much higher rate,” said Hall. “It’s important for us to say money is not everything. The goal is to keep our people. If we keep our people, they will take care of our customers — the revenue will come from that.”

Below are strategies Hall provided for making the most out of your company’s incentive plan and boosting team spirit across every facet of your business.

INCENTIVIZE VALUES. In Hall’s eyes, identifying your company’s core values is a crucial step in creating an incentive strategy. “Core values are things you live and die by,” she said. That means you have to define who you are as a company and then use those values to guide all of your reward and recognition systems.

Ultimately, communication is key. Core values should be built into your policies and procedures and should be revisited often. Bring them up in one-on-one conversations, group settings and annual gatherings; be clear about which values need work and which have proven successful. “Authenticity means being genuine in your delivery,” said Hall. “If you’re not genuine, people will recognize the inauthenticity.”

A CULTURE OF ENGAGEMENT. Culture isn’t just about the perks you provide, it’s about finding your purpose and connecting with each other. “At Eco Serve, we have monthly team meetings where we celebrate anniversaries and birthdays,” said Hall. “We go around the room and say, ‘Tell us something good.’ That’s an opportunity for our team to really connect with one another.”

Allowing time for community work like volunteering with other local organizations also helps build emotional loyalty and a sense of community. “We’re not just writing checks,” Hall said. “We are incentivizing our team to stay because there’s purpose behind the work they do.”

MAKE ROOM FOR WELL-BEING. Part of Hall’s decision to move away from Saturday service and remain closed on weekends revolves around a push to prioritize flexibility, mental health and the personal lives of her employees. “Our customers no longer have the option for Saturday service,” she said. “It’s something we stuck with for many years, but we had trouble with it because people had plans for their weekends.”

That same mentality extends to flexible work hours and route availability. If someone needs to pick their kids up from school in the afternoon, they’re given that opportunity. “The saying used to be, ‘You leave your personal life at the door,’ and that’s just not the way things work,” said Hall. “I don’t expect my team to just drop everything that’s going on at home and show up to work as their best self.”

In addition, mental health support is offered to everyone through an employee assistance program, and technician routes are easily shifted if someone is struggling. “We closely monitor summer burnout because it can be difficult to work in the heat,” said Hall.

TRACK PROGRESS OPENLY. One of Hall’s biggest pieces of advice: Show employees the total value of the benefits that are available to them. By creating a visual benefits package, you can compile total cost savings for health insurance, paid holidays, seniority bonuses, 401(k) matching contributions, training opportunities and more, giving your employees the full picture beyond a typical paycheck. “There’s a lot more to it than just that one number — we want to show the value of that and have conversations around it,” said Hall. “When it comes to paying benefits, we want to talk about clear expectations.”

Similarly, having policies in place for pay raises and measurable milestones where employees can track their trajectory allows people to fully grasp what they need to do in order to succeed in the way they want. “It’s really important for that person to know where they stand so they can say, ‘OK, I’m going to get there. For me to do that, these are the marks that need to be hit,’” said Hall.

GROW FUTURE LEADERSHIP. Career growth should be clear, documented and consistent. To that end, Hall believes leadership isn’t so much a title as it is a state of mind. “You don’t have to be a manager to be a leader,” she said. “You can show leadership qualities every single day, starting from day one.”

By remaining grounded in core values, empathy and service, an employee can inspire their other team members to embrace those same strengths — even if they don’t intend on pursuing a leadership position themselves. Managers should then take notice and acknowledge the successes of those who remain dedicated to those values. “Our leader’s job is to support our folks in the field and make their lives easier,” Hall said. “That’s a hard job to do. Not everyone’s cut out for it, but every role here is important.”

REMAIN CONSISTENT. A great plan means nothing without consistency. Integrate your incentive plan into your company’s language, habits and leadership structure. Don’t overcomplicate the process but instead focus on reinforcing your values when opportunities present themselves.

“Consistency is everything,” said Hall. “The more folks that are driven by your values, the more quality candidates you’re going to get — and keep.”

The author is a Cleveland-based PCT contributor.