How Adhocracy Culture and Flexibility Lead to Happier Employees and Better Business

We’ve built HawkSEM on the idea that results are everything. But our years of experience growing into an industry-leading digital marketing agency with a team of remote employees have taught us that the best results come from happy team members.

Here’s an important question for any business owner with a team: What creates a strong work culture that allows employees to do their best?

At HawkSEM, we prioritize an “adhocracy”-focused culture that encourages employees to bring new ideas to the table in a flexible working environment.

What is adhocracy?

An adhocracy culture refers to a “flexible and dynamic organizational environment that thrives on creativity, innovation, and adaptability,” according to Culture Monkey.

Basically, it’s a more decentralized structure wherein tasks and authority are given based on experience, expertise, and relevance, rather than simply based on job title.

It’s also one of the four core workplace cultures described in the Competing Values Framework, created by Kim Cameron in the 1980s.

At HawkSEM, our adhocracy-driven culture empowers team members to adopt an entrepreneurial, self-motivated mindset and take initiative, rather than being passive and waiting for direction.

By focusing on a culture that encourages ownership, autonomy, and achieving results, HawkSEM employees say they feel motivated to deliver their best work and find new, creative solutions to client problems.

Adhocracy, flexibility, and remote work

So, how does this idea translate to a remote team? In this type of “environment,” whether digital or in person, employees are team-oriented, supportive, collaborative, and always willing to lend a helping hand.

This ensures everyone feels supported, connected, and set up to succeed both individually and as part of a team.

Over the years, this focus on adhocracy has been built into our decision-making, values, and company policies. We live out our culture by encouraging team members to:

• Take advantage of flexible working schedules to create a work environment that works best for them and their needs.
• Discover new ways to improve the status quo by taking initiative and bringing new recommendations and ideas to the table.
• Further their development by pursuing different certifications, learning from other team members, and cultivating a growth mindset.
• Help the company continuously evolve by sharing feedback through team forums, employee pulse surveys, and regular check-ins.
• Set new standards by staying on top of industry trends and testing new strategies to achieve exceptional results.
• Take time off to rest and recharge through the use of our flexible PTO policy.

The benefits of an adhocracy work environment

Cultivating this type of flexible culture has been shown to drive job satisfaction at HawkSEM and has contributed to our high employee retention rate of more than 84% as of 2024, compared to the average marketing agency retention rate of about 70%.

In fact, in our most recent internal employee survey, more than 91% of employees reported remote work to be the most valuable benefit at the company, followed by flexible PTO at 87%.

This strong emphasis on innovation and work-life balance has created a work environment where employees feel valued.

As a result, when asked to sum up HawkSEM in one word, fellow Hawks described our culture in the following terms:

The takeaway

Developing a culture at HawkSEM that promotes individual initiative and freedom has strengthened our client relationships and contributed to our business success.

Our team members (our Hawks) are empowered to take risks, experiment, and challenge the status quo to drive transformational change.

This approach has proven effective with clients, as shown by our 96% annual client retention rate and average 4.5x ROAS. HawkSEM is also a Google Premier partner listed in the top 3% of agencies in the United States, and we credit a lot of our success to the culture we’ve built over the years.

By cultivating a culture of adhocracy and flexibility, our employees are satisfied at work, which translates to the success of our clients and our business overall.

Want to learn more about our culture, job offerings, and what makes us unique? You’re in the right place.