Marketing Agency

Enhancing Employee Experience for a Boutique Marketing Agency

Client Overview

  • Industry: Marketing

  • Size: 2 employees

  • Type: Boutique marketing agency

  • Prior HR Support: None (founder-managed with informal policies)

The Challenge They Faced

This boutique marketing agency had been delivering exceptional creative services to their clients, but with their small team of just two employees, formal HR processes and employee benefits had never been fully developed. The founder had ideas about improving the employee experience but lacked the expertise, and time, to implement them effectively.

As the agency looked toward future growth, the founder recognized several opportunities to enhance their workplace:

  • Lack of formalized employee benefits and policies

  • No structured approach to employee wellness and workspace optimization

  • Absence of financial incentives for business development

  • No retirement savings options for team members

  • Missing documentation required for scaling the business

The ExpeditionHR Approach

Our partnership began with a discovery session to understand the founder's vision for her team and company culture. Rather than starting with a compliance audit (as is often the case), we focused on the founder's creative ideas for enhancing employee experience and building a framework to support them.

Through our initial assessment, we identified several opportunities:

  • Wellness Benefits: The founder wanted to support employee health but needed a structured program

  • Workspace Enhancement: Remote team members needed support for creating productive environments

  • Business Development: Creating incentives for team participation in growth

  • Retirement Planning: Implementing accessible retirement options appropriate for a small business

  • Documentation: Creating the foundation for consistent policies as the team grows

Understanding the founder's creative focus and limited time, we developed a fractional HR partnership of approximately 5 hours per month over a four-month period to bring these ideas to life.

Solutions Implemented

Working collaboratively with the agency founder, ExpeditionHR:

  • Designed and implemented a client referral program to incentivize business development

  • Created a comprehensive wellness policy with reimbursements for gym memberships, supplements, and meal plans

  • Developed a workspace reimbursement policy to help team members optimize their remote work environments

  • Researched and implemented the agency's first retirement savings plan

  • Created a complete employee handbook establishing policies that reflect the agency's culture while positioning them for future growth

Results

After four months of fractional HR support, the marketing agency now has:

  • A structured approach to employee wellness that reflects the founder's values

  • Incentives that align team members with business growth goals

  • Professional workspace support that enhances productivity

  • Financial benefits that improve long-term employee retention

  • Documentation that provides clarity for current team members and future hires

These enhancements have transformed informal ideas into concrete benefits that improve daily work life and demonstrate the agency's commitment to its team. Most importantly, these improvements were achieved with minimal time investment from the founder, allowing her to remain focused on client work while ExpeditionHR handled the benefit design and implementation.

“Partnering with ExpeditionHR was an excellent investment I made for my business—and my peace of mind.”

“As a small, founder-led agency, HR always felt like something I’d “figure out later.” But as we started to grow, I realized I needed structure, not just for compliance, but to create a better experience for my team.

Over just a few hours each month, we were able to transform vague ideas into real, actionable policies—things like a wellness reimbursement plan, workspace stipends for our remote setup, and even a retirement plan. Things I had always wanted to offer but didn’t know how to implement without it taking over my week.

Having our employee files organized, our handbook buttoned up, and knowing that our policies are fair and legally sound has been a huge relief. It’s given me the confidence that we’re building something sustainable and supportive—not just reactive.

The fractional approach worked perfectly for us. It felt manageable and flexible, and it respected the limited time and resources that come with running a small agency. It was never overwhelming—just empowering.

To other small business owners: if HR has been sitting on your “someday” list, let this be your sign. You don’t need a full-time HR team to build a solid foundation. You just need the right partner—and ExpeditionHR was exactly that for us.”

— Amanda H.