Elmhurst Company Harnesses the Power of a Happy Staff

Elmhurst, IL - An advertising and marketing company, launched from the kitchen table of an Elmhurst home, has earned recognition for prioritizing the happiness of its employees.

Keono, which has grown 1,000 percent in the past three years, is named among Inc. magazine’s 50 Best Places to Work in 2016.

Inc. and Quantum Workplace compiled the list by weighing employee financial security, how companies collect and use employee feedback and the motivation and recognition of employee performance.

Michael Medema, an Elmhurst native, is the founder, president and CEO of Keono. And for the first two years, he was the company’s only employee.

Keono now employs about 15 digital marketing professionals across the country, and the company has expanded to an office in Florida.

“Our culture is very open very flexible,” Medema said. “I expect people to come to me with ideas and solutions instead of everyone looking at me for answers. We work hard, but we play hard, and there are perks for the team members. We take care of them.”

Though the Inc. article states Keono offers onsite childcare, Medema said that was an error, and the article was supposed to point out that Keono is the only company on the list to offer every employee five days a year for volunteer work. He said every team member also receives up to $1,000 for the charity of their choice. In August, Keono employees will cook dinner for about 80 cancer patients in New York City.

Medema said other employee perks include paid gym memberships, meals and the ability to work from home. He said no employee has ever left the company voluntarily.

"Our people work really hard because they enjoy what they do,” he said. “If you enjoy your company, you’re going to work harder. Everyone is compensated based on profits … The better the company does, the more everyone makes, so everybody is really trying to hit targets and goals every month.”

Keono is the “fourth or fifth” company Medema has opened around Chicago and Elmhurst. He travels often, and living in Elmhurst keeps him close to the airport and the train. Starting the business from his home also helped him balance work while raising three children.

No longer a startup, Keono offers high-performance email marketing campaigns to big-name clients such as Toyota, Verizon, Lexus and Walmart, to name a few. The company also works with small businesses.

Inc. reported Keono’s 2015 sales or revenue were between $2 million and $5 million.

“Revenues are great, but creating a culture and a company that’s fun to work at, that’s priceless,” Medema said. “When you have 15 people in a company and they enjoy what they do, they enjoy waking up every day to go to work, that matters more than revenue and profits, to be honest. We’re like a big family.”

Three other Illinois companies made the Best Place to Work in 2016 list.

Burwood Group in Chicago is an IT services company with 140 employees, Field Fastener in Machesney Park is a manufacturing company with 128 employees, and LaSalle Network in Chicago is a human resources company with 150 employees.

Photo via shutterstock.