Type of business: Medical and scientific communications
Connecticut employees: 70
Connecticut locations: 2
Headquarters: Southport
HR contact: Cynthia Kabbe, employee solutions manager
Top local executive: Dan Donovan, co-founder and president
Founded: 2001
When Envision Pharma co-founder and company president Dan Donovan set out with his partners to launch the company, he already had five children. Now, he and his wife are the proud parents of six. He is a man who understands employees’ need for home and work-life balance, one of the reasons Envision Pharma has been named to the Hartford Business Journal’s list of Best Places to Work in Connecticut for three consecutive years.
The company provides medical and scientific communications support to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. As a result of a merger completed in April 2008, the company is now part of United BioSource Corporation (UBC), a Maryland-based pharmaceutical services company with locations in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Envison’s 70 Connecticut employees are divided between the company’s Southport headquarters and its Glastonbury office.
“The award is very satisfying because it’s reflective of how people feel about working here. We don’t just want to hire people; we want them to stay here and this award reflects that,” Donovan said.
Employee satisfaction at Envision starts with the family friendly culture the partners sought to create, said Donovan. For instance, he explained, the company is nontraditional with little need for individual corporate titles.
“We don’t believe that one person is more valuable than another,” Donovan said. “I work hard not to call them employees. They’re friends; they’re team members. It’s about trying to make this an enjoyable environment for people to work in.”
Philosophy is one thing, but putting it into practice, is another. Envision backs its values with benefits that include free medical and dental insurance for all employees and three weeks vacation for new hires. The company has a liberal telecommuting policy that provides employees the flexibility to structure their work day around competing demands at home. Employees who find they may need to work on a weekend are rewarded with a “lieu day,” a free day off for every extra day worked during the week of their choice. They also are rewarded through annual bonuses.
“We gave bonuses this year and people were just blown away,” Donovan said, referring to the current economic climate. “I don’t think they were expecting it this year.”
“We recognize that people have a lot of things going on,” he added, “and if they’re content and happy in their personal lives, they tend to be a heck of a lot more productive in the business part of it.”
Employees return the consideration with hard work and extra hours spent working some nights and weekends and by participating in the many charitable causes Envision supports such as the Lupus Foundation, and St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which raises money to fight childhood cancer.
Employee responses to the Best Places to Work questionnaire is “the best indication of what’s going on,” said Donovan, who added, “It’s more than just great benefits. It’s work-life balance. It’s liking the people you work with. It’s nice to work with your friends every day.”
