Happy Work, Happy Life: What It Really Takes to Retain Great People Right Now
A conversation with Steve Williams, Founder of EctoHR
If you've been in business long enough, you've probably heard the phrase "happy wife, happy life." At PCIA, we've coined our own version for the workplace: happy work, happy life. And in our second episode of the Pro Concepts podcast, I sat down with my good friend Steve Williams, founder of EctoHR, to talk about exactly that. What does it mean to build a workplace where people actually want to show up?
Steve and I first crossed paths here in Brighton, Michigan through the Sunrise Rotary Club, and that was somewhere around 10 to 15 years ago. Since then, I've watched him build EctoHR into a go-to HR resource for businesses across Michigan and beyond. We've even partnered together. EctoHR handles our HR function at PCIA, and I can tell you firsthand, they are phenomenal people.
The Moment Everything Changed
Nobody walks away from the past few years without some kind of shift in perspective. For Steve, the pandemic was a genuine eye-opener about what remote work could accomplish. For me, it created a lot of urgent conversations with our team about staying connected, staying available, and staying human with our clients.
What we've both seen is that businesses are navigating a real tension right now: people want flexibility, but businesses need culture, accountability, and collaboration to survive. And frankly, those things don't have to be at odds. But you have to be intentional about how you manage them.
What's Actually Working
Steve has a front-row seat to how companies across multiple industries are handling this. Here's what he's seeing from businesses that are doing it well.
Communicate early and consistently. The companies that have fared best didn't wait until they had a perfect policy to talk to their teams. They started the conversation, set some initial boundaries, and adjusted from there. Waiting for a perfect system before you act is a trap. Start somewhere and refine as you go.
Meet people as individuals, within reason. Steve put it well: the most encouraging thing he's seen is employers actually trying to understand where each employee is in their life. If someone has young kids and working from home two days a week keeps them sane and productive, and they're still delivering for clients, why wouldn't you offer that? The goal isn't uniformity. It's finding what works without compromising your culture or your clients.
Set real boundaries and trust your people. At EctoHR, they've landed on 40% remote work as their standard, roughly two days per week. But the boundary is clear: if there's a client need or an all-team meeting, remote day or not, you show up. Business comes first. That structure gives people flexibility while keeping the business running the way it needs to.
Don't overreact to exceptions. This one's harder than it sounds. When something goes wrong with a remote employee, there's a temptation to overcorrect and penalize everyone. Steve's advice, and I agree, is to deal with the exception directly rather than punish the whole team for one person's misstep.
What Remote Work Can't Replace
One thing Steve mentioned that really stuck with me was the idea of osmosis. When you're newer to a job and you're sitting in the office, you're absorbing things constantly. Client conversations happening nearby, the way a senior colleague handles a tough phone call, the informal strategy session at someone's desk. That kind of learning is incredibly hard to replicate on a Zoom call.
Steve cited a McKinsey study that found building new relationships is less than 25% as effective virtually as it is in person. And training and development? Theoretically 40% can be done remotely, but practically, it's closer to 10%.
I've seen this at PCIA too. Some of our youngest team members actually wanted to come into the office more, not less. There's a career dimension to being present. You can't really make a name for yourself from behind a computer screen. If someone's been with a company for 35 years and they're retiring, who do you think is going to step into that role? Probably the person who's been in the room.
The Communication Problem That Didn't Go Away
Before COVID, email was already becoming a crutch. During COVID, it got worse. I was constantly having conversations with our team about picking up the phone. Email is a one-way communication. Studies show it reads as neutral or negative, rarely positive. You lose tone, body language, and context.
Our approach has always been: if you're not going to meet face to face, pick up the phone. Then follow up with an email to document what was decided. That way you get the human connection and the paper trail. We're in the business of managing risk, after all. Documentation matters. But the relationship comes first.
Steve made a great point that 93% of communication is non-verbal. If you're trying to coach someone on performance or work through a sensitive situation, email is about the worst tool you can choose. His firm's hierarchy for those conversations: face to face first, then video, then phone, then email as a last resort.
One Bold Move That Paid Off
Earlier this year, with support from Steve and the EctoHR team, we made the decision to move to unlimited PTO at PCIA. I'll be honest. It made me uncomfortable at first. It was a big shift.
Six months in, I can say it has been absolutely phenomenal.
What I didn't fully anticipate was how it would strengthen the team's sense of responsibility to each other. When someone is out, their colleagues step up and cover. Not because they're told to, but because they genuinely want to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. That kind of camaraderie you can't manufacture. And we still track productivity, so I can see that the work is getting done.
Steve pointed out something worth repeating: unlimited PTO doesn't necessarily cost you more. When you put it up against what it takes to recruit, hire, and onboard a new employee, the math usually works in favor of keeping your best people happy. Especially when you consider there are over nine million open jobs right now and workforce participation is at its lowest level in 20 years.
Getting Everyone in the Same Room
One thing we've built into our culture at PCIA is a mandatory all-hands day. One Monday per month, everyone is in the office together. No exceptions. And I'll tell you, the energy on those days is just different. People are genuinely glad to see each other. We have lunch together, do some in-person training, and sometimes head out for drinks afterward.
Steve mentioned that EctoHR does something similar. He even referenced a fully remote client of theirs in Arizona that makes the investment to fly the whole team together once or twice a year. Half of that time is purely social, intentional relationship-building, because it pays dividends for months afterward.
These things matter. They're not soft extras. They're how you sustain a culture when people aren't in the same building every day.
The Bottom Line
If there's one thing Steve and I agree on completely, it's this: you have to be willing to change, but you don't have to abandon who you are. Stay grounded in your core values and your culture, and then get creative about how you serve both your business and your people within that.
The businesses that are winning right now are the ones that are communicating clearly, trusting their teams, and treating employees like the individuals they are. And the businesses that are losing? Usually the ones waiting to do something until they have all the answers.
Start somewhere. Adjust. And keep your people at the center of the conversation.
To connect with Steve Williams and the EctoHR team, visit ector.com or call 810-534-1770.
To reach PCIA, visit PCIAline.com or call 800-969-4441. We actually answer our phones. Just hit zero and someone will pick right up.