Work-Life Balance Is Not Lip Service at Exverus Media

In 2014, the founders of Exverus Media set out to build the kind of agency they always wanted to work for. Tired of 12-hour workdays and having no personal life, they encoded flexibility and work-life balance into Exverus’ DNA long before those became buzzwords. Ten years later, Exverus Media is on a meteoric rise. The 45-strong Los Angeles media agency is among the fastest-growing independent media agencies in the U.S., with managing director Talia Arnold being named among ADWEEK’s 2024 Media All-Stars. Notably, all of this success has happened while Arnold, along with fellow co-founders Bill Durrant and Jack Win, prioritized work-life balance for themselves and their teams: Based on anonymous employee satisfaction surveys, Exverus Media ranked among the top workplaces in Southern California in 2023 by the LA Times. ‘What do you need?’ Many of the personnel policies at Exverus Media simply came down to how Arnold wanted to work after having her first child. “I just really wanted to have more control over my schedule and be able to spend more time with him,” she said. Since its founding in 2014, Exverus has been remote-friendly, with a workforce that’s spread across the entire U.S. and an office in Argentina. While Exverus is based in Los Angeles, employees don’t necessarily work West Coast hours. “What kind of schedule do you need?” is among the questions asked during the hiring process. Flexible hours enable workers to tend to themselves, their children, and other responsibilities—“it’s just an accepted thing,” Arnold said simply. And when an opportunity presents itself, Exverus works with its people to make it happen. During Covid, two employees worked from Hawaii for six months; another is currently living in Tokyo. The accommodations don’t stop there. Arnold asks her team members what kind of work environment they need, whether that’s more independent or collaborative. The key to all this is conversations—”really honest conversations,” as she puts it. Time and space There’s many other worlds within Exverus Media. The director of advertising operations is a barbecue pitmaster who runs a catering business. There’s an event planner who does parties and even weddings. There’s a bowler whose team has reached their league’s championship. Arnold herself has a music degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and at times in her life has played piano, clarinet, saxophone, and guitar, as well as singing in a band. To enable these ventures, Exverus Media offers unlimited PTO and, again, lots of honest conversations. Besides giving her employees the time and space to enjoy an outlet that makes them happy, these business ventures can also make them better at their day jobs. “They're using the same strategies that we're using in advertising and marketing for their own businesses,” Arnold said. “It's cool when people have that because it forces you to really be in the know on how businesses are trying to get off the ground.” Working to live To create a strong team environment, the Friday all-hands meeting is a casual affair, usually centered on a conversation starter, which can even be a provocative topic like, “Have you ever been in jail?” Sharing is not mandatory, but “it’s been a really fun way to get to know people,” Arnold said. “The in-person element I still do think is super important,” she added. So twice a year, Exverus holds an all-agency retreat that’s an actual retreat—no highly regimented schedule. Its most recent one took place earlier this month: Activities included a beach day and a walking food tour. “Just really low-key, low-pressure environments for people to get to know each other,” Arnold said. “It made a huge impact.”

Lessons Learned

Exverus Media's Talia Arnold on Building the Agency She Always Wanted to Work For

The Los Angeles agency was built with work-life balance in mind

Eva Kis

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Eva Kis