While some employers struggle to bring their employees back to the office, one Orange County office had recent success in getting the team together for philanthropic missions.
The OC office of information technology and services firm Perficient Inc. (Nasdaq: PRFT) showcased its community-centric culture in September, when it sent teams to clean up Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach.
Henry Heisler, the digital consultancy’s general manager for California and an Aliso Viejo resident, said such cleanup initiatives involve civic-minded individuals. Those in the community who heard about Perficient’s action said it was “so cool that you pulled together as a company,” Heisler said.
“We picked up 5 pounds plus of trash per person that day,” Heisler told the Business Journal.
The company will next clean some of Orange County’s trails in partnership with the Laguna Canyon Foundation.
Perficient counts 100 employees in Orange County, based out of the firm’s Irvine office. The $2.5 billion-valued company’s headquarters are in St. Louis.
“We imagine, create, engineer, and run digital transformation solutions” for large enterprises and brands, says the company, which counted a market valuation near $2.6 billion as of last week.
“We work with many of the world’s biggest brands in California, including Disney, Qualcomm, DoorDash, eBay, and Dignity Health,” Heisler said.
It’s one of 66 companies either based in OC or with significant operations in the area recognized in this week’s Business Journal listing of Companies That Care.
Recent Efforts
Perficient in October participated in OneOC’s Community Cup initiative, an athletic event in which participants compete to win a donation to their charity of choice; it supported Second Harvest Food Bank.
Though Perficient’s team of eight did not place in the top three finishing teams, the team’s $1,500 entry fee was allocated to local organizations.
In September, Perficient participated in Hunger Action Month alongside Feeding America, with each U.S. Perficient office becoming a temporary donation center to collect food items for those fighting food insecurity.
The Southern California team collected 198 cans and provided 321 meals by collecting non-perishable food items and volunteering at their local food bank, according to Perficient.
Through its Perficient Gives program, the company will match donations made by employees to charities. The company has also launched Giving ERG, or Employee Resource Groups, to “serve as an outlet that inspires action and generosity while capturing and celebrating the time, talent, and treasure our colleagues and company commit to helping those in need,” the company said.
100 Employees and Growing
Perficient ranked No. 22 on this year’s Business Journal list of Best Places to Work in the large company category, where it stood out for community work as well as team-bonding events.
“We continue to grow through new clients, hiring, investments in the market and volunteering in the community,” Heisler said. “Our Irvine office is actually our primary hub for all of our California business, for which I’m responsible.”
The company has grown in SoCal over 25% year-over-year for several years.
The publicly traded digital consultancy has more than 7,500 employees companywide.
