WASHINGTON'S LEADING BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Lightheartedness Wins the Day

“Welcome to CashLinq. Here’s your Nerf gun.”
By Nick Horton |   July 2010   |  FROM THE PRINT EDITION
Photograph by Hayley Young

Second Place (Tie)

Small Companies

September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The 24 employees of Spokane-based CashLinq Group know that. They also know that January 25 is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. These quixotic holidays are all celebrated at the offices of CashLinq, a company that provides credit and debit card services, check processing and other merchant services to nonprofits, churches and charitable entities. And the humorous vibe isn’t limited to a couple of days a year. Case in point: Every new CashLinq employee is issued a Nerf gun upon hiring. (Spontaneous Nerf gun battles are likely to break out at any time.)

CashLinq’s workplace atmosphere may be slightly mischievous, but its mission is anything but silly. The company also specializes in keeping its employees happy—and CashLinq’s employees are some of the happiest in the state.

They’re kept smiling by quarterly family events outside the office. These outings range from baseball games to catered summer picnics to holiday dinners and tastings at Spokane-area wineries. The staff’s morale is boosted by the management’s consistent recognition of landmark dates—birthdays, engagements and anniversaries. And CashLinq’s workers are fulfilled by the true open-door atmosphere in the office. The entire team attends a weekly standup meeting to discuss any and all employee questions.

The company gives back to its community as well. An in-house Giving Committee arranges twice-yearly fundraising events, and each employee is awarded 16 paid hours of community service every year.

The icing on the cake, of course, is the ping-pong table that the CEO presented to the office last year—along with personalized, engraved paddles for every employee. 

Next: Another second-place winner

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