Gather ‘Round the Campfire: The Story Behind Halff’s Culture Camps

Culture isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the roaring campfire around which organizations are united.

Halff Culture Camps brought laughs and s’mores—and so much more.

Culture Camps were launched during the summer of 2023 as fun, interactive two-hour trainings—a unique way for employees to be reaffirmed and learn more deeply about Halff’s culture values.

Refreshing Our Brand

It all started with a big brand refresh, which Halff launched and announced in February 2023.

A major component of the brand refresh was an updated culture platform. Employee feedback on Halff’s culture, combined with Halff’s belief in servant leadership, led to the development of the culture platform: Halff S.E.R.V.E.S.

Our founder, Dr. Albert H. Halff, is the inspiration and story behind Halff’s servant leadership culture. He put the needs of others first from the very beginning.

Halff’s “people-first” culture is succinctly captured with Halff S.E.R.V.E.S.—the guiding light for all we do, inspired by our founder, Dr. Halff.

Halff S.E.R.V.E.S. represents the DNA of who Halff is. It is the foundation and driving force for how we do what we do.

Each letter represents a piece to the whole of who we are at Halff: servant leaders.

Servant Leader: One who focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong.

Dr. Halff’s heart is encapsulated in Halff S.E.R.V.E.S., and his attitude lives on with the people of Halff today.

Fueling Our Culture

Culture is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and pratices that characterizes an institution or organization.

Like glowing embers in campfire, Halff’s culture radiates the same warmth, light and care that Dr. Halff had. It brings people together every day.

Campers must carefully tend to their campfires to keep it burning bright. Halff is doing the same by tending to its own cultural flame.

A priority for Halff is committing time to build and maintain culture—now and in the future. The heart of Halff is not just talked about; it is kindled by each person.

This led to the creation of Halff’s Culture Camps, which launched over the summer of 2023. Halff’s goal for Culture Camps is to inspire our “people-first” values into the hearts and minds of everyone, because each person is responsible for maintaining it. Doing so allows Halff to remain a premier workplace that shines bright and serves our communities.

Halff is ensuring that culture never wanes or becomes diluted with growth—instead, it is developing to be even more potent and consistent with expanding talent.

Welcome to Summer Camp!

Halff conducted 66 culture camps over the course of 3 months. Each two-hour session was led by two or three camp counselors, and included examples of how we live out our culture, thoughtful campfire questions and classic summer camp games.

These engaging sessions instilled and reiterated Halff’s culture to everyone in the firm in a fun environment, inspiring each person to remember and think critically about their valuable contributions.

The camp counselors sparked conversations to connect Halff’s core values into everyone’s daily work. They described each letter in the Halff S.E.R.V.E.S. culture platform and asked tables to discuss thoughtful questions.

A heads-up challenge, human scavenger hunt and beach ball get-to-know-you game were sprinkled throughout to keep people active and laughing.

Employees did not leave empty handed. Everyone received a hand-assembled camp mug with bandana, Culture Camp patch and packaged s’mores boxes. Some even left with a special prize for winning a game or two.

Attendees got to write an encouraging post card to a fellow teammate at the end!

Summer Culture Camps were an outstanding success. Many offices and employees gathered to reaffirm each other and themselves on Halff’s culture values.

Here’s what attendees had to say:

Virtual Culture Camps will be held quarterly for every new Halff employee.

Kindling the flames of Halff’s culture continues to be a time-honored tradition, as we carry on Dr. Halff’s legacy of people before profit. That is the key to our success.

DID YOU KNOW?

Halff sits at No. 15 nationally in the companies with 1,000 to 2,499 employees in the 2023 Top Workplaces USA award rankings presented by Energage. In 2022, Halff was recognized as a Top Workplace in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. We have also been recognized as a Top Workplace in Austin and Dallas eight times each since 2015, six times in Houston since 2016 and for the second consecutive year in San Antonio this year.

Cumulatively, Halff has been recognized as a Top Workplace 25 times.

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Want to join our exceptional team of people-first professionals? Learn more about what it’s like to work at Halff by heading to our Careers page.