Cover Story: What's So Hot About Hachette?

The company has a matching gift program providing a 2:1 match for up to an annual maximum of $2,000 per employee for charitable donations, and organizes company involvement in literacy initiatives in Boston. Weinzimer is especially proud of employee-generated clubs and events that Hachette supports, such as walk-a-thons, craft fairs, parenting groups and a "very competitive" employee bake-off.

Young and Weinzimer agree that the company's size is important to its ability to support a range of activities. "We are smaller than some of the other houses—although we are a force to be reckoned with—but because of our size, we can be a little bit more flexible and you can get involved in a lot more than you might in a larger-structured environment," Weinzimer says. "If there's a company initiative you're interested in, there's no reason you could not raise your hand and be involved."

"You spend more waking hours at work than anyplace else really," Young says. "What I want to help create at any place that I run is enjoyment. I think we are very lucky to be in the publishing business; I always talk about what a privilege it is being in a genuinely liberal and emancipated business, but by God, we should have some fun doing it as well, and that's what we try and do."