(l–r): Scott Campbell, VP Finance; Miranda LaHaie, VP HR; Chris Giuliani, CEO; Jonathan Fisher, VP IT; Jeffery Anderson, COO; Alex Allen, VP Marketing. Not pictured: Michael Albenberg, VP Operations.
Spring Venture Group
If you’re going to work at Spring Venture Group—and a lot more people will be in the coming years—be ready to get in the game. Literally: from the company’s annual golf tournament, kickball sessions, and trips to see the Chiefs, Royals, Sporting KC and the T-Bones, this fast-growing company is all about blending competitiveness with fun, whether it’s at the stadium, on a company party bus tour, or during what officials say is “the often-raucous SVG First Friday.”
Founded on an innovative approach to selling health and life insurance in the on-line age, the company has quickly broken through the 100-employee barrier. Anticipating a tripling of that number, it has moved from Leawood into more spacious digs in the Crown Center complex Downtown, with offices that sport ping-pong tables, a café teeming with fresh, healthy foods, and flat-screen TVs.
Going from startup to 100 employees always presents a communications challenge, which SVG has addressed with its own Agent Advisory Board—peer-selected representatives from each team sit down with top leadership of the company once each month, and the board’s charge was issued with a promise: Every issue brought before it would receive a response. The meetings, says HR director Miranda LaHaie, provide full-circle accountability that is one of the company’s core values.
The foundation for growth at SVG—personal and corporate—is laid with a highly competitive base salary, with the possibility of high earnings from day one for those in sales roles. In addition, health insurance and 401(k) offerings are available to all employees, and additional incentives for performance include gift cards, tickets to sporting events, and trips to venues like New Orleans and Sonoma.
Recognition, though, isn’t solely a function of management. Employees are encouraged to issue success badges to one another through Springboard, the employee-engagement system, and co-workers can “like” and comment on those recognitions.
A multi-week, internally developed training program is the first step to career success, followed by daily feedback through progressive metrics, LaHaie said, that go beyond basic production numbers. “Those agents who demonstrate a keen ability to lead can quickly become eligible for a Sales Coach position,” she said.
Employees at Garney Construction treat every job as if it were their own, the company says. And since they collectively own it, they’re exactly right.
Garney Construction
We liked Garney Construction—a lot—when Ingram’s named it one of the Best Companies to Work For in 2011. When the Northland company became eligible for consideration again this year, we figured it would be difficult to exclude Garney from repeat recognition. We were right. “The entire company culture,” officials say, “centers on the fact that it is 100 percent employee-owned.” Employees, then, are not just shareholders, they are true owners, and are reminded daily about the perils and the promise of what the firm calls the power of ownership. The work force credo, then, is: “We treat every job as if it were our own, because it is.”
As the organization grows, each employee’s share value and retirement package increases in worth. How’s that working out? Well, in 2013, the company’s revenues hit $625 million—an impressive 26.6 percent year-over-year increase. In addition to the shareholder value implied by that number, there’s a 401(k) plan with company match, annual bonuses for salaried employees and incentive checks for hourly workers.
Other benefits include flexible spending accounts, health-care insurance that costs an unmarried worker $1 a week—you read that right: One dollar—and for married employees, family plans are just $20 a week. There’s also an option for a high-deductible plan, featuring a health-savings account bolstered by a company contribution.
As you might expect in an employee-owned setting, career development is grounded in maximizing employee potential. Garney’s Employee Development Council achieves that with structured training, standardized procedures, effective communication and a healthy application of new technologies that allow for Web-based training and getting the most out of live, in-person training sessions across the country. The company has just 41 people working at the Northland headquarters, but organic growth and the 2012 acquisition of Florida-based Encore Construction have swelled that number nationwide. Founder Charles Garney set a standard for philanthropic involvement during his years of ownership, and employees have carried that forward; since the start of 2013, they have donated $165,000 to various charities and fundraisers, and this year, the company implemented a matching program for employee donations to non-profits.
No, it was not Jeans Day when employees at Truckmovers.com gathered for their Best Companies to Work For photo—it was just another day at the office in the relaxed atmosphere they enjoy at the company’s new headquarters in Independence.
Truckmovers.com
Some companies talk about being a family. At Truckmovers.com, founder and president Tom Duvall is walking that walk every day. The importance of family—at home, just as much as at work—comes shining through when company officials talk about what makes this vehicle-transportation service a different kind of animal.
Family considerations underpin the flexible, odd-hour scheduling or arrangements to work from home; children of employees are allowed to use the on-site fitness center—free of charge to all—seven days a week; the company commits to $16,000 a year to a series of renewable college scholarships for children of employees. Heck, the company’s sense of philanthropy even prompted adoption of an entire family through its ties to The Children’s Place.
Duvall founded the company in 1996, and in recent years, it has become a growth monster, six times earning a spot on Ingram’s Corporate Report 100 listing of the greater Kansas City area’s fast-growing companies. It now has 438 employees nationwide, 114 of whom are enjoying the new corporate offices in Independence. Driving that growth is a belief that employees really are the best resources. That on-site fitness center? It’s just a part of Truckmovers.com’s commitment to work-force wellness, a commitment clearly demonstrated by the personal trainer made available to employees at no charge.
Employees are set up for success with an internal training program—Truckmovers Academy—that provides the training and resources needed for the long haul. Its classes include courses on time management and customer service, skills that will be critically important for continued organizational growth and personal advancement. The latter is addressed with a hire-from-inside-first mentality; all jobs are posted internally before the company looks to make a hire. And don’t mistake the casual-dress environment with relaxed standards for professionalism or customer service: both qualities are emphasized as essentials for long-term success, as are the frequent opportunities to build staff cohesion with activities like an internal Biggest Loser contest, a winter luau, baby showers and happy hours, holiday parties, chili cook-offs, and more.
