Founded in 1983, Washington-based Decagon Devices invents, designs, manufactures and markets precision scientific instruments and sensors for food quality testing and environmental monitoring and research. One of Decagon's products has even been sent to Mars as part of NASA's Phoenix Lander. As Associate Professor John Lea-Cox from the University of Maryland puts it, they provide "a way for us to begin to understand our planet more, and their product is one that really helps us as a society to deal with change."
When Tamsin Jolley, President of the newly honored Top Small Workplace, got back from our 2008 Top Small Workplaces Conference last month she had a new award for the office, but she also returned with a few new techniques to share with the employees.
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"We have open book management here, so people get to see where the money's coming from and where it's going. But at last week's lunch meeting we invited spouses too," she explains, pointing to the suggestion she received to break down, in detail, exactly how much is invested in every employee. Some people might take for granted the 100 percent employee medical coverage, she admits, "but for a for a whole family that's about $15,000 a year, and the people who have come here from other places usually raise their hands during the lunch meetings and say 'Do you guys realize what you have here?'"
It's not your basic benefits package, of course, but Decagon has never aimed for anything less than stunning in its performance. The company has seen revenues grow over 40 percent in the past three years and stands to do very well this year despite the severe economic downturn. "We do have a conservative approach," Jolley says. "We grow with our own money."
Jolley, the oldest of nine children, was one of the company's first employees in 1983, writing letters alongside her sister, trying to find a buyer for her father's maiden instrument design. Engineer Gaylon Campbell started the company with some money and advice from Jolley's grandparents, who were passionate about avoiding debt. "We've always had way more ideas than we can pursue at any one time," she says, "but if the money's not there, we don't do it." Since the economic climate is not favorable now, the fact that they don't have any debt to speak of leaves Decagon in a good position to weather the storm. At a recent all-company meeting one staff member even stood up and said "Thank you, thank you for running things like you do."
There is indeed a lot of dialogue at the weekly Decagon lunch meetings, and it's no surprise given the family-like approach the company has retained over the years. "They really are listening to what you have to say," explains Engineer Ben Walden, "and it is like a family away from home; a bunch of friends that you work with."
The work performed by much of Decagon's staff is highly precise and detail oriented. It's not easy to find someone with the technical capacity to manufacture world-class sensory equipment. "We hold on to our people by making sure their needs are being met," Jolley says. In addition to a very open approach to financials and support for informal mentoring within the workplace, Decagon allows for a great degree of freedom in new projects. "They give you the tools you need to work, even if it's nontraditional, and Decagon tries to accommodate, to make you happier," says Soil Moisture Product Manager Lauren Bissey.
Add to this a comprehensive wellness package and you can see a winning recipe taking form. "I cannot think of a better place to work," says Bill Scotson, who works in Receiving and Inventory. "I am an old dodger and there are other places where I would not even be considered. I don't know how to express my feelings about this company." Scotson had originally retired several years ago to live the good life but soon found himself growing bored and physically uncomfortable due to lack of activity. He applied to work at Decagon and, after having been there for two years now, is healthier and happier than he could have imagined.
As part of Decagon's wellness program, which Jolley says she designed based off of concepts gleaned from the Internet, Scotson is encouraged to exercise before work, up to five times a week, in a therapeutic pool off site. "Everything I've read says that wellness programs reduce medical expenses," she says. "That is pretty solid footing for the justification right there."
Employees are showing creativity in how they undertake their particular wellness agendas. Walden is one of the many Decagon employees who head across the street to the company's old building and soccer field to kick the ball around seemingly every chance they get. All staff get a 15-minute morning and afternoon break, and although they don't get a full game going every day, they do play all year round. In the picturesque, rolling hills of Pullman, WA, this can get pretty muddy. Luckily, a new field is under construction this very week.
"I don't know if we've really justified the dollars that are going into it," contemplates Jolley, "but it's so much a part of our culture that we want to maintain it."
Jolley highlights what many of her associates have explained, that at Decagon it's important to get people away from their desks, releasing some steam and then starting again. Clients and neighbors play soccer with Decagon's engineers, and the company has certainly made more than a few visitors jealous with its rousing sessions of slot-car racing behind their facility (a grand setup that employees purchased and organized). As Bissey puts it, "They are striving to find new ways to make employees happy, while still being a really successful company."
Company: Decagon Devices, Inc.
Web site: www.decagon.com
Industry: Laboratory analytical instruments
Location: Pullman, WA
Number of Employees: 73
Sales: $9.7 million
Read more in our Manufacturing Success Stories archive.