"I truly love my job. I love our team. We work hard, celebrate each other’s wins, and learn from each other’s stumbles," says Executive Vice President Anna Catherine Osteen of her career at PeopleTec. With a culture of excellence and processes founded on improvement, employee-owned PeopleTec strives to be better every day. From the beginning, PeopleTec's founders, Terry Jennings and Doug Scalf wanted the company to be a place people wanted to go to work everyday. Osteen adds, "For me, their dream is the reality I enjoy everyday."
Osteen's sentiments are universal, as you talk to both employees and senior leadership this people-driven culture reigns true from the day to day operations to long term legacy created by the ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) for their future and their family's future.
"There is a genuineness to our company and its people-first culture that transcends the workplace. It carries over to an improved home life," states Jorge Garcia. "My evening conversations about how my day went are filled with examples of caring not frustration, which make a huge difference for my family and me." Add this culture to the opportunity to be an employee-owner, where everyone’s efforts contribute each day to the growth of our company, and you have another dimension of measurable goodness to the experience of working at PeopleTec. Garcia continues, "Combined with our culture, being an employee-owned company positively impacts the lives of all employees and their families in both tangible and intangible ways."
Working at an employee-owned company benefits PeopleTec's employees and their families in tremendous ways. Beyond an already generous 401K matching contribution, the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from the growth of PeopleTec through the ESOP adds a significant boost to their family’s financial future, providing security in both the short-term and long-term.
Osteen adds, "An ESOP builds interest in what’s happening across the company. I’ve always loved being part of a team and this business structure allows that team feel to have an extra sweetness. We own this amazing company! It makes every win mean more, every success of your fellow employee owner mean a little more." It has always been a part of the culture at PeopleTec to celebrate each other, but the ESOP just magnifies that. "I think contentment in life is so important and a large piece of that for me is loving what I do, enjoying with whom I spend my time, and feeling purposeful in my everyday. The ESOP and what it means for our employee owners is now part of my purpose," remarks Osteen.
As far as the legacy this creates for her family, "I’m a numbers person; I always have been. The ESOP means something to my family’s financial future, but the best part for me is that the work I put in benefits the financial future of all our employee owners." Osteen continues, "My wins are wins for them. Their wins are wins for me. Together, we are all building a company and a legacy together of which our families can be proud."
Positive, engaged, and thoughtful leaders like Terry Jennings and Doug Scalf whose examples demonstrate genuine humility, integrity, empathy, and respectfulness to all is the foundation that is needed for all other good things to happen, including the continued growth of the company. Garcia says, "I am most motivated and inspired by the example our senior leaders set each day. They make it possible for others to set similar examples at all levels within the company. Which in turn attracts other great and talented professionals to join our team and be a part of something this good." He adds, "It’s why it is a joy to come to PeopleTec each day."
Garcia has had the opportunity to work in many other organizations throughout his professional life. He compares, "While experiencing what I refer to as “pockets of excellence” within other organizations, I had not previously experienced an organization that I would consider excellent – an organization that works each day at making good better – from top to bottom. PeopleTec is that kind of organization."
The challenge he has encountered is how to more effectively communicate to younger professionals, who may not have other experiences, how truly wonderful, and quite unique, PeopleTec is as a place to come to work each day. "It is an excellent company, not because it is perfect – nothing is – but because the company’s leadership is very intentional about making all things, including things that are going well, even better." Garcia continues, "And, it’s done through thoughtful consideration of all perspectives before important decisions are made. Our leaders are genuine, caring people who lead with a level of humility and empathy that is not that common. Helping our younger professionals understand the true uniqueness of what we have here at PeopleTec is something that I work on so they are able to more fully understand and appreciate the goodness that surrounds them."
Osteen's biggest challenge was the implementation of the ESOP. "The ESOP was one of the most challenging and exciting things in my career. I had heard of ESOP’s, but really knew very little about them." Osteen continues, "We worked with a team of experts to design and implement the ESOP. I spent much time learning about the employee ownership world from those experts and from fellow ESOP companies. It’s one of the great things about ESOP companies, we are all for ESOP’s and everyone is quick to share the things they have learned along the way."
My evening conversations about how my day went are filled with examples of caring not frustration, which make a huge difference for my family and me.