Culture of Excellence

Perhaps there is no single attribute of Huyett’s culture more important than its collective drive for excellence, which is a direct contrast to the Culture of Comfort that many companies seek to create. While comfort is a worthy goal, doing things the right way is not always comfortable. Consider the story of the Good Samaritan. It is much easier to walk by a person in need or a situation that is not right and simply look the other way to avoid conflict or discomfort.

 

To achieve the Culture of Excellence, Huyett team members practice functional competency, as defined in Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:

 

• There is trust. Huyett is a transparent business, and that transparency exists because there is trust.
• There is no fear of conflict. Managers are conditioned to be humbled servants to their teams. Managers encourage and appreciate feedback from team members, and team members are encouraged to respectfully and firmly confront upstream process owners or co-workers when something is not right.
• Team members are committed to excellence. Huyett is not the easiest place to work, and everyone who works here knows it.
• Everyone is accountable. There is a constant stream of feedback, formally and informally.
• Everyone watches the numbers. Metrics are posted throughout the plant so that everyone knows how the business is doing.

 

Huyett’s Culture of Excellence pervades daily work life. There is no drama, no secrets, and no factions. People treat one another with care, dignity, and respect.

Employee Excellence

To win championships you must have great players, and Huyett’s employees are great people. We do not select people based on their experience, but on their talent. Talent encompasses natural ability, but also a commitment to the pursuit of excellence. To this extent, here is how Huyett ensures the quality of its team members:

 

Care in Hiring. At Huyett, we hire carefully with a holistic and detailed approach. We understand that people are more than just their résumé! Applicants proceed through multiple interviews and complete a set of pre-employment assessments to ensure that they are the best fit for the role. Huyett team members participate in the hiring process and interview future co-workers. New hires proceed through an array of reviews and tests to ensure that they are the best fit for the role. Huyett team members participate in the hiring process and interview future co-workers.

 

All new hires start with a written On Boarding Plan. The On Boarding Plan ensures that new hires learn their job quickly and completely. Post-hire employees receive training, and training will become an even greater asset as the Company moves to formalize a Training Matrix and Skills Matrix.

 

Huyett has a points-based Attendance and Reliability Policy. In order to run lean, employees must be reliable and attend work and plan absences in advance, save for illness and accidents. People who are not able to attend work reliability don’t make it at Huyett. We count on you, and our employees count on one another.

 

Huyett is a safe place to work – not just physically safe, but mentally safe as well. Harassment, hostility, and discrimination are not tolerated, as are unsafe acts and conditions. Employees are counseled to not just be good team members at work, but to be good team members at home.

Community Improvement

The owners of Huyett are committed to building community. Through the efforts of Huyett Charities, employees and their families provide significant support to the communities we work and live in:

 

Ottawa County Carnival. Employees and their families walk in the parade each year and volunteer at the concessions. The Company donates tokens to a local food bank so that needy families in the community can have a fun family night riding carnival rides and playing games at Huyett’s expense.

 

Salvation Army Thanksgiving Dinner. Every year, the Salvation Army hosts a Thanksgiving dinner at Applebee’s in Salina, KS. Huyett donates scores of turkeys in support of the event, and employees donate funds for sweet potatoes and volunteer their time to prepare and serve meals to homeless and needy people in the community.

 

Community Garden. Huyett employees and their families manage and maintain a Company-sponsored garden, and the produce is donated to local food banks and people in need.

 

Ottawa County Community Foundation. Huyett and its executive officers donate annually to this important community funding mechanism for non-profits.

 

Love, Inc. is a local food pantry. Each Christmas season, the Company donates hams that are packaged together as a holiday meal that is delivered to local needy families.

 

Project Drive is Huyett Charities’ largest and most important annual project. Started in 2007 with just $1,000, the program has now grown to over $50,000 annually. This is a grant program for local charities. Projects have included everything from EMS and fire rescue radios, to football bleacher improvements for schools, public library resources, to middle school computers. In one year, a carnival ride was purchased for the county fair.

 

Huyett is a community of value-added communities, building Community.

Enhancement of Prosperity

Only exotic businesses make people wealthy. Huyett’s goal is to make its team members prosperous. This begins with responsible and intelligent decision making in personal life. Huyett tries to stimulate competent decision making using financial management tools.

 

Additionally, Huyett promotes and seeks to enhance prosperity thru:

 

• Profit Sharing. Employees are eligible for profit sharing bonuses. Profits and financial statements are shared publicly so that employees can see the direct impact their individual and team performance has on the prosperity of the Company. As profits increase, bonuses increase based on performance and productivity.
• Annual merit pay increase. All employees are reviewed at least annually and receive a pay increase based on their performance.
• With the input of an Employee Benefits Advisory Board, benefits are configured and engineered to bring the greatest value per invested dollar back to employees and their families.
• Personal Development. The Company has a performance management system that encompasses personal development planning, so that employees enhance their ability to contribute through time. Greater contribution equals greater pay and compensation.
• Each month the Company CEO advises all employees of Huyett that they are free agents who get to choose where they work and are free to leave as they please. As such, the management of the Company is extraordinarily occupied in ensuring that the employee experience is prosperous financially, emotionally, and professionally.