Top Workplaces leaders say employee-centric culture helps business in tough years

Bob Gardner set out 15 years ago to build a business where he would want to work.

He had found himself depleted as he came home to young kids and realized he loved the construction field, just not the company where he was working. He wanted to be able to be joyful for his sons.

So Gardner, who is winner of the Star Tribune Top Workplaces leadership award in the midsize business category, decided to build his own firm, one that focused on empowering employees.

“I wanted them to feel valued for who they are as human beings,” said Gardner, whose business ranks second among midsize Top Workplaces.

He also wanted those employees to have agency in helping build Gardner Builders, not just take orders.

This kind of employee-centric culture, if built right, can fuel growth for a company, leaders of Top Workplaces companies said. But more important, that structure keeps a business moving forward during times of uncertainty and change like this year.

It also helps retain employees when Minnesota still has a tight labor pool.

There are many ways to define employee-centric leadership styles.

Kowalski’s follows a civic business approach, where companies try to train workers in ways that make them better overall citizens.

“That really drives my leadership,” said Kris Kowalski Christiansen, CEO of the Twin Cities grocery chain. “It’s teaching people that they have power, they have influence. They’re not just participants, but they can help define possibilities and help solve problems.”

The commitment to this philosophy was set by Christiansen’s parents, Jim and Mary Anne Kowalski. But she has kept it because she believes in it.

It means breaking down issues to the department level at each store, and getting the team to figure out answers, she said. This kind of interaction then builds employees’ confidence and their trust at Kowalski’s, seventh among large companies on the Top Workplaces list.

It also makes people better listeners, which in turns allows them to respect differences in others, Christiansen said.

“People are having a harder time than they have ever had trying to do that,” she said. “I think within our institutions it’s actually easier to deal with these situations.”

Other company executives like Paul Blom, owner of Right at Home, a home health agency, will call what he does servant leadership.

Whatever employee-centered leadership philosophy someone follows, Blom believes trusting his workers builds loyalty and that has been paramount in health care for the past several years.

“We have a retention rate of 94 percent in an industry where retention is lucky to be 50 percent,” he said of the firm, which placed fifth among small companies on the list.

To be successful, Blom said, leaders must communicate clearly. Gardner agrees.

Every Friday, Blom sends out an email and text to employees in which he shares both personal anecdotes and a business update, with reminders on deadlines and anything new.

“I’ve established a sense of ‘You know me, and you know me well,’ and that kind of establishes a certain degree of trust, because my communication is very heartfelt and genuine and transparent,” he said. “I literally have newer staff who will say, ‘I’ve never felt that I know the owner of the company as well as I do this company.’”

Christiansen said she also tries her best to be “transparent and honest.”

That trust is key when you’re dealing with a tough business situation, whether it’s how to face sticky inflation on grocery items or labor negotiations, she said.

If you respect employees’ capacity to understand the economy and what it means to the bottom line — and provide education and training on it — then workers will deliver, Christiansen said.

Not everyone agrees, she said.

But it sets a tone of “Let’s get together and figure it out,” she said.

Blom tries his best to accommodate employees’ personal schedules. For example, some watch grandkids some days and need to be scheduled on the others.

In an industry that may not pay as much as others, that can make a difference for employees, he said.

Flexible schedules also are key to employee retention and engagement at Bridge Realty, said Arman Oskooi, a broker and director of operations at the firm that ranked first among large companies on the Top Workplaces list.

Oskooi makes sure to show up at the office every day and holds trainings in person. He provides agents with his cellphone number and email address.

“When a new agent has their first closing, I’ll shoot them a text to let them know, ‘I’m keeping an eye on you, you’re important to me,’” he said.

If you don’t mess with the culture, you can use employees’ strengths to change course if necessary, or work through the challenges as they present themselves, the leaders said. What’s key is communication and trust.

American Solutions for Business in Glenwood, two hours west of Minneapolis, is an employee-owned company, which affects all big decisions, said CEO Justin Zavadil, who is the Top Workplaces leadership award winner in the large company category.

“Our number one resource is our people,” he said. “We try to just focus on what we do best instead of the economy. An uncertain economy is a problem that everyone must deal with. We focus on the problems that are unique to us and how we can turn those into opportunities to make us better.”

To do that, employees must be part of the decision-making process at the company, fourth among large businesses on the Top Workplaces list, he said.

Kevin Ward, executive director of Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners in Plymouth, was brought on to change how his nonprofit operates.

The first step was listening. He and his team wanted to know what was working, what the front-line employees needed for support and whether their caseload was manageable.

He made sure compensation was as competitive as possible given Interfaith’s nonprofit status.

“One thing we do is keeping our vision out in front, and this idea, this concept, that we will never arrive. We always have work to do,” said Ward, who said the nonprofit is always re-evaluating goals as necessary.

But he also tries to make sure “the day to day focus is really on the day to day,” he said. “What is it that success looks like for today?”

Uncertainty and funding will always be problems in human services work. But if employees feel empowered and supported, they can do the same for their clients, Ward said.

Even in the midst of challenges, leaders also said a workplace needs to be joyful.

Otherwise, people won’t want to come in every day.

“People want to feel safe where they work, safe in their position, safe in that they know what their expectations are,” said Chad Deley, who runs Deley Organization-Globe Life in Coon Rapids. “I do whatever I can to create a work environment that’s conducive to want to do well.”

Deley has small and large rewards for his employees, which he’ll present at meetings for things well done.

Frandsen Financial Corp., based in Arden Hills, hosts barbecues, employee days at St. Paul Saints games, river boat trips and outings at places like Topgolf, said CEO Chuck Mausbach.

“That’s where you get to know people really, really well,” he said. Getting people together who don’t ordinarily see each other at work “helps develop camaraderie.”

The extras are important, but so is joy in everyday work and in your colleagues, said Kowalski’s Christiansen.

“At the end of the day, have some fun,” she said.