Michael Fornander makes company culture one of the most important factors since becoming president and owner of PSNI affiliate Neurilink in Boise, Idaho. Susan Pinch highlights the family-like atmosphere at Clark Powell in Winston-Salem, N.C., as that company’s president.
So perhaps it’s no coincidence that these two companies that spend just as much time looking at the environment as they do about the bottom line were chosen as this year’s PSNI Global Alliance Best Places to Work in AV.[related]
Neurilink earned the PSNI Best Places to Work in AV award for integrators with less than 50 employees, while Clark Powell got the honors for companies with more than 50 employees.
“ClarkPowell and Neurilink have thoroughly demonstrated their effectiveness in helping employees continue to feel connected to the organization to keep their engagement strong,” said PSNI Global Alliance executive director Chris Miller.
The annual award is based on key metrics in PSNI’s third annual employee engagement survey, sent earlier this year to its North American affiliates. A total of 2,600 employees responded to the 2017 survey, which establishes a benchmark among the network in the only survey of its kind in AV.
The PSNI employee engagement survey measures overall level of employee engagement within the network; identifies work attributes that are most responsible for driving employee engagement and understands employee perceptions in areas such as leadership, work relationships (employee to supervisor and employee to co-worker), culture, growth and opportunity.
Neurilink Favors Culture Over Technical Skills
“It’s certainly a very proud honor, a cool surprise,” says Fornander. “We hire first for culture rather than an individual’s experience. What that creates is a weird concoction of chemistry that comes from very different individuals with a lot of passion.
“We live and breathe our values. You don’t succeed or fail alone and we all have to be on the same page and aligned toward the same goals,” he says.
Neurilink names a Rock Star Employee of the Month, giving the honoree a reserved parking spot, a mug with a personalized slogan and other unique prizes. The company also hosts quarterly events including family barbecues, bowling, go-karting and snow-tubing.
Fornander bought Neurilink in December 2012 from Data Productions, covering the Boise and northwest U.S. regions, a move he compared to “painting a moving train” and calling it a “start-over.” The company works in several verticals, including K-12, higher education, corporate, health care, judicial, government and retail.
Clark Powell ‘Pretty Much A Big Family’
Pinch also took over an established company under difficult circumstances when her sister Stephanie died last year after running Clark Powell since their father, founder Read Clark, died in 1998. Clark hired Pinch’s now-husband, Jim, about 20 years ago when he was dating Pinch. A handful of Clark Powell employees have been with the company for at least 30 of its 34 years, says Pinch, who has been with the company for 21 years.
“I don’t think I should take any credit [for the PSNI award],” says Pinch. “It’s great for us. It’s hard to find good people so this certainly helps us with that.”
Clark Powell has long based its salary structure on employee performance, not their roles, says Pinch. The company isn’t shy about spending money on training and personal development, she says, and there’s a focus on basic kindness.
“We try to say thank you when someone does a good job,” says Pinch.
Clark Powell also shares the company profits with all employees rather than keeping it for the executives, she says, and offers merit-based bonuses.
“We’re pretty much a big family,” says Pinch. “It’s all about loyalty. You take care of the people who take care of you.”
That loyalty goes both ways, she says, noting all of the sales staff has been with the company for more than 10 years. The company has grown to about 60 employees in North Carolina and Columbia, S.C., and Pinch expects Clark Powell to retain that regional focus in corporate, higher ed, house of worship, government and college athletics.
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“You can do a better job if you focus in one [geographical] area,” says Pinch.
And, if ever there’s a time when they don’t do a great job, they fix their mistakes, she says.
“If things are messed up, we fix them,” says Pinch. “We want to have the trust of our customers.”
