Every October, the Hydro-Chem Systems team celebrates Employee Ownership Month to remind people what a powerful tool ESOPs are for employee and ownership engagement.
As an ESOP company, we recognize how easy it is to get involved and celebrate these accomplishments as an entire team. When you’re a part of an employee-owned business, we are all accountable to the success of our business, and that deserves some celebration.
Many companies are still unfamiliar with what it means to be an ESOP company and how it can specifically benefit their business. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at last month.
ESOP stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which means after one year of employment, every HCS employee has a real ownership stake in the company, and its success. Employee Ownership is a core value to our company’s culture and identity.
We believe giving people a vested interest in the company’s success does outstanding things to foster engagement, drive, and accountability for the entire team. We’ve had nothing but positive things to say about the effect it’s had on our team. That’s why we value the month of October so highly, as it gives us the full opportunity to celebrate what we’ve achieved.
Like most companies, we come together every quarter to reflect on work that got done and plan ahead for the next three months. But this October, our meeting was different.
This was one of two times a year when we take time to celebrate the employees that become fully vested Employee-Owners. That means recognizing who has shown their commitment and dedication to the success and growth we’ve experienced, and the future plans we make.
We then invited everyone to take part in our company-wide Innovation Event, where each person has an opportunity to offer suggestions on where Hydro-Chem Systems can improve and where they feel the industry is heading.
This is important because being an ESOP company is about so much more than just having an ownership stake. It’s about each employee’s voice making a real contribution to changes they want to see made in the coming years. That means celebrating each success as a personal and professional accomplishment, and working hard to understand our failures to improve.
What better way to jump start fall than with a pumpkin decorating contest, and a room full of pizzas? We couldn't think of one, so hosted a small pumpkin design contest. Employees put their creativity to the test with all sorts of fun ideas, knowing we’d be voting on our favorite at the end of the week.
Next up, we had our annual Chili & Cornbread cook off. Things can get a little competitive, but mostly just delicious with anonymous submissions from the team.
We needed a winner for Best Red Chili, Best White Chili, and Best Cornbread, and trying to choose your vote might have been the trickiest part! At the end of the day, the winners received their well-earned praise and recipes were exchanged to be recreated at home.
From a local hockey player to an out of the world alien, we had quite the turnout for Halloween!. It’s hard to choose a highlight from this event as employees finalized voting on the best pumpkin design, and costume for some light-hearted competition.
A pumpkin version of "The Starry Night" won for its clever design and the time it took to make something this creative. Our winner for best Halloween costume gave us all a solid laugh as Jerry dressed up as Mac, and the two looked uncanny standing side-by-side. Can you tell who the real Mac is?
Throughout the year, HCS employees give out “soapy chips” to each other as recognition for outstanding work, and representation of our Core Values. Come October, employees use their chips and turn them into raffle tickets to win prizes.
We are always grateful to our vendors and partners who are so willing to donate items and gift cards to help celebrate our team. Whether it’s tickets to the big game, restaurant gift cards, or other prizes, it’s always awesome to see people get excited and leave with a reward. And everyone leaves with an item! It’s one of our favorite ways to say thank you for everything you do throughout the year to keep us running strong.
Since becoming employee-owned in 2002, Hydro-Chem Systems has been celebrated with more than one award to commemorate the achievements we make as a team. A few of which include: being one of 2024’s Michigan's '50 Companies to Watch', one of West Michigan's Best and Brightest Companies to Work for 2023, a finalist for the Western Michigan BBB 2023 Torch Awards for Ethics, and winner of Michigan ESOP Association’s “Company of the Year” in both 2019 and 2021.
There are fewer than 7,000 companies in the US that are currently employee owned. We’re proud to celebrate Employee Ownership Month this year, and for many years to come. Congratulations to everyone on the Hydro-Chem Systems team on another year of incredible work and dedication.