This award recognizes simple, unique, and effective workplace practices that show appreciation to employees and recognize them for their accomplishments.

Winner: Swiger Coil Systems LLC

Employees of Swiger Coil Systems truly believe their company cares about them, and this belief is constantly reinforced through the company’s commitment to “doing the little things” to make sure people know how much their work is appreciated. It offers a unique personal touch in regards to rewards, development, and empowerment, which has enabled it to sustain a great workplace even during challenging economic times.

Employees are recognized often at Swiger. Each quarter employees share equally in the profits of the company. In fact, each employee received approximately $600.00 for the first quarter of 2009. But it’s all the other little things that make the biggest difference to employees at Swiger.

Every time Swiger has a record month, the owner passes out $100.00 to each employee in appreciation for making Swiger Coil a successful organization. Employees often receive spontaneous tickets to sporting events, concert tickets, gift cards and monetary rewards for going above and beyond. The organization even showcases accomplishments of their employees and their family members in their newsletter. Swiger also provides a range of social events for employees including quarterly company lunches, a golf outing, the holiday party, and a family picnic.

Swiger also recognizes employees’ special personal events through cards that are sent in the mail, emails, gifts, and in the company newsletter. For instance, Swiger welcomes employees’ babies by providing a savings bond for the new baby in addition to a gift. They even showcase significant accomplishments of employees’ family members in their newsletter. And when employees become U.S. citizens, they receive a giant U.S. flag to celebrate their new citizenship.

The lines between management and employees are blurred. On the manufacturing floor, you'll find the owner and management talking to and interacting with employees. Management is committed to being first in line for wage freezes if the organization was ever in a negative financial situation. Swiger readily empowers employees to come up with solutions to workplace problems. It even works with employees to find rewards and gifts that they will appreciate, which is an unusual practice for most companies. It has a SEAT (Swiger Employee Advisory Team) Team in place for non top management employees to make suggestions on how to enhance the workplace. This team is an avenue for workplace innovations.

The company has remained successful during the economic recession, largely because it's strategic approach to teamwork and innovation in the workplace. Swiger believes that no one person is responsible for the success of the company. In fact, its mantra is "One Team." Employees working together as a team have contributed to the organization's accomplishments, which include branching out into new product lines and industries and developing new technology to meet the demands those new services put on the organization.

Swiger genuinely wants each of their employees to reach his or her potential. It supplies all the necessary tools that employees need to do their jobs well and advance within the company. All employees are eligible for personalized career development options such as job rotation, job shadowing, special assignments, career coaching/counseling, career paths/tracks/ladders, and leadership development. The organization also conducts regular training needs assessments and provides training to meet individual employees' needs. Supervisors are even evaluated based on how well their employees are mentored to emphasize the organization's commitment to personal development.

When asked what their organization’s greatest strength is, top performers at Swiger Coil Systems comment on their organization’s personal touch in regards to rewards, development, and empowerment:

“I think that our organization's greatest strength is aiming to please our customers, allowing input from employees if they see a better and more efficient way to do a job. Opportunities for advancement are available to anyone who wishes to stretch and improve themselves and help the company at the same time. The last but not least greatest strength is that the company really cares for its employees.”

“Swiger Coil has many strengths, but the greatest strength by far is the people. Swiger has great leaders from the President to the people that are managing work departments. People are willing to go out of their way to help customers and each other. An employee at Swiger has the opportunity to grow with-in Swiger to the top of their current skills and abilities and Swiger offers employees the ability to enhance their skill and abilities through employer assisted education and training to allow them to expand their career as much as they want to. Swiger recognizes that the employees are their strength and rewards them with quarterly gain-sharing bonuses, monthly Swiger sponsored lunches, picnics, holiday parties and Swiger gear (t-shirts, water bottles, sweat shirts, duffle bags, etc.)”