b'Engaging Families Improves ROBIN OMARA Company MoralePRESIDENT,OMARA AG SERVICESMAINTAINING A CLOSE- This year was our fourth annual romara60@msn.comomara-ag.com KNIT,company culture is difficultEmployee Appreciation Weekend as a business expands. Certainin the Wisconsin Dells. The com-employees then have fewer, naturalpany covers a two-night hotel stay interactions and communicationfor employees and their families can be siloed by activity or location.and hosts dinners on Friday and The People BusinessThe disconnection is compoundedSaturday nights. Each employee when travel budgets are reduced,gets a $100 gift card and a $20 gift and virtual meetings replacecard for each child. TODAY I AMwriting about a guy I know who is in theface-to-face interactions. TheFriday night, we take time to cel-people business.side conversations disappear, andebrate employee milestones, both Has there ever been someone that you looked upemployees dont have the chancepersonal and professional. The 2021 to and respected, who greets with a smile, a guy whoto learn about what makes theirevent carried much more signifi-keeps his promises and is reassuring with no B.S.? Acoworkers human. cance than in the past. We marked person you can trust, who always has a good story toSince our founding in 1941, atwo years worth of employee tell, one who is a real people person?family-style culture has been apromotions, new hires, marriages, Im thinking of a man whose morals and ethics Ikey to our success. But, weve alsograduations, new home purchases, respect. This guy sings in church. A man who travelsexpanded the business to twonew family additions and honored more than many of half his years. This late 70s agecountries, six locations and multipleemployees for their upcoming dude loves what he does enough that he has commit- crops. Maintaining a family-styleretirements. Employees mingled, ted to working until he is 80. To be fair, he qualifies thatculture through that kind of expan- kids played at the water parks, old with as long as I am still having fun. sion takes more than occasionalmemories were recounted and new The Man, the Myth, the Legend: this guy is Donmanagement visits to each location.ones were made.Uglow.It takes a concerted, company-wideHolding this event keeps our One of my favorite people, Don is in the peopleeffort to create the opportunity forcompany grounded in its family business, but also happens to be in the optical sort- all employees to build relationships.roots. Coming from a year where ing equipment business. The kind of optical sorterThats why we started hostingwe all spent so much time in front of that will purify your bulk seed by removing defects ofan employee appreciation week- a computer, these kinds of connec-light, dark, shape and most any color in the spectrum.endto continue building personaltions have been hard to come by.Seems like a tall order to promise all the fixings, right? relationships, but also to show ourAs one of the nations largest Like you, I am skeptical about performance prom- employees that we care for them asfamily-owned companies in the ises. For the last 20 plus years, I have had the pleasureif they were part of our family.seed industry, we need to work of working with Don, and learning that this optical sort- hard to balance the structure nec-ing equipment does all the things Don promises. essary to support our continued Any optical sorter can make an average sort lookgrowth with the family culture thats easy. The magic of this Buhler brand optical sorter isfueled our success. Celebrating our that it can make easy work of the tough sorts. Superemployees success in their home high-resolution cameras, plus more quantity of moreand work lives helps us do that . focused air ejectors just flat out translates into a supe- and we have a lot of fun doing it!rior sort.From what I can see, Don hasnt missed a step. I thought we might lose him to our business when he lost his wife some years back, but Don being Don, he charged on. Cheers to Don!Do me a favor: before he retires, give Don a shout,JIM SCHWEIGERT ask him about the magic of these optical sorters.PRESIDENT, GRO ALLIANCEBetter yet, buy him a Guinness if you have the oppor- @jim_schweigert tunity. See if you dont agree that Don is what helpsjim.schweigert@groalliance.commake this seed industry an enjoyable place to be. GroAlliance.com26/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2021'