Disclaimer: These communications are intended for the employees of HB Global. We recognize that the general public will have access. The views expressed in these communications represent Bob Whalen in the context of HB Global and may not apply to broader audiences.
Our mission at HB Global is to empower employee owners to make it a great place to work and to create value. We often talk about this mission in the context of the long term. We want to contribute value to employee owner ESOP accounts that will compound over time as they continue their career with us.
Our mission goes deeper than this though. The long term success of employee owner ESOP accounts is hugely important to us. But there are many other ways that we make HB Global a great place to work and share the value that is created with employee owners.
HB Global shares value in a variety of ways. Some ways are monetary and some relate to other benefits. Some are short term and some are long term. We recognize that employee owners need more than a solid retirement account to feel secure and fulfilled throughout their career. That’s why we strive to share value in other ways as well.
Short Term Incentives
We know that long term rewards help employee owners to feel secure in their future, but we also know there are ways we can share value that help our employee owners now. One of the major ways we do this is by meeting or exceeding market level compensation and benefits. While this isn’t the most glamorous way for us to share value, it’s the way that we know will make a difference in our employee owners lives each day. This ensures that employee owners are taken care of with a solid financial foundation on a regular basis. We also hope it motivates employee owners to continue to learn and grow in their careers.
Another way that we share value in the short term is through annual bonuses based on the performance of each division. If we meet our financial targets, annual bonuses are paid out to employee owners as a percentage of the profit generated in each of our divisions.
This method of sharing value is aligned with the spirit of our ESOP. When we succeed, we all succeed together. When bonuses are paid out for achieving divisional financial targets, they are paid out across the board within that division to eligible full-time employees. We don’t single out certain individuals who get bonuses and others who do not. If we meet our goals, we know that each person contributed to that success. (Note: Employee eligibility for bonuses may be impacted by when the employee starts working for the division during the fiscal year for which bonuses are being paid.)
Growing Our Company
One of our principles at HB Global is that we focus on the whole and not the individual. We are a people first organization, but we have to focus on what’s good for most of the people. Because of this, we also focus on using the profits to grow our company. This may not seem to benefit all employee owners, but it does.
The growth of our company helps to increase our ESOP value, which leads to more value in each employee owner’s ESOP account. As the share price of our company increases with growth and performance, the value in employee owner ESOP accounts grows as well.
Investing profits back into our company also sets us up for the long term. By maintaining a strong financial position, our company is better able to handle any shocks or obstacles that may come our way. This makes the organization more resilient, which makes it better able to protect employee owners. If our company doesn’t exist, jobs don’t exist.
Furthermore, growing our company’s financial position allows us to protect employees in tough times. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, leadership made the decision to pay out whatever bonuses were earned by employee owners at that point no matter what happened for the rest of the fiscal year. We weren’t sure what the pandemic would do to our business, and we wanted to take care of our people, even if the work dried up. We didn’t want their bonuses to be negatively impacted by the effects of the pandemic. A solid financial position allowed us to do that.
Resources & Opportunities
Employee owners also benefit in non-monetary ways as HB Global shares value through investing in resources and creating opportunities for employee owners.
We purchase tools, equipment, and other resources that, first and foremost, prioritize safety but also empower our employees to do the job the best they can. We know that skill needs to be accompanied with the proper tools and equipment for us to be as efficient and effective as possible. Just as we, as individuals, are always striving for continuous improvement, we want to do this with the other aspects of our company, like our tools, equipment, and resources.
That being said, the growth of our people is one of our core values. Employee owners who succeed at HB Global are always trying to get a little bit better each day. We also share value back with employee owners through investing in their growth. This can happen in a few different ways.
We directly share this value by creating resources, such as HB University, that help employee owners to grow, both personally and professionally. Employee owners are able to participate in this program and receive value in an intangible way.
We’re also able to continue growing as a company with the value we create by reinvesting it to expand our current businesses or acquire new businesses, which opens up new opportunities for employee owners. With more work and more leadership opportunities, employee owners can take on stretch assignments.
Growing our company and growing the individuals in our company also creates more mentorship opportunities. When there are more stretch assignments to take on and leadership development potential, motivated employee owners can seek out strong mentors to help them grow.
We are always looking for ways that we can share value with the employee owners who work hard each day to help the company, their teams, and themselves grow and succeed. While the ESOP is our primary focus, we recognize the need to share value in other ways to more completely take care of our employee owners.
Have your own thoughts or questions about sharing value at HB Global? Send them to [email protected].