Trust, communication, respect and fun are the main pillars of CMD Corp.'s culture, President Ricardo Abud said. To enhance those pillars, he said, the company offers endless team building and employee appreciation activities.
Cookie Day and Ice Cream Day are favorites. During the holiday season, the leadership team delivers cookies, cider and hot chocolate to employees. During the warm summer days, leadership will pass around ice cream to cool down and chill out.
Employees participate in a chili cook-off contest, a Green Bay Packers dry tailgate party, cornhole tournament and bowling jamboree.
Something Abud just initiated is having lunch with his employees. Once a month, he meets with 10 different employees from various departments as an opportunity for them to share their thoughts, exchange ideas and ask questions. Abud will even come in overnight for the third shift.
"It's just the perfect venue to continue to enhance communication and trust," he said.
Abud is going on his fourth year at CMD, and he is going on his one-year anniversary as president at the equipment technology manufacturer, which is based in Appleton, Wis., and has about 175 employees.
CMD Corp. has made the Best Places to Work list every year since 2015. It ranks No. 15 for 2019.
For work anniversaries, employees receive a signed card, diploma and monetary compensation at an off-site holiday party, which includes a catered meal, entertainment and prizes.
At the all-employee quarterly meeting, slides are shown of new employees and ones that have been promoted.
CMD Corp. participates in the U.S. Venture Open golf outing to help end poverty as well as COTS, which helps to end homelessness, and Riverview Gardens, which provides job training and employment to those in need.
One of the company departments also does a Jeans Day, where employees can donate money to wear denim. The money raised goes toward a charity of the department's choice.
Abud said 2018 was a "record year" for CMD, and that it was "due to the efforts of the employees here that we're able to deliver the commitments to our customers."
Ten years ago, the company started a journey to create a "culture of greatness" and always improve its organization with "fully engaged employees," as explained in CMD's Best Places to Work submission.
"The amount of engagement that we have is huge. Here is where the employees are willing to give effort to help the organization succeed," Abud said. "It's a family. That's a fully engaged employee, where they see their coworkers as an extended family.
"They are willing to cooperate with each other — always dealing within the frames of trust and respect. These individuals are engaged in a way that they're free to speak up and bring ideas and help the company grow," he added. "By the same token, enhancing our culture."
