Best Places to Work 2024: No. 6 Supplier: Brueckner Group USA

Brueckner Group USA Inc. builds machinery and production lines for the plastics processing and packaging industry. It is part of Brückner Group and headquartered in Dover, N.H.

"We place great emphasis on the quality of our services and the sustainability of all our activities," the company said in its Best Places to Work submission. "Our employees are the key factors in our success story. And that's the way it should be."

Brueckner boasts a competitive benefits package, welcoming company culture, growth opportunities and a sense of belonging, the company said.

"We increase employee retention and build a loyal and motivated team," it added, describing what makes employees want to stay at Brueckner.

Founded in 2012, Brueckner also "fosters a culture of teamwork where everyone is willing to jump in and help at any time."

The company emphasizes six core values that it strives to demonstrate: be customer-centric, collaborate, focus on results, act as an entrepreneur, embrace chance and develop expertise.

Employees should develop strong customer relationships and offer solutions that exceed customer expectations; work successfully across departments, divisions and cultures; hold themselves accountable to achieve ambitious goals and results on time; identify opportunities to implement new solutions for the organization; act effectively even when faced with uncertainty; and connect and apply subject-based knowledge.

Hard work takes a break with monthly fun activities such as lunches, holiday parties with giveaways, Oktoberfest and more. Birthdays and work anniversaries are celebrated through a companywide email, which showcases the names and dates of team members who have milestones in the upcoming month.

All full-time employees can enroll in the company's health care plan on their first day of hire. It offers fully paid maternity and paternity leave, bereavement leave and personal leave when other leave uses are spent.

"In addition to our other benefits, we provide a 5 percent matching 401(k) and an additional 3 percent for all employees, regardless of if they contribute or not. We also provide an HRA [health reimbursement arrangement] that automatically reimburses you to cover a majority of the insurance deductible," the company said.

An employee assistance program is available through the employer's insurance company, providing confidential counseling, expert guidance and valuable resources to handle employees' life challenges.

When employees first start at Brueckner, they participate in formal inclusion and diversity training. The training — diversity, equity and inclusion; bullying and harassment; and discrimination in the workplace — is repeated again every following year.

Employees can also utilize an official site that Brueckner offers to file their grievances and complaints anonymously. Once a complaint is filed, the global human resources team will reach out to handle the issue.

With 40 percent of the team telecommuting, Brueckner employees stay engaged with open communication and regular office visits.

The company offers assistance for advanced and post-graduate degrees, business education workshops and conferences, and personal certificates.

"Brueckner Group USA Inc. should be included on the 'Best' list due to our commitment to improve our organization for both the employee and the customer," it said. "With our new facility in Dover, N.H., comes both larger and improved office space as well as our 12,000-square-foot Customer Innovation Center, which showcases our machinery and innovative technologies."

This is Brueckner's first time being named a Best Place to Work by Plastics News.

"Being named one of the Best Places to Work by Plastics News helps Brueckner Group to sharpen our profile in a tight employment market," the company said. "The valuable feedback from the survey was already used to address some of the topics in which our employees saw improvement potential."