Irvine-based medical device maker Aspen Medical Products Inc. has created a working environment based on respect and rewarding performance.
“If you want good people to give their best, you need to have a level of respect for them,” said Geoffrey Garth, Aspen’s cofounder and vice president of research and development and clinical research.
Garth’s philosophy grew out of experiences at his previous job at a toy company, which he left to establish a predecessor of Aspen.
“I went directly from being just a staff-level employee to being the boss,” he said. “There was no time in middle management, there was no theory. I just knew what it felt like to be an employee. The reason why I left the toy company is that I didn’t get any respect.”
Aspen ranked No. 4 in the medium companies category on the Business Journal’s third annual Best Places to Work list.
The list was compiled for the Business Journal by Harrisburg, Pa.-based Best Companies Group, an independent workplace researcher that managed the registration process (see Methodology, page 26).
Aspen makes braces to immobilize the upper and lower spine in people with back pain or who are recovering from injuries. It sells its braces through its own sales force rather than distributors.
It has 93 workers.
The company’s “biggest asset is my employees,” Dan Williamson, Aspen’s chief executive, said in an interview last year.
Aspen offers quarterly performance bonuses for salaried and hourly workers.
“Let’s say I gave you $100 for your bonus,” Williamson said. “If the company grew by 10%, I’m going to grow your $100 by 10%, so you’re now going to get $110. Every year, you benefit with the corporation as we do well.”
Weekly Yoga
Aspen’s benefits include a casual dress policy, weekly yoga and an on-site gym. It offers a 401k retirement plan, pays between 75% and 99% of its workers’ health insurance premiums and a flexible spending account.
The company has also continued staging parties and outings to keep its work force connected on a personal level.
Garth said he wasn’t sure where the next Aspen company trip would be.
“Having been to Solvang, everybody’s ready to go back to Vegas for this year,” Garth said.
Other outings have included races at Los Alamitos racetrack and bowling.
Aspen’s been in business for 18 years. Garth established its predecessor, California Medical Products, because he wanted to produce a neck brace he originally designed for paramedics’ use. Williamson joined the company as chief financial officer; both were with the company when it was sold in 1992 to the Laerdal Corp., a Norwegian company.
Laerdal eventually sold a brace called the Aspen Collar back to Garth and Williamson, which became the basis of Aspen.
Aspen has been located in Orange County for about nine years.
Last year, Williamson said that he moved the company from Long Beach partially for personal reasons. The San Clemente resident said he was “getting a little tired of making the commute to Long Beach.”
When Aspen moved, Williamson sought employee input and formed a committee to decide how the new workplace would look. The company’s carpet looks like it belongs in someone’s home and also has “soothing green walls,” he said.
Aspen’s lobby also includes a large gorilla sculpture made from tire rubber, something that Garth put in. The sculpture originally belonged to a friend of Garth’s, and he bought it.
“It’s just something that’s fun. I suppose at this point, its corporate art,” Garth said.
