It’s not often these days an employee stays with a company for his or her entire career.
Irvine’s Momentum Group inspires that kind of loyalty.
Purchasing agent Betty Webster has worked at the textile company and its predecessor for 33 years.
Her boss has been there for 32 years, a warehouse manager for 38, and the chief executive for 23.
“We have a lot of longevity,” said Webster, who started at the company in the credit department when orders were handwritten.
The average tenure of Momentum’s 130-person workforce is nine years.
What keeps people around?
Workers cite a family atmosphere, training, promotion from within and inclusion in company decisions.
“They trust what I do and I’m not micromanaged,” Webster said. “I’ve been in a lot of different positions here. I’ve been allowed to grow and learn.”
Momentum ranked No. 2 in the midsize company category—50 to 249 employees—in the Business Journal’s second annual Best Places to Work list.
In 1993, 37 employees bought out Momentum Textiles from what’s now VWR International LLC, a seller of scientific equipment, supplies, chemicals and furniture that’s part of Chicago-based equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC.
These days, Momentum has its own private equity owner in New York-based Riverside Co., which acquired a majority of the business in 2006. Eighteen employees still own a third of the company.
Creating a workplace that produces long tenure and happy employees pays off in profits, Chief Executive Roger Arciniega said.
Throughout Momentum’s 17-year history, the company has had only two years in which it didn’t grow sales—2001 and 2009.
The company remained profitable in those years. But profits didn’t grow enough to share with employees as required by the company’s profit-sharing plan.
“Even our warehouse employees know about EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) because all their profit sharing is based on that,” said Hollie Potawsky, human resources manager.
Momentum has $50 million in yearly sales and warehouses in Anaheim, North Carolina, Michigan and Canada. It designs and sells furniture fabrics and other textiles to hotels, hospitals and others.
Workers have access to the company’s quarterly financial reports through the “dashboard,” an internal computer program.
“We found it builds an atmosphere of openness and trust,” Arciniega said.
Dashboard also provides company goals and where it stands on achieving those goals.
“When there’s good news and bad news everybody knows exactly what it is,” he said.
With information, comes accountability and recognition.
Momentum rewards people for ideas, sales or helping out a coworker.
Some of the textile-themed awards employees can get are a “yard,” “you’re on a roll” or “a cut above.” Each comes with some sort of monetary reward, such as a $50 gift card.
When an employee wins, the employee’s manager announces it over the companywide voicemail system. They also are recognized in the company’s quarterly newsletter.
Momentum also tries to run its business on sustainable practices.
It sells fiber or yarn that is made out of recycled material. Its fabrics aren’t made with harmful dyes, something hospitals care about.
Momentum also recycles the tubes that the fabric is rolled around. Reusing the tubes saves money as well, Arciniega said.
Employees volunteer in the community, doing things such as packing food for the Share Our Selves food pantry in Costa Mesa.
During the summer, a $2 donation gets you a week of casual dress (even though the dress code already is pretty casual). The money goes to send kids to camp.
Some of the benefits Momentum offers: 401(k) with a partial match and a healthcare plan with 80% payment of costs for employees and dependents.
Other perks include gatherings such as company picnics and parties.
“We have a lot of celebrations,” Webster said.
