Alene Candles Makes Best Companies to Work For 2020
Matthew J. Mowry
During the past four years, Alene Candles has focused on practicing “conscious leadership.” Following principles from the book, “The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership,” they have a mentorship program for supervisors and managers to take full responsibility for their actions and decisions and engage in upfront communication rather than gossip.
As part of this endeavor, any employee can participate in mediation sessions help at Alene twice a week.
It is part of an ongoing evolution of the company’s culture. Alene Candles recently rolled out a new skills block training program for manufacturing workers. Each position has several training tiers and after an employee masters a skill, they receive a rate increase. Manufacturing employees work four 10-hour days, have three-day week-ends and can earn overtime during the busy season.
The company offers Health Reimbursement Accounts that pay employees $1,250 to $3,750 annually to offset medical deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses.
Through the Alene Gives Back program, employees can be paid for up to eight hours of community service.
Other ways they show appreciation for employees include giving $1,000 bonuses for a successful new employee referral, a personal letter from the president on one’s anniversary as well a gift of their choice on key anniversaries, and spot bonuses of $25 to $500 when employees go above and beyond.
The company’s Culture Club provides employees with fun activities, giveaways and contests, including pumpkin carving and holiday ornament contests with prizes, Earth Day clean up contests and visits from an ice cream truck.
