Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | April 1, 2024 | wbjournal.com F O C U S M A N U FA C T U R I N G More than just office furniture, AIS builds a beacon of belonging WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTIVITY AWARD AIS Location: Leominster Industry subsector: Office furniture and systems Founded: 1989 Employees: 841, plus 190 temp workers for a total of 1,031 Top executives: CEO Nick Haritos and COO Steve Savage Primary products: Office furniture, casegoods What makes a manufacturer excellent? Excellence comes from within, and it starts with respect. Respect for team members' ideas, experiences, and differences while encouraging individual contributions is a key driver of excellence. Nurturing our talent and respecting diverse approaches results in excellence for AIS' teams, manufacturing processes, and ultimately our products and services. BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Staff Writer A s the post-COVID work- force shortages contin- ue, as they have in the manufacturing industry for decades, Leominster office furniture and fixtures manufacturer AIS has baked workforce development and productivity efforts into its culture, part of an overall philosophy of striving to be a beacon of belonging for its employees. AIS' efforts to have a positive impact on employees are so extensive they are hard to summarize, but at the heart of this complex web of internal and exter- nal opportunities, employee enrichment efforts, and lead- ership development initiatives is a rather simple premise: A proper culture creates the right behaviors, which leads to the right results. "If you walk on our factory floor, you hear two words constantly everywhere: trust and respect," said Steve Sav- age, chief operating officer at AIS. "If you don't have trust and respect, you don't have a culture." AIS has created this culture by respecting the needs and desires of its diverse 1,000+employee workforce, where 35 different nationalities are represented, 40% of workers are female, and more than 60 employees participate in Radiance, the company's program for neurodiverse workers. Each employee is empowered to provide feedback and ideas via surveys, and the company's Best Idea Award is given out at monthly meetings, a system encouraging and rewarding improvement. AIS seeks to foster this cooperative spirit inside and outside of the work- place via its Boost program, an employ- ee-run, company-sponsored initiative seeking to create social and philanthrop- ic opportunities for workers both inside and outside the facility. Boost includes everything from recreational soball and soccer matches, to volunteering at Leominster's annual Johnny Appleseed Arts & Cultural Festival, to providing meals for families in need, all designed to enhance employees' well-being and sense of culture. e company's workforce devel- opment extends to creating the next generation of employees and encourag- ing the continued progression of existing members of their team. AIS works with local colleges and high schools to pro- vide apprenticeship opportunities and other skill-building efforts. e largest hurdle to overcome with this program is the fact parents of these potential workers are oen befuddled about their children's desire to want to work at a factory, a result of lack of understanding as to what the company's high-tech and engaging environment is truly like, said Sharyn Williams, senior marketing manager at AIS. "We are not talking about dark and dangerous," she said, referring to precon- ceived notions of what manufacturing facilities are like. "We're talking about skills and being well-paid and lots of opportunities for advancement." Combined, all of these efforts have led to an en- vironment where workers' individuality is encouraged, rather than being sanded down to fit into a precon- ceived package. "We're one big wacky family," Savage said. The factory team at AIS display their certificates from workforce training. W PHOTOS | COURTESY OF AIS AIS employs more than 1,000 full-time and temp workers at its Leominster facility.

• Cover