116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Ewing Kauffman established legacy of rewarding employees, community
Van Meter Inc. emphasizes same values in Cedar Rapids
Editor’s note: For more stories about successful employee-owned companies, click here.
Ewing Kauffman believed employees who helped build a business should share in the fruits of their labors aside from their regular salary. His two driving philosophies were “treat others as you want to be treated” and “share the rewards with those who produce.”
“That company really became a pharmaceutical powerhouse … and eventually became the most productive pharmaceutical sales company in the Midwest,” said Matt Pozel, a communications associate with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.
A big part of Kauffman’s success was his workforce and how he treated them.
“They had a profit-sharing program before they even had profits,” Pozel said. “He would tell associates in lean years, ‘I’m building the company on promises, and I promise you through your profit-sharing program you’re going to benefit when the company prospers.’”
And prosper it did.
“The story is that the day the company went public in 1965, Kansas City had 300 new millionaires,” Pozel said. “These were people from throughout the company: salespeople to people on the assembly line. Everyone.”
Van Meter Inc.’s impact in Cedar Rapids
While employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) may not always make employees millionaires, they do make an impact on the employees, as well as on the communities in which they operate.
Van Meter Inc. in Cedar Rapids is a prime example of how giving employees ownership can help boost the company and improve the community.
“At Van Meter, we are 100 percent employee-owned,” said Danielle Monthei, the company’s marketing manager. “After your first 30 days, you’re considered an owner and are eligible for all owner benefits.”
That ownership brings advantages not only to the employee-owners, but to the overall company, as well. The importance of ownership is stressed from the very start, during the interview process of every job, Monthei said.
“We really stress how important it is as an owner to live like an owner every day, at work and at home,” she said.
“We hold each other accountable, we practice ‘call me first’ — the expectation is that when you work with each other, you talk about whatever needs to be discussed, whether it’s brainstorming, fixing issues, whatever it is,” Monthei says. “It’s more about praising each other and appreciating what everyone brings.”
She said Van Meter owners are like family and, as such, the company wants to be passionate about what drives its members. In many cases, that means company involvement in community events and drives.
It’s another thing that brings employee-owners back every day.
“When your organization wants to support you and the things you support, your pride and engagement in the community as a whole increases.
“We know that our employee-owners are the community, they live here, they work here,” she said. “We want to see them and their community thrive. The way in which we can continue to support that.”
In addition to joining employee-owners on their missions, Van Meter provides paid time for them to volunteer or help out in their community; each employee-owner gets eight hours annually to volunteer on their own to use in addition to group team-building volunteer efforts.
With 250 employees locally, that’s just shy of a full year of work days the company gives for local volunteer efforts.
“Giving back to our community is a priority, and we make it happen knowing that it’s important to our employee-owners and it’s important to the community,” she said. “That’s what is really important to the company, as well.”
Kauffman & Kansas City
Just like Van Meter, Kauffman believed in supporting the city that had supported him.
He started with founding the Kansas City Royals baseball team. When Charles Finley moved the Athletics out of Kansas City after the 1967 season, Major League Baseball agreed to grant the city one of its four expansion teams if a credible owner stepped forward.
Kauffman took that step and was awarded the American League franchise in January 1968. His initial investment was $7 million, though the energy and resources he poured into making the team a success was far greater.
The renamed Royals Stadium opened in 1973, and by 1976 the Kansas City Royals had made it to postseason play.
Kauffman’s community support spread beyond the walls of the baseball stadium.
After considering a way to fund programs to train those in the medical profession, Kauffman instead looked back on his own journey and how his education and opportunities formed his future. He began looking at ways to advance education and entrepreneurship.
According to his foundation’s website, Kauffman believed higher education could pave the way for young adults to achieve good-paying jobs with benefits, while at the same time recognizing “that low-income urban students often do not have the support or opportunity to pursue a college education.”
In 1988, he returned to Westport High School, his alma mater, and promised eighth-graders there that, “You, you, and every one of you can go to college if you choose.”
He promised during that presentation that his new Project Choice program would offer full scholarships to those students for college or postsecondary education along with a plethora of support services to help them succeed.
The program ran from 1988 through 2001. Kauffman died in 1993 at age 76.
Kauffman started other projects to help his community, including Project Star, to address drug prevention; Project Essential, focusing on self-esteem; and Project Early, benefiting infants and prenatal care.
The Kauffman Foundation also bolstered organizations that promote employee ownership and entrepreneurship, as well.
“We still try to connect to the community in meaningful ways,” Pozel said. “It’s hard to imagine all of the things that have happened — and you can include the baseball stadium and the fact that we even have a baseball team — can be traced back to one man.”
“Mr. Kauffman would say he considered himself a common man who did something uncommon,” Pozel said, “and he would always encourage people to be uncommon.”
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