50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America

Badger Mining Corp.

Badger Mining Stages an Encore

They've made some changes at Badger Mining Corp. over the past year--expanded a production site, revamped the interior at company headquarters in Berlin, Wis., and enhanced the wellness program.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

But the collaborative culture and the core values such as trust and mutual respect remain unchanged. And so does Badger Mining's No. 1 ranking on the list of the Best Small Companies to Work for in America.

The family-owned, privately held company, which produces more than 1.5 million tons of industrial-use sand yearly, stands out for, among other things, the richness of its rewards for its 180 employees--called associates--and the inclusiveness it fosters throughout the enterprise.

"I knew this place was different," benefits specialist Barbara Swanson, SPHR, says in recalling an interview as a job applicant a few years ago. "I immediately felt that this was a place that cared about who they wanted to hire."

Signs of Badger Mining's abiding focus on employees are pervasive: flexible scheduling, freedom to take time off for family matters, a company match of 401(k) plan contributions up to 3 percent of salary, and generous profit-sharing payouts that Swanson says have been rising every quarter. The company also pays employees' full premium for standard health coverage, and the wellness program now includes personalized health coaching.

As with other company initiatives, safety training is a collaborative exercise. Linda Arzt, a resource data associate, encourages mining workers' suggestions when she develops such programs. After all, she says, "they're the experts." What's more, she adds, it sends the right message--that the associates are valued for their input.

When the mining facility at Taylor, Wis., underwent a major expansion, boosting production by 25 percent, Dan Valiquette, vice president for operations at Taylor, made sure he kept everyone--"the guys who have to run the equipment and maintain it"--involved in designing the processes, coordinating the contractors, and selecting vendors and equipment.

It promoted workers' buy-in for the project, he says. "This wasn't just a Taylor project. We had the support of the whole company."

It's just that sort of approach that underlies the company's achievements, says President Timothy J. Wuest. "Each and every one of our associates, working as a team," he says, has made the company "the leader in the industrial minerals industry."

Looking ahead, Vicky Wuest--a member of Badger Mining's board of directors, an associate working on connections between company and family, and a third-generation member of the owning family--oversees the Next Generation Team. Its aim is to forestall the sense of disconnection that can take hold among a company founder's descendants after a few generations, and that can weaken the company's prospects for survival as a family firm.

Vicky Wuest wants to help the generations following hers appreciate the company's history, the value of family ownership and the team philosophy that her grandfather Clifford A. Chier instilled in the company from its founding, she says. "People don't want the legacy to be lost."

The six-member team includes not only family members but also nonfamily associates, among them Beth Nighbor, SPHR, vice president for HR. Badger Mining's "extraordinary culture and management philosophy ... need to be passed on," she says. "The programs and learning opportunities that our team is developing for these family members will be crucial" for ensuring that the company "remains stable [and] strong and provides opportunities for many generations to come."