Nordmin Engineering.

• Author: Latimer, Kim
• Position: TOP 5 BEST PLACES TO WORK

In a few short years, Nordmin Engineering Ltd. of Thunder Bay has not only tripled its staff, relocated into a state-of-the-art head office and significantly boosted its bottom line, but it's also been named one of the top five employers in Northern Ontario. As a consulting engineering firm specializing in the resource and industrial sectors, Nordmin supports local, national and international clients including mining companies, utility companies, and the pulp and paper industry.

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Chris Dougherty, president of Nordmin, credited the employees for the company's success.

"We value our people. They are the lifeblood of our company. Without them we don't have a successful business; we have four walls and a roof. With them we thrive, we grow and we prosper together."

Years before he started Nordmin, Dougherty worked for a number of consulting engineering firms. At the time he had a very young family, with two children aged four and one. He says long hours and challenging work environments had a lasting impact on his own career and the choices he made for Nordmin.

"I've learned from the mistakes of other companies," he said. "Many companies fail to recognize just how important people are. I've seen companies fail by losing just one or two very key people."

Those experiences also changed his expectations of his own employees in the workplace. Dougherty said one of his leading priorities is to ensure his employees gain satisfaction in the workplace. In fact, the company has an extremely high retention rate. In the last eight years, the company has only had nine people leave out of a total of 112 personnel.

"Our appreciation of our employees is reflected in our low turnover rate," Dougherty said. "Our strong record is extremely enviable."

Financial benefits

Three unique attributes of the company that have helped attract and retain employees include competitive salaries and annual profit-sharing bonuses, strongly discouraging overtime, and the robust employee benefits package.

At the end of each year annual profit sharing bonuses are released. Staff members are rewarded according to how well the company is doing--in some cases upward of 25 per cent of the company's net annual profits.

Dougherty said he sits down with every employee and discusses their contribution to the overall profitability of the company, and explains what their portion of the profit share will be. The employee then can decide how that money is paid to...