Riding High
Because K&B has much to offer its employees, it is no surprise staff consists largely of industry veterans, which Emmer refers to as the 'backbone' of the organization. To keep these employees fresh-thinking, the company makes continual investments in training nearly every month.
Having a solid team piggybacks off what Emmer defines as K&B's greatest success of 2009. Of the 85 years the Kaeser family has owned the business, there has never been a single economic layoff of an employee—a major accomplishment especially given the current downtrodden economy. "Neither have we reduced any pay of compensation for these employees. [And] at the same time, we have reinvested in the infrastructure of K&B with a new order processing system, a new vendor portal, new telephone systems and [made] several green initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint," Emmer noted.