Distributor Catalyst, represented here by 18 of its 41 employees, has four offices across the U.S. and one in Hong Kong.
Top Executive
Tom Havens, Founder and CEO
Type of Company
Distributor
Location
Headquarters in Seattle; offices in Dallas, Minneapolis, New York and Hong Kong
Website
www.CatalystTeam.com
Year Founded
1999
Total Employees
41
Company Motto
“Be the best part of someone’s day, every day.”
Perks
10 percent 401 (k) match
Healthcare benefits
Friday afternoon break with food and drinks
Three months’ maternity leave, and paternity leave too
Quarterly barbecues, happy hours and other engaging team activities
Annual Most Valuable Team Player Award and Team Sales Achievement Award. Winners get a four-day, three-night trip to a sunny destination.
Three-day annual offsite “family reunion” team event to reconnect, collaborate and even volunteer as a group
WHAT EMPLOYEES SAY ABOUT CATALYST: “We have a uniquely positive and energetic office environment,” says nine-year employee Shelley Strickland, one of 14 employees who nominated the company for PPB’s honor. “Catalyst also has an amazing leader who sets the vision and creates an atmosphere where we all share in the passion for being the best part of someone’s day—every day!”
Her co-worker, five-year employee and nominator Rachel Huntsberger, says, “It’s such a collaborative and comfortable environment. Everyone who works here really has a passion for the projects that we work on and we are all rooting for each other to be successful.” Another nominator, Jo Jarvis, says she loves working there because there is room in the company for her to grow, and she likes the flexible work schedule and the Catalyst 5% program that allows her to keep up with life outside of work. “We’re allowed to use five percent of work hours to do anything that helps us creatively. For many that means getting in some exercise; lots of people choose to take academic courses. It’s completely up to us how to use our time.”
New employee and nominator Sophie Miller explains why she calls the people and culture at Catalyst “amazing.”
“I had a project pop up one morning—my client needed a very specific item that was incredibly hard to find,” she says. “And it had to be personalized and delivered three days later. [My coworkers] could tell I was struggling and they all stepped in to help me. They put down whatever they were doing to help me find this specific item and finish the project. The client was incredibly happy—and so was I.”
HOW IT DIFFERENTIATES ITSELF AS AN EMPLOYER: Late last year, employees in the Seattle and Dallas offices formed the Catalyst Cares committee with a goal to contribute more than 1,000 volunteer hours and reach more than 600 people. “We’ve always worked to give back to our community, but we wanted to make it a true business initiative for 2016,” explains nominator and employee Cathy Sapiro, who’s been with the company for nearly five years. “We’ve begun cooking meals regularly for the Ronald McDonald House resident families and we’re looking for additional opportunities to expand our volunteer reach.” Co-worker Felicia Messina, a two-year employee and a nominator, cites the company’s culture as what sets it apart from other employers. “Many companies say one thing and do another, but not at Catalyst,” she says. “We work hard for our clients and for each other. We all have a sense of pride, work ethic and responsibility for each other. Letting someone down here is like letting yourself down.”
Co-worker Strickland agrees, citing the positive and energetic office environment set by Founder and CEO Tom Havens. “I’ve never experienced an office environment like we have at Catalyst,” she says. “New hires and clients are always commenting about how different we are, too. I have so many people who want to work for our company—including my own clients.”
Havens credits the company’s differentiator as having a greater sense of purpose. “Since we all work more than not, I think it’s important to have a bigger purpose or something bigger to strive for other than your daily tasks,” he explains. “We try to accomplish this by setting individual and company goals, following our mission, striving to always improve, getting better as a person and as a fellow employee, and realizing that we have the opportunity to really make a positive difference in the lives of others.”
THE EXTRAS THAT COUNT
Catalyst 5%: “I learned this through Daniel Pink’s book Drive,” says Havens. “The idea is that we want all our employees to be inspired, learn new things and be a part of new experiences. One cannot always achieve this sitting at one’s desk. The Catalyst 5% program requires all employees to take five percent of their work time—two hours a week, eight hours a month—and do something other than work; do something that is inspiring, such as education, a seminar, shopping, hiking, volunteering, coaching … you name it.”
