The Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce held its Business Awards on Friday, April 22nd, 2022. This celebration honored the outstanding achievements made by Valley Chamber members in 2021 in three categories: Business Innovation, Inspiring Workplace, and Community Stewardship. We honored two organizations from each category; one large organization and one small.
The Inspiring Workplace award recipients have demonstrated an excellent place to work and the individual roles within, shining a spotlight on their inspirational leaders who strive to deliver a better experience for their colleagues. They highlighted the internal human resource practices that create a uniquely inspiring and welcoming place for their employees to work and thrive.
Transblue Spokane
Transblue Spokane was our small business award recipient. Transblue Spokane’s workplace is collaborative and empowering. They foster a culture where their employees have a part to play in the company’s success by using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). A function of EOS is for all employees to understand the financial wellness of the company. That way they can better prepare to manage sales goals, production schedules, and capital projects. It keeps the company morale high. Our judges pointed out Transblue Spokane’s training practices and openness to staff-driven training programs. Internally, Transblue has training programs for the industry and safety, as well as sales and project management and production scheduling. Transblue is always looking for external training opportunities to better its employees. They challenge staff to bring forward relevant training program opportunities to their weekly meetings for discussion with the intention of including them in the quarterly training plan. In the winter of 2021, Transblue Spokane’s team worked to add credentials as Advance Snow Managers with the Snow and Ice Management Association. Transblue Spokane continues to keep company morale high and has exceeded its financial goals over the past year.
Numerica Credit Union
Our large business award recipient was Numerica Credit Union. With more than 600 team members, Numerica encourages a work-life balance and strongly believes in helping its team live well by offering a suite of benefits to enhance their lives. Our judges pointed out, a unique way Numerica encourages a work-life balance is through its extra paid day off called Family Day. Included with Family Day, team members also receive $50 to do something fun with the people they care about.
Additionally, team members are given eight hours of paid volunteer time each year. In 2021, team members donated 16,590 hours of volunteer time to the community. Numerica is always looking for ways to improve and is invested in hearing and learning from team members. Another key program our judges identified was Numerica’s peer-to-peer recognition program titled CARES. Based on the credit union’s CARES principles of Connect, Ask, Resolve, Elevate, and Strengthen; team members nominate others when they see someone go above and beyond the call of duty in relation to these values. In 2021, over 1,250 CARES nominations were submitted and celebrated.
Congratulations to Transblue Spokane and Numerica Credit Union for your award in Inspiring Workplace. Thank you for sharing the culture you have created that inspires and welcomes your employees to work and thrive.
