American Dehydrated Foods and International Dehydrated Foods are an Ozarks success story.
Established by businessman Bill Darr and owned by the Darr family, ADF manufactures and markets ingredients for animal feeds, especially pet food, while IDF provides processed meat and poultry ingredients for food service and food manufacturing, serving it up to clients in fresh, frozen and concentrated forms.
But what ADF/IDF serves up at combined Springfield corporate offices is a menu of benefits and a corporate culture that keep employees coming back for more.
The health and dental plan, covering employees and their families, is 76 percent company-paid, with the employee picking up the remaining 24 percent, says Tom Slaight, chairman of the board of directors for both companies.
The company picks up100 percent of health club expenses, provided the employee documents at least six visits per month.
An on-site wellness team schedules seasonal flu shots each year, and all employees are offered on-site health risk assessments by a CoxHealth professional each year.
"It's essentially a mini-physical," Slaight says, noting that the assessment includes body mass index, blood pressure, weight, a questionnaire about exercise, high-risk activities and other lifestyle factors, and optional bloodwork to look at cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Employees then receive advice regarding choices about food and exercise.
"Those healthy choices, we want to promote with our folks," Slaight says. "We like to keep good people around for a long time."
ADF/IDF also offers short-term and long-term disability programs.
Annual raises in 2008 were 3 percent for vice presidents, 4 percent for directors and managers, and 5 percent for all levels below that. Feeling the pinch of the economy, those raises will fall to 2 percent, 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively, this year.
The company continues to invest in staff development, reimbursing employees at 100 percent for tuition and books if classes enhance job skills or are work-related.
The company's retirement plan is a 100 percent company-paid profit-sharing plan, and ADF/IDF contributes 8 percent to 14 percent of eligible employees' salaries. That plan is available after employment of at least one year, and employees are fully vested after five years on staff. Employees also are eligible for quarterly bonuses based on profitability.
ADF/IDF benefits and culture are targeted to employee longevity. As family-owned companies, the businesses promote a family-style environment at corporate headquarters, and a variety of programs are in place to show appreciation for staff. A recognition team plans quarterly employee events and coordinates a company community service day.
"The culture here is very family-oriented, very friendly; it's very personable," says Office Manager Debbie Thomas, who has been with ADF/IDF for nine years. "It's a corporate office, but you don't have that corporate, stuffy feel to it."[[In-content Ad]]
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