BraunAbility (www.braunability.com), started by CEO Ralph Braun in 1972, enjoys an informal atmosphere where employees have a good understanding of the company mission. 

The company of 704 employees modifies vehicles to make them wheelchair accessible for consumers and commercial markets as well as installing lifts into the vehicles for those markets. 

“Ralph gave birth to the corporation out of a need to transport himself to work in order to retain his employment,” Garnett explains. “I believe that people feel his passion for what we do and every day they know they’re here for a purpose. They know that they’re changing the lives of people with disabilities with every product that goes out the door.” 

Inclusion and Innovation

Braun generally makes the rounds (in his wheelchair) through the facility each day, watches how things are being done, and talks with employees on the production line to receive feedback and hear new ideas from staff, says Garnett. “It’s a very open door organization—not a lot of layers and not a lot of bureaucracy. If anyone has an idea, that person is listened to.”

It was an employee’s idea, notes Garnett, that led to the manufacturing facility using waste paint (leftover paint that must be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner) to paint the inside floor of the vehicles under the carpeting to better protect the vehicle, instead of just discarding it.

Another way that BraunAbility is inclusive is in its recruitment process: Recruitment for new employees at BraunAbility is disability-blind, according to Garnett. “Our goal is to hire the best person for the job and if someone is the best person for the job, we’ll make accommodations for the disability.” 

Garnett notes that people with disabilities must be creative problem-solvers in their everyday lives and that some of the most innovative thinking comes from them.

In many areas of the organization, information is shared with employees every day regarding, for example, customer feedback, company updates, and news, notes Garnett. “For example, within the plant production line, [staff and management] meet 5 to10 minutes before production starts [each day] to talk about feedback we’re getting from people who use the products that we make every day.” 

A regular employee newsletter/direct message from Braun is available online through the employee intranet and is posted in every area, explains Garnett. Soon, the newsletter/message will also be on video monitors throughout the facilities. 

Work Schedule Collaboration

Work schedules conform to employee wants and needs at BraunAbility. Garnett explains that even in the manufacturing facility, where the schedule must be structured due to production on equipment moving from one station to the next, the schedule was changed based on employee feedback. Employees wanted a straight, 8-hour shift with a couple of short breaks instead of having a scheduled lunch hour, mainly so that their workday would end sooner. BraunAbility implemented the schedule. 

Many employees work flexible shifts of 8 hours depending on their personal, as well as the department’s, needs, says Garnett, using the HR department as an example. 

Garnett explains that HR is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with each employee working 8 hours within that time frame. 

Employees adjust their schedules as necessary to cover personal needs/time off during the work shift, such as taking a child to a doctor’s appointment, notes Garnett.

Some staff telecommute part or all of the time since there are quite a few positions out in the field. “If it works better for family life to work out of the home, employees [with appropriate positions] can do that,” she notes. 

BraunAbility collaborates with its employees to create work scheduling that is good for the employee, the organization, and its customers. 

That scheduling, combined with its small town atmosphere and a good employee benefits package (employees contribute just $9 per week to their health insurance coverage), helps BraunAbility retain employees. 

A high growth company that has added more jobs almost every year since it opened, BraunAbility had less than a 1 percent employee turnover rate in 2009, and 50 percent of the employee base has been there for 10 years or more, according to Garnett.