Engineering the ultimate office: Greater Sudbury's Bestech Engineering tries to hire locally and uses barbecues, ice cream runs, an office gym and lots of space to keep staff happy.There are simply no two ways about it: reception-area candies are awesome. That is where the perks for the 32 or so employees at Greater Sudbury's Bestech Engineering begin, but certainly not where they end. And as the company grows, the reasons to work there grow right along with it. The number of employees at the 1040 Lorne Street software and industrial automation engineering firm has ballooned from seven or eight in 1995 to 35 as of last year, when their latest physical expansion took place. The firm is in negotiations with its neighbour, Earthtech, to get even more space for its employees, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. marketing project manager Andre Dumais. Projects keeping the company busy include responsibility for the Inco and Falconbridge SO2 monitoring stations throughout the city, which they are working to upgrade, and all the work that being the preferred engineering house by the KIDD Creek Mine in Timmins, where they have five employees stationed. Bestech has gone from sharing a common office to occupying units on either side of Earthtech. Dumais says the company needs the space to maintain its philosophy of an office for almost every employee. Those that aren't in their own office have a cubicle many corner office executives would be glad to move in to. Occupying still more space is the company gym, complete with lockers and shower, where workers can get away from the desk and lift some iron (president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Marc Boudreau just picked out some new weights which should be delivered soon), get on the treadmill or the elliptical el·lip·tic or el·lip·ti·cal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or having the shape of an ellipse. 2. Containing or characterized by ellipsis. 3. a. machine. The equipment helps if any staffers want to join the company-sponsored Dragon Boat team when the festival comes around in July, around the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar Chinese calendar n. The traditional lunisolar calendar of the Chinese people, based on 24 seasonal segments each about 15 days long. An intercalary month is occasionally necessary to reconcile the lunar year with the solar year. . The boardroom is no space to sneeze at sneeze intr.v. sneezed, sneez·ing, sneez·es To expel air forcibly from the mouth and nose in an explosive, spasmodic involuntary action resulting chiefly from irritation of the nasal mucous membrane. n. , either. As could be expected of an engineering firm with a growing focus on software, telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. is also available. Nancy Guan guan: see curassow. , for example, works alternate weeks in the Sudbury office and in Ottawa. All staff reap the benefits of the most up-to-date computer software and hardware and other equipment, streamlining processes and increasing efficiency. Since the company is project-oriented for the most part, flex hours play a big part in many employees' routine. The aptly named software developer Jamie Parent, for example, has six children. He comes in every day at 7 am, and is gone by 3 pm to take care of his brood as his wife heads off to the nightshift. But he's sure to make the company barbeque every Friday lunch hour, such as the one when a hurried editor was led through a field of gargantuan gar·gan·tu·an adj. Of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic. See Synonyms at enormous. gargantuan Adjective huge or enormous [after Gargantua, a giant in Rabelais' cubicles and out the back-of the office to where software developer Tom Mikic was getting his grill on for the dozen or so other staffers eagerly waiting for their food. He seemed to have every type of hamburger under the sun sizzling siz·zle intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. under his spatula-even a meatless vegetarian-friendly variety. But the treats don't end at the weekend. On hump day (Wednesday), an office-sponsored Dairy Queen Dairy Queen (also known as DQ) is an ice-cream shop and fast-food restaurant franchise based in the United States and founded in 1940. For many years the franchise's slogan was "We treat you right!" In recent years, it has been changed to "DQ something different. run helps to recharge the creative batteries, and perhaps reinforce the importance of that office gym. But being right across the street, who could resist? According to Dumais, Bestech offers competitive salaries and benefit packages, and has a strong focus on professional development. They are big in the community as well, from sponsoring the Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. Awards, to helping out Big Brothers and being active in the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA). Dumais says their staff members come from a wide variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, making for a very interesting and diverse workplace. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As their payroll continues to expand to around 50 in the next five to seven years per the business plan, it can only mean more Blizzards, more beef and buns and, hopefully, more space in the gym. www.bestech.com By CRAIG GILBERT Northern Ontario Business |
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