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Ownership Culture

EBO Group Culture - Embracing Change

EBO Group is an entrepreneurial company with world class values and processes. A primary focus of the company culture is to stimulate a vibrant work environment that encourages employee involvement. Long before the term was coined, EBO was “empowering” its employees. Employee owners are challenged to take on new opportunities that will fuel growth and embrace change.

Success sharing is an important aspect of the EBO culture. Six years after the company was formed, a profit sharing plan was created. In 1990, the profit sharing plan was converted to an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). This was done to ensure our long term independence. It also meant we could provide our employees with an enormous opportunity to share in both the risks and the rewards of ownership. Every employee earns a stake in the company. Another important benchmark was achieved in 2008, when we became a 100% ESOP company.

The true test of empowerment is in the level and the continuity of individual contributions our employees make. The EBO Group has created a unique tool that consistently includes every employee.

A quarterly EBO Process - Excellence By Objective is an important continuous improvement tool for both the company and the employees. This Process enables each employee to consistently focus on the generation and implementation of ideas to guide individual and company growth. It became such an integral part of the company that the acronym was modified to mean “Excellence By Owners” in 2006 and became the company name.

From concept, to design, to manufacturing, to quality assurance and, ultimately, to customer satisfaction, the employee-owners of EBO Group take pride in living up to their name – Excellence By Owners.

The EBO Process - Excellence By Objective

In 1984, with just six employees, we initiated our Excellence By Objective (EBO) Process. It is fundamental to our success and the evolution of our culture and values. Our EBO Process flips the old MBO (Management By Objectives) process upside down, making it a “bottom up” structure. Every employee in the company, every three months, brings ideas to their supervisor for improving themselves, their work area, and our company. Every employee means just that: from our newest shop employee to the President and the Chairman of the Board. Together, management and employees synchronize the growth of our companies and our employees.

Through the process, our employee owners are individually empowered to innovate and grow. It strengthens the skills that demonstrate our Shared Values:

Practicing Accountability and ownership;
Increasing Agility to solve problems and drive change;
Further developing Integrity and credibility;
Gaining Passion and fun by successfully tackling challenges; and
Embracing Excellence to exceed customer expectations.

The EBO Process provides a way for every employee to identify challenges and learning opportunities, helping them discover their unique strengths and understand their weaknesses. The EBO enlightens and empowers our employees to help guide and optimize their career growth.

Every three months, our employee owners successfully tackle and complete hundreds of EBO items to improve our products, systems, skills, and information. These are tasks and projects that are above and beyond the employee's normal duties. A simple one-page EBO Form makes prioritizing and tracking the tasks an easy job for employees and their supervisors.