Best Places to Work: R.D. Abbott strives to create environment where employees thrive

CERRITOS, Calif.—For Keith Thomas, president of R.D. Abbott Co. Inc., being chosen as a rubber industry Best Places to Work is unlike any other award his company has ever received.

"For us, it is a validation of our mission, vision and values, and it represents years of deliberate investment in building a truly extraordinary team," said the president of the Cerritos-based full-service supplier to the rubber industry.

"Our mission has been—and continues to be: 'To build and maintain the best team in the rubber industry by putting people ahead of profit.' This goal is lived out in our culture and daily operating practices."

The firm was named one of Rubber & Plastics News' Best Places to Work for 2019, based on responses from its own employees through a survey conducted by Best Companies Group.

Thomas said he joined R.D. Abbott 18 years ago and wanted to nurture an environment where talented people can come and flourish. He said the company's approximately 90 employees have seized upon this notion of people ahead of profit. What he was thinking of when he penned the mission statement was that when he encountered great people, he would hire them even if there wasn't a defined role available.

"When we look at people, first you have to have the right character to kind of fit in," Thomas said. "After that, when we're looking for aptitude, we're not looking for more of the same. We're looking for people who are better, who know something that we don't know. ... You find great people, bring them in and let them do what they do."

He said he has worked with other companies that said they have a similar mission statement, but driving that into the culture is easier said than done. "I would say we're very fortunate that I genuinely believe we live out our mission/vision/values in our activities," Thomas said.

R.D. Abbott has a number of activities designed to make people want to work for and continue their careers at the firm. He said it starts with internships, where often this is a person's first exposure to a professional work environment. The firm used to bring in interns only for technical areas, but have branched that out into other disciplines, including finance, marketing and sales.

A number of current employees, in fact, started out as interns. "I think that's been a tremendous advantage to our company," Thomas said, "not only for the young people but for the folks who are training them."

He said R.D. Abbott also has a vigorous onboarding process and a fairly flat organization that leads to a highly collaborative work environment. They also have a number of outside activities, including such things as soccer and volleyball tournaments, trips to Los Angeles Angels baseball games and other events.

"You want to have the camaraderie of family, that sense of belonging, without that sense of entitlement," Thomas said. "You have to earn your spot."

The industry supplier also has organized action teams, with people from different disciplines, that are given total freedom to meet customer needs as deemed best and appropriate.

"I think it communicates trust, but trust without accountability isn't trust," he said. "We have deliverables. We're very results oriented, but at the same time there's a deep camaraderie that is pretty cool to see."

Thomas said the feedback that accompanied the survey affirmed much of what R.D. Abbott has found from its annual survey of employees, but having the data come from an outside entity makes it even more meaningful. There were some comments that were critical of the company, but he said officials are making sure those are being addressed.

"To learn that our employees responded to a survey in such a way that we would receive this recognition is humbling and, at the same time, one of the proudest moments of my career," he said.