Getting modern tools into the hands of today’s learners
Bringing big city-style treats to Sheboygan
February 5, 2024
STEVENS POINT – For the second consecutive year, Gamber-Johnson – a rugged mounting systems provider for law enforcement, public safety, military and warehouse fleets – has been recognized as one of the 2023 Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America.
Not only did the Stevens Point-headquartered company make the list, but it also moved up in the ranks – moving from No. 21 in 2022 to No. 14 in 2023.
The Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America list is released annually by Healthiest
Employers, an awards program created to recognize companies that proactively shape the health of their employees.
According to the Healthiest Employers’ website (healthiestemployers.com), companies
are recognized based on their commitment to workplace wellness and health and benefits
offerings, and are ranked on categories such as culture and leadership commitment, strategic
planning, communications, programming, reporting and analytics.
‘Best-in-class benefits’
CEO Gautam Malik said the company “stepped up our game on the culture piece” of the business, with the establishment of Gamber-Johnson’s “Guiding Principles.”
“Since then, our sales have gone up four-and-a-half times,” he said. “Even when we were a much smaller company, the aspirations were much bigger, and to be best-in-class we wanted to deliver those benefits that are best-in-class.”
Those benefits, Malik said, include offering a fresh take on wellness and healthcare opportunities for team members, beginning with the Stevens Point world headquarters – which are different from what is offered by traditional health care.
“It’s trying to disrupt things,” he said.
In addition, Malik said other benefits have been designed to meet the needs and desires of today’s team members, with an overall goal of retaining them at Gamber-Johnson.
“I would say in 2016, we had an aspirational goal we wrote as a leadership team, (asking)… ‘What are we going to do differently? What are we going to do better than other employers?’” he said.
One of those strategies, Malik said, was the establishment of an on-site Gamber-Johnson Family Clinic at the Stevens Point world headquarters – which can be used by team members, their spouses and dependent children.
The decision to do so, he said, coincided with the company’s move to its new 133,000-square-foot facility at 5001 Joerns Drive in 2021.
Phillip Blair, who joined Gamber-Johnson as director of human resources in fall 2021, spearheaded the clinic’s opening.
“There are not many companies that do what Gamber-Johnson is doing the way we’re doing it in the healthcare space,” he said. “When I joined the organization in September 2021, it had just decided to become a self-insured medical captive… They gave me the reins to build something special.”
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, “captives are essentially a form of self-insurance whereby the insurer is owned wholly by the insured.”
A “fully insured” company purchases health insurance from an insurance company, which sets the premium for the business and its employees.
Today, Blair said, Gamber-Johnson is a member of a nationwide captive group of about 120 employers who share wellness and healthcare costs.
The company, he said, contributes financially to the self-insured captive and also purchases “stop-loss insurance” to protect itself against large insurance claims.
The employee retention rate in Stevens Point is “very high,” Blair said.
In addition to its world headquarters location in Stevens Point, Gamber-Johnson has satellite offices in Madison, Cincinnati and Minnetonka, Minnesota.
All locations, Blair said, are part of the captive health insurance program.
Team members in California and remote team members, he said, are not yet integrated into the captive insurance plan.
Eliminate barriers to health care
Bringing the expertise he gained from his work in a clinic space in the Fox Valley, Blair said when he started in his role with Gamber-Johnson, “I hit the ground running.”
“If you trust me, I know this can work,” Blair said he told Gamber-Johnson leadership.
The Gamber-Johnson Family Clinic, which opened in November 2021, Blair said, has eliminated the barriers of access and affordability to health care for team members and their families.
Registered Nurse Renee Klein is the clinic’s on-site nurse, whom Blair said is “the glue” that makes the clinic successful.
“You need somebody (like Klein) who can engage with your employees,” he said.
Blair said he estimates 90% of team members use the on-site clinic.
No-cost annual physicals can be scheduled during work hours and employees are paid for their time at the clinic, which is operated by Anovia Health, an independent physician-led primary care clinic based in Green Bay.
Besides the nurse, who is at the clinic three days a week, the clinic also offers appointments each week with a physician and a physician’s assistant.
“(Team members) are going to have 30 minutes or 60 minutes (with a provider),” Blair said. “They will know what the cost will be and almost every time it is zero cost. We (also) have a near-site clinic that is about two miles away (the nurse) can refer (patients) to.”
Team members, Blair said, can utilize the same hospitals they have in the past, but for ambulatory care, he said Gamber-Johnson works with Solstice Health ambulatory surgery center in Milwaukee, which is “one of our biggest and best partners.”
Blair said the price savings are significant.
He said a team member’s spouse needed a “pretty complex elbow surgery” that was estimated to cost between $30,000 and $50,000 if performed locally.
Blair said Solstice Health did the surgery for $16,000.
He said the team member’s spouse reported her care was “some of the best treatment she’s ever had and she was treated like a queen.”
Malik said mileage expenses to and from Milwaukee, as well as hotel costs, are paid by Gamber-Johnson.
Health care vs. sick care
Having an on-site clinic, Blair said, provides an opportunity to get back “to health care, not sick care.”
He compared paying attention to personal wellness to taking care of your car.
“You need to change your tires and oil…,” he said. “If you don’t take care of it (your car), things eventually go bad and it costs money.”
Malik said team members who haven’t seen a physician in years are using the on-site clinic, with wellness and early detection of health problems being an impactful benefit for team members.
The company encourages “mini check-ups” that include a blood draw in November of each year – which comes with some incentives.
Malik said Gamber-Johnson gives employees $100 and their spouses $100 for completing the mini check-up.
Additional benefits
Malik said Gamber-Johnson has specifically developed benefits designed to retain team members.
For example, the Dependent Care Assistance Program reimburses team members up to $5,000 each year for daycare services.
Another, Malik said, is the company’s Employee Assistance Housing Program – which gives first-time homebuyers $2,500 toward a downpayment.
Other “awesome” benefits, Malik said, include free EatStreet delivery and free streaming services.
In addition, he said Gamber-Johnson encourages volunteerism in the community by paying team members when they do charitable work during the workday.
He said Gamber-Johnson strives to make a positive impact on Central Wisconsin.
“What we do as a good corporate citizen is to give back to the community,” he said.
The company, he said, was an early donor to the new Wayne H. Bushman Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology and Apprenticeship (AMETA) Center, currently under construction in the Stevens Point Industrial Park – contributing $125,000 to the capital campaign, with plans to give an in-kind donation of $50,000 to $55,000 in audiovisual mountings.
A bit more about Gamber-Johnson
Gamber-Johnson is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2024 – originally founded in 1954 as a manufacturer of wooden household furniture.
Today, the company’s wide variety of rugged mounting systems safely secure mobile communication systems, computers and other electronic equipment in fleet vehicles, public safety vehicles, forklifts and other mobility applications.
The company’s accolades don’t stop at the Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America.
Gamber-Johnson was also named:
- Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year for medium-sized companies of 100 to 199 employees in 2020 and 2023
- One of Fortune Magazine’s Best Workplaces in Manufacturing and Production in 2023
- Earned the President’s E’ Star Award for Exports from the U.S. Department of Commerce and earned the Great Place to Work certification, both in 2023
Malik said these all point to the success Gamber-Johnson is having as the company strives to become known in Wisconsin as a “destination employer.”
“That’s why we heavily invest in our employees,” he said.
Malik said Gamber-Johnson is proud of the role it plays in the Central Wisconsin economy.
“Because our sales have grown… (many local) vendors have grown with me over time…,” he said. “This is an amazing place to raise a family. Gamber-Johnson is probably going to be my first and last job, and it’s been a satisfying job. Every day when I go to work… I honestly feel I’m like a kid in a candy shop.”
