Every October, The ESOP Association (Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)) and its member companies celebrate Employee-Ownership (EO) Month. This is a celebration of the spirit of employee-ownership. It is an invaluable opportunity for Technomics to further educate its employee-owners about the benefits of having equity (a stake) in the company.
It’s also a great time to reflect on our accomplishments, the significant impact they have had on our company and individual wealth generation, and what continues to be possible in the future for all of us.
Like last year, this EO Month included a combination of both fun and educational activities throughout October including chef prepared omelets, in-office chair massages throughout the workday, a variety of delicious lunches, and even a spirit-filled Halloween costume contest.
DC Improv Night
Arlington, VA employees-owners started off this EO Month by getting together after work one Friday night and heading into Washington DC to attend a comedy show, featuring Christian Finnegan, at The DC Improv Comedy Club and Restaurant. Good food and many laughs were shared among the employee-owners; it was the perfect official kickoff event of the month.
Top Golf
The second official event of the month was the highly requested return of Top Golf! Technomics reserved the rooftop, including the second story driving range. The event included an extensive buffet of snacks and Mexican classics, complimentary drinks, and unlimited golfing for the duration of the event. This event was a great way for the newest college hires to meet their fellow employee-owners outside of the office. For a fun and friendly competitive aspect of the event, Technomicians were able to play a variety of golf games for points, and even a trivia game among the different golf bays. A congratulatory shout-out to the Silver Bullets for winning the Trivia Game!
EO Month Forums
In addition to the company outings, Technomics hosted many in-person discussions designed to explain the ins and outs of employee-ownership as well as facilitate conversations related to company culture, engagement, and success strategies for both employee-owners and the company as a whole.
This year’s forums started with the EO Month kickoff and ESOP Overview presentation, which featured the insights of Technomics’ brand of employee-ownership, detailed the ESOP vesting schedule, and previewed the scheduled events for the month. This dialogue outlined the unique effort-reward system that enables Technomics to attract and retain talented individuals, foster engagement, enable employee-owners to take on greater responsibilities, and benefit from the time and energy they’ve invested to create a “win-win-win-win” among clients, colleagues, self, and company.
The second forum began with a presentation given by Shannon Kay, Ryan Buchalter, and Garret Clabeaux, during the EO Month breakfast, which included in-office chefs who prepared made-to-order omelets. Shannon, Ryan, and Garret took turns describing their personal experiences at Technomics and what employee-ownership means to them. This was a great conversation starter among colleagues who were able to ask open and honest questions about being an employee-owner at Technomics.
The third forum of the month also included a presentation, presented by Thomas Harless and Thomas Nye, who described Technomics’ stock ownership and the unique equity opportunities that employee-owners have available to them. The conversation covered the ESOP and Investment Bonus, company performance to date, the company’s potential future growth, and how each employee-owner can be active investors. This forum provided many employee-owners the opportunity to hear from those who have been positively impacted from the ESOP, and ask questions about both programs.
EO Month Closeout Celebration Lunch
The final in-office event of the month closed out another successful Employee-Ownership Month and announced the Employee-Owners of the Year. The award is split into four categories: Junior, Mid-level, Senior, and Business Development. These employee-owners were recognized for taking full advantage of the opportunities offered at Technomics and going above and beyond in both their client work and their corporate initiatives.
A HUGE congratulations to Katlyn Purser and Travis Quinn (Junior), Alex Marsh (Mid-level), Thomas Harless (Senior), and Nathaniel Myers (Business Development) who earned this year’s title of Employee-Owners of the Year!
A second highlight of the closeout was the reveal of the winners of the Annual Technomics Research Competition. This internal competition challenges teams of EOs to produce new tools and methods to advance the fields of cost estimating and data science. Based on the number of project submissions this year, two teams were selected as the winners of the Technomics Research Competition.
Congratulations to the following winning teams:
- Project: Data Grading Framework - Team: Gary Silko, Andrew Hanna, Thomas Harless, Mike Lionais, Kim MacDonald & Jonathan Caldwell-Dafoe
- Project: IT Service Chargeback Model - Team: Alex Thibault, Charles Truxillo & Josh Drazen
Annual Fall Picnic at Six Flags
To wrap up a month packed with fun events, Technomics reserved the Oak Grove Pavilion at Six Flags in Bowie, Maryland for the Annual Fall Picnic. The event included a delicious buffet and a variety of drinks for all to enjoy. This year, employee-owners were also allowed to enjoy the park rides until 10 pm with their admission ticket! The event closed out another wonderful Employee-Ownership Month.
Technomics strives to make Employee-Ownership Month an educational and exciting month to celebrate the employees that continue to exceed expectations in growing the success of themselves, their clients, and the company. We look forward to another successful year at Technomics, followed by new activities in the next Employee-Ownership month!
Halloween Costume Contest
As a fun bonus activity this year, Technomics encouraged employee-owners to bring out their best costumes and participate in the in-office costume contest on Halloween Monday. From Mr. Pumpkin to Gandalf, Willy Wonka to giraffes, flamingos, and dinosaurs, the employee-owners really brought their creativity. A huge Halloween shout-out to Beetlejuice for winning this year’s Halloween costume contest!
