Community Feature Story

‘Community’ the key to NES’ success

By J.P. BUTLER

Marketing Coordinator

OLEAN, N.Y. – A couple of years ago, Chris Napoleon received an unexpected phone call from a man in Philadelphia.

Beset by the national labor shortage issues that have lingered since even before the pandemic, the man had just one question: How do you keep your employees coming back to work every day?

“I told him, ‘I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t have that problem; I don’t know how to answer your question,’” recalled Chris Napoleon, president and chief engineer of Napoleon Engineering Services (NES) in Olean, New York. “‘That’s not something that we worry about on a regular basis.’”

To this day, Napoleon is unsure how or why this man came to him specifically.

But whatever the reason, he was right to do so.

NES, you see, despite its size (57 full-time employees) and location (rural Western New York), doesn’t typically experience personnel-related challenges. In fact, it only continues to grow, adding 15 new staff members since last July while doubling its workforce over the last 15 years.

Elsewhere, the crisis is real. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are 8.1 million job openings in the U.S. but only 6.8 million unemployed workers. So how, in the face of these concerns, has NES remained adept at both hiring and retaining quality employees?

It possesses a tried-and-true method.

And that method revolves around one crucial element: Community.

TO NAPOLEON, there are three ways to attract new people to an organization: 1. Rob Peter to pay Paul from within the community. “But that doesn’t allow you to make friends,” he said with a chuckle. 2. Recruit from the outside. NES has had success through this route, but statistics have shown that these individuals, after a couple of years, tend to gravitate back toward their hometown or another opportunity.

Or 3. Develop from within the community

NES has long chosen the latter option. And it’s done so with great success: Fifty-two of its 58 total employees are from within a 45-mile radius while about half that figure is from Olean or a neighboring town.

“Our mission is to engage with those who were born, raised and have family here,” Napoleon said, “and get them (to dwell) not on the negatives of the region, but the positives.

“We’ve developed a model that shows you can live the lifestyle of your dreams by following the right education path that leads to a challenging and rewarding job opportunity right here in our area.”

NES PLAYS a lead role in the local Dream It, Do It organization, a program that teaches middle- and high school-aged students about the various pathways to employment at manufacturing companies. Indeed, Napoleon serves as board president of the local chapter while NES has either hosted or supported many of its events, including the annual STEM Fair, Girls in Manufacturing Day and Teachers in Manufacturing Week.

This has helped create a pipeline of talent that NES has often tapped into.

Beyond that, over the last 27 years, Napoleon has built a business with an almost-exclusively upward trajectory, one that boasts competitive wages, opportunities for advancement, stability and strong workplace morale – in short, everything one might want in a “rewarding job opportunity.”

And that, largely, is why Napoleon found it difficult to answer the man from Philadelphia.

“We have eliminated from our vocabulary ‘we can’t find somebody,’” he said. “That’s the cop out. You hear it, it’s in the newspapers. I’ve seen it all over the country, the ‘woe is me, we can’t find the people with the skillset that we want.’ They aren’t focused enough on the realities of what the expectation should be of our educational institutions, which do a phenomenal job.”

To Napoleon, it’s a company’s responsibility to take that individual who’s worked hard academically – either through the conventional route or a trade program – and bring him or her “to the finish line.” That’s what NES has done – its three most recent hires had all interned here before starting in a full-time capacity directly after their college graduation this May.

“We’re not going to find anyone coming out of school that is Level II- or Level III-certified in non-destructive testing,” Napoleon pointed out. “That’s done here. You need someone with the skillsets that you’re willing to invest in to reduce your risk and get to that finish line. Our program is all about getting kids on the field at an early age.

“We know it works (in youth sports) and we know it works here.”

AT NES, it’s critical not just to hire within the community, but also to be present in the community.

And the Olean-based bearing company always has been.

In just the last year, NES has participated in local golf tournaments, a “Corporate Challenge 5K,” a truck pull and other fundraising initiatives. As fun as these events are for current employees, it’s yet another way to enhance its image as a destination job.

“We have to be out there,” Napoleon insisted, “otherwise, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy of ‘I can’t find someone.’ Nobody knows who you are. That takes work, that takes effort. And that can mean that you have to step out of your comfort zone.”

If one is willing to do these things, however, the rewards can be robust.

“I love coming to work,” Napoleon said. “I sincerely enjoy working with these young people from our community.

“It gives me the greatest pleasure of bringing people here – customers, community members, teachers – and letting them see who is running the show. That youthfulness, that enthusiasm, that intelligence on the shop floor, everywhere within our organization – that’s exciting. That’s the pathway to the future for us and our customers.”