“It goes to the transparency. The right person appreciates that. They know it’s hard work,” Irwin says.
He says they want to be a great place to work for the right people, and the wrong place to work for the wrong people. And that principle of transparency has been a keystone in the company.
Putzier says they don’t hide bad news. If there’s a regulatory issue or they made a mistake in one of their communities, they put it out to their various audiences — the families, regulators, investors and in some cases the media.
“What we see pretty commonly is that’s an uncomfortable approach for many businesses and organizations,” she says.
It goes in the face of the belief that at the top you have all the magic and secrets of the organization, and nobody else really feels or faces it, Putzier says.
“But we believe that (transparency) has built the culture that we have,” she says. “Our employees value that. They feel like they are working for an organization that is not hiding things, and that’s kind of a contagious mentality that has served us very well.”
Irwin says they did an exit interview with a couple of summer interns last year who said at the home office it’s hard to tell who the bosses are because everybody just works together.
“This is a highly capital intensive business that is a pure service business. It’s a people business; there’s no technology that we rely on to differentiate ourselves.
“The only thing that really makes us different is our people,” he says.
“And so an autocratic, hierarchical culture is not where people feel valued and appreciated. The interns looked at it as an observation of something kind of odd and weird. We took it as a compliment.”
Takeaways:
- Everyone is not the same; honor those who stand out.
- Be the right place to work for the right people.
- The organization’s magic and secrets shouldn’t just be at the top.
The Irwin and Putzier File:
Name: Rick Irwin
Title: CEO
Company: IntegraCare Corp.
Born: Pittsburgh
Education: Bachelor’s degree in forestry, Pennsylvania State University.
Name: Loriann Putzier
Title: President and COO
Company: IntegraCare Corp.
Born: Washington, Pennsylvania
Education: Bachelor’s degree in journalism, Ohio University; attended La Salle University for an MBA, finished it at Robert Morris University.
You both have unusual degrees. What led you away from those fields?
Irwin: I worked as a firefighter in California, Colorado and Maine, and like Loriann, after a while I determined I did not want to do that. It’s basically evidence of a confused mind — not really knowing who you are. I don’t even know now what I want to be when I grow up.
Putzier: I interned at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and that really helped me see journalism was not what I wanted to do. So it was a good internship.
What was your first job and did you learn anything from it?
Irwin: My first job I was a stock boy at Foodland when I was in high school. Beyond learning that I didn’t want to be a stock boy, I guess I learned the value of showing up every day.
Putzier: My father had a packinghouse, and I worked on the sausage stuffer. It’s very glamorous for a young girl. They were very hard working people. My father is a great example of a work ethic that I have been grateful for my entire life.
You founded your company in 1999, what lessons would you share with your younger self?
Irwin: If conditions were available, I would say we should have started sooner. Also, we thought it would be hard, but we did not really understand how hard it would be.
We’ve learned that there still are people out there that do the job because it’s the right thing to do — that look to serve their responsibilities, first, before they look to serve themselves. We’re always amazed at, and always grateful for, those people.
Putzier: I never thought I would have to put myself to the test so many times about what you really have to give. When you have so many priorities, and many serious situations facing you, you have to keep everything moving. It really is getting extraordinary work out of ordinary people — the industry requires it — which requires you to test your own resolve.
Although we knew that because we worked in this business, working in our own business it was much more evident.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
Irwin: It’s more than a hobby; my wife would say it’s an obsession — and that’s dirt bike riding, as in off-road motorcycles. I do enduros, 100-mile events in the woods. They are really endurance races more than speed races.
I’m 61. I’m probably always one of the oldest guys there, but we do it all over the country — California, Tennessee, Ohio. So I have a lot of great friends and we get outdoors, and we have a little adventure and share fun together.
Putzier: I enjoy gardening, boating, fitness. My husband is a car buff, so I go on many car junkets with him — and that’s everything from NASCAR races to him racing.
