Photo: Merrick & Co.

This sustainably designed fire-crash rescue station at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico won a Citation Award from the Air Combat Command.

Merrick is also providing commissioning services for a project at Washington State University and has completed other commissioning projects at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Missouri.

The Merrick Way

Merrick has operated as an employee-owned business since 1959 when the founding partners transferred ownership of the firm to an employee stock ownership program.

“Employee ownership has definitely made us a bit more entrepreneurial and willing to take risks, but when youhave skin in the game, you pick and choose your risks more carefully, knowing it’s your money not someone else’s to lose,” Christie says.

All of the firm’s 505 permanent staff are considered employee owners and receive complete monthly financial performance reports. All company shares are held in a specially created employee trust that acts much like a retirement account. At the end of each year, a portion of Merrick’s profits is distributed in stock to each employee. The amount of stock each employee receives is based on the employee’s tenure and position with the company.

“When employees are not involved and do not understand the big picture, they can become resentful and unmotivated,” says Debbie Norris, vice president of human resources. “By keeping them very knowledgeable about where we are and where we are going, they understand our financial picture and better understand why certain decisions are made.”

Merrick’s open-book management style and employee stock ownership program have helped the firm keep involuntary turnover low and maintain nearly 90% employee retention each year.

The firm has had only three chief executive officers. After Sears’ retirement in 1983, Bruce Walker took over and served as CEO until his death in January 1997. Christie, who joined Merrick in 1992, has been CEO since.

The company’s motto—“There’s more to life than work”—keeps morale high and attracts top-level talent. Flexible work schedules, coupled with a family-friendly environment and perks such as employee ski days, have earned the frim accolades. Merrick has been recognized as a “Best Place to Work for in Colorado” by ColoradoBiz magazine for four consecutive years and also as a “Colorado Best Company for Working Families” by Colorado Parent magazine in 2006. Since 1991, the firm has been consistently listed in Engineering News-Record’s Top 200 Design Firms in the United States.

“Retaining good employees is critical to doing good business,” says Dave Huelskamp, senior vice president of business development. “A project team that is in sync and working well together can deliver the client with the highest-quality standards.”

Huelskamp says the firm is now developing a 10-year strategic plan to guide its next moves.

In addition to defining new markets, the plan will renew the company’s commitment to international growth, as well as energy infrastructure, homeland security and life sciences.

“While we feel pretty good about our market mix going into the next few years, we recognize that we’re too heavily dependent on the federal sector and need to shift our focus some to create more balance in our portfolio,” Huelskamp says. “We’re actively looking for projects to fill the gap that will be created once some of our government and military projects slow down.

“The trick is to focus on markets that are complementary to one another. They will not all perform well in a given year. One will do better while another slows down. We’ve had a winning mix so far, and we’re hoping we find a good balance for the next five or 10 years."

Still, there is more work to be done. As Lewis says, “I look forward to every day seeing how we can work together and get better.”