By Heather Matthews
Staff Writer

From left, Melissa Clickner, Crystal Romain and Deb Colburn dive into a sea of balloons. Clickner’s office was filled to the brink with balloons by several of the company’s employees in celebration of her efforts to get Schleuniger in Manchester ranked in the Top 50 Best Companies to Work For in America. (Courtesy Photo)

When Melissa Clickner opened the door to her office recently, she was greeted by hundreds of balloons. The rainbow-hued orbs filled her office, drowning everything in a chest-deep sea of balloons.

Although it wasn’t her birthday, Clickner’s coworkers decked out her office with the balloons and other celebratory decorations. It was their way of thanking her for just doing her job.

Clickner is the human resource manager for Schleuniger, Inc., the United Statesdivision of a Swiss company that produces machinery for wire processing. It was recently named one of the “50 Best Small and Medium-Sized Companies to Work for in America” by the Society for Human Resource management and the Great Place to Work Institute.

As the human resource manager, Clickner was responsible for organizing the company’s entry to the competition and managing the nine-month application process.

Although it was Clickner who filled out the forms and put together the company’s application, the employees really deserve the thanks and balloons, she said.

“Two-thirds of this was based on employee surveys,” she said. “It’s not about what we say, but what the employees have to say about working here. It’s not about me; it’s about everyone here and working together as a team.”

Part of the company’s placement on the list was due to the company’s 100 percent 401K match up to 7 percent of salary, $300 annual reimbursement for fitness activities, pizza parties to celebratemonthly achievements and the monthly “Funky Friday,” where employees partake in activities such as scavenger hunts, Wiffle ball, paper airplane contests and SUSA Survivor.

“It’s the crazy things like that that pull us together and make this a great place to work,” Clickner said.

These events don’t just draw the company’s employees together, they also cut any tension and stress that might pop during the business day.

“It brings the stress level down,” said Mike Rizzo, company president and general manager. “It says, ‘Don’t worry; these things aren’t that important,’ and lets them have some fun and have a ball playing.”

Employees such as operations team leader John Covill and inside sales coordinator Renee Fortier said they appreciate and love those experiences, but the sports and games are not what makes working at Schleuniger so great. It is the people they work with, and the respectand love the employees are treated with.

“(Schleuniger) truly cares about its employees,” Covill said. “I’ve worked for both large corporations and small companies, and Schleuniger is the best without a doubt. I’m as excited to show up today as I was 10 years ago.”

Fortier said one of the things that drew her to the company was its policy on family and life outside of the company’s walls.

“Here, we all have the same goal,” Fortier said. “We are all family-oriented. Of course, we have our family here, but outside these walls we have a family and a life, too. The company is very understanding of that.”

Just a few months into her employment with Schleuniger, Fortier was required to undergo surgery that would keep her out of work for 20 weeks. Instead of hiring a replacement and leaving Fortier jobless, she was assured she would still have a place in the Schleuniger family when she returned.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how much that meant,” she said.

In 2002, Covill lost his family home to a fire. He said the outreach from fellow employees was astounding.

“The stuff the people did here just blew me away,” he said. “It just opened the flood gates of joy.”

For more information, visit www.schleuniger-na.com.