Our focus at Anderson & Associates has always been on loading individuals with responsibilities and also providing them with the freedom and authority to meet those responsibilities in a way that works best for them. Our open book philosophy, hourly pay system, Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and freedom to structure personal schedules are all concrete evidence of this philosophy in practice. Several of our practices have first been met with amazement and doubt and then later became widely accepted, both internally and externally.

We tend to hire people who can work on their own. We help them expand these natural abilities by giving our books to them to help them understand how the company works. We try to put our managers into the same situation that the company is in by sharing risks and rewards at all levels. The risk is exemplified by the hourly system; if there is no work to do there is no money to pay for it. The reward side is the ESOP where profit is shared across the ranks.

Our ESOP is the primary expression of our philosophy of responsibility and accountability. Since 1987, almost all of our profits have been contributed to our ESOP Trust which are then allocated to each eligible individual employee based on two-thirds of his/her total annual compensation and one-third on his/her seniority. Presently, the Trust holds 39% of the company stock in trust for the employees. Our plan is for that to go to 100% in 2005.