A Family Affair
Honoring all employees’ requests for a meeting was just part of the bargain for Mike Hammond. Putting the Hammond name on each of the new locations meant that each employee was now under the family umbrella. Hammond knows firsthand how it feels dealing with the uncertainties of a new owner coming in or a disgruntled customer or a problem with a shipment. Instead of having an office that signals who he is, both Mike and father Don work with everyone else in the company in the “pit.”
“We like what’s called the open pit system,” says Hammond. “We do not like back offices. We like setting up what’s called a center pod system and everyone can hear what’s going on and we work as a team together. My dad sits next to the dispatcher in Belgrade, so when there’s a stock outage, he’ll interject and say ‘We’re going to substitute this product and get the customer taken care of.’ Any employee or customer can walk up to my desk with no appointment and tell me whatever they would like.”
Part of that openness could come from Mike’s history with the company. He started working in the family business in high school, working in the yard and driving trucks. He continued in those positions as he attended the University of Southern Maine, purposely close to home so he could continue to learn the business. In 1992, Mike transferred to inside sales, and in 1996 became vice president.
Working your way up the family business isn’t that unusual, but at Hammond the path that Mike took is actually the template for internal promotions. A yard worker interested in advancing might come inside and join the merchandising team. From there the path continues to inside sales, then outside sales, to purchasing, branch management, and finally senior leadership. The initial shift from the yard to inside isn’t always a good fit for everyone and Hammond is aware of that. Those that aren’t a good fit are able to re-transition back to the yard with no punishment.
Providing a transparent path to promotion has attracted dedicated workers that sometimes span generations.
“We do not discourage nepotism,” jokes Fred Perkins, former truck driver and current sales manager at Hammond. “We have many, many family members, spouses, multigenerational employees that work here at Hammond Lumber Co.”
Perkins attributes the number of intergenerational employees to a simple firsthand knowledge that the company is going to succeed. A brother might see the living that a family member has made and decide to apply for a position himself. With so many family members in one company, Mike Hammond understands the significance of keeping the company successful; it may be his family’s name on the sign, but nearly a thousand people work for him. For him, that challenge is summed up easily in one-word: stewardship. “The state of Maine has a lot of good lumberyards that carry their family’s surname,” Hammond says. “You really have to be a good steward to be worthy of carrying on the legacy of which they’re very proud of. It’s not really rocket science, just treating people fairly.”
Part of that fairness is knowing family comes first. When it comes to time off or leaving work early, the one event that trumps all others is a family event. Whether it’s a ballgame or a cookout, those moments can be fleeting and the team at Hammond understands that there’s always time to work.
“We realize that employees’ kids only have ballgames once, they only grow up once,” Hammond says. “We have a very liberal policy on allowing employees to watch their children’s events.”
