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Burr Ridge company encourages employees to chase their dreams
With portraits of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather behind him, Jay Tuthill rests on a pneumatic blower, one of the many products his company makes. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 25, 2013 1:17AM
BURR RIDGE — Tuthill Corp. is in the business of making industrial pumps.
It also is committed to producing happy employees and healthy families.
“It’s so much more than just making pumps,” said Chad Gabriel, director of Seismic Branding for the worldwide company, headquartered on Madison Street in Burr Ridge.
With its Conscious Company philosophy, Tuthill Corp. encourages its 900-plus employees, including the 40 who work at the Burr Ridge headquarters, to tap into their talents and to be the best people they can be, inside and outside of work.
“We’re creating a community where you can be yourself and not that professional person the normal world somehow requires you to be,” said owner Jay Tuthill of Hinsdale.
Gabriel said it helps people to realize their true potential, not just on the job, but in life.
It’s a commitment that has caused the company to lose more than a few quality employees. With a renewed confidence to pursue their true passions, some Tuthill employees have left to follow other endeavors.
Many more have stayed, contributing each day with a shared sense of purpose and pride, Gabriel said. Employees are encouraged to share their ideas for how to make every part of the company better.
“Sure, we feel like we’re blazing a trail — a trail that will yield benefits that spread well beyond Tuthill,” Tuthill said.
An employee since 2001, Gabriel has chosen to pursue his dreams within Tuthill Corp. With company Chief Executive Officer Tom Carmazzi as his mentor, Gabriel, who started out as webmaster, has taken on new responsibilities in his quest to one day own his own company.
Hinsdale resident Carmazzi, who joined the company in 2000, became CEO in 2011. He recently began spreading the word about the Conscious Company philosophy, speaking at universities and to other companies.
Setting personal goals is part of Conscious Company, which is taught during retreats, offered to most Tuthill employees once during their employment.
With a shared philosophy, the process creates a team of employees with a common commitment to the values of integrity, excellence, responsibility, respect, courage and awareness.
These common goals have helped relationships between management and unions, making negotiations quicker and easier, Gabriel said.
“The cool part about it is that we’re getting good at helping each other dig our way out of the holes we sometimes make for ourselves,” Tuthill said. “I’m talking about minutes and we’re dusting ourselves off, getting ready for what’s next. It’s a wonderful way to live,” Tuthill said.
