What Does Purposeful Growth Mean for Ergon, Customers and Employees?

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At Ergon, we understand that our success is tied to the success of our both our customers and our employees. Purposeful Growth is a core value — one we live and breathe every day, with every decision and every solution.

The positive trajectory of our organization has been steady since our founding in 1954. Growth has always been aligned with a clear purpose and vision as we have expanded from serving customers locally to providing products and services in more than 90 countries around the world. We are focused on growing the right way — not just the fastest way.

Watch the video below (part of our Culture & Values video series) to learn about Purposeful Growth at Ergon, as told by a few members of the Ergon family.

For Our Employees
We are investing in present and future generations, empowering our teams to realize their full potential. We are committed to providing the best opportunities for employees to succeed. Ergon’s Organizational Development Department partners with leadership to ensure all companies excel in recruiting, retaining and developing the best people to reflect our core values and to ensure continued growth.

Brandi Julian, Training Director with Crafco, recently shared about their Leadership Essentials Program. Crafco, part of Ergon’s Asphalt & Emulsions Segment, is the world’s leading manufacturer of pavement preservation products and the equipment used to apply them. Based in Arizona, Crafco has manufacturing facilities in six states and abroad, in addition to distribution and sales offices around the world.

“This program covers the employee life cycle,” Brandi explained. “We look at everything from selection and recruiting, to onboarding, then on to engaging and retaining employees. It’s not just about finding a good employee. It’s about developing them to be their most efficient and effective.”

Once someone is part of the Ergon family, we want to do everything we can to keep them here. Our low turnover rate (14.9%, compared to the national average of 24%) is a testament to our success in that area, as is our 11-year average length of service.

Education and Knowledge Sharing
Another interesting project Brandi has been working on is documenting the knowledge and experience of our current employees to benefit future employees. “How do we take the experiential knowledge of our people who have all this tenure and have been here for years and years, write that down and capture that knowledge? We have developed a very robust product knowledge training library,” Brandi explained. “We have spent so much time interviewing leaders, plant managers — trying to really capture their knowledge about our equipment, our products, and get that knowledge captured and written down so that we can share it across all of Crafco.”

As Jana Branham, Ergon Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, explains in the Purposeful Growth video linked above, “We are investing in education to make sure our people have the right skills and capabilities to deliver on the projects that we do — so that we can be productive in every interaction.”

If you’re interested in working for a company that makes your growth a priority, visit ergoncareers.com for job openings within our family of companies today.

 

Culture and Values at Ergon

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When you ask an Ergon employee how they would describe our culture, the almost invariable response is “family.” Many are quick to add that they had worked for other companies in the past that claimed to be family, but they didn’t truly grasp what that meant until they came to Ergon.

You could attribute our family atmosphere to southern hospitality. We are headquartered in Mississippi, after all. But Ergon’s culture really stems from being a family-owned company, built by one man, Leslie Lampton Sr., who called his employees around the world by name and passed his values on to his four sons, his many grandchildren who work for the company today, and more than 3,000 employees around the world.

Mr. Lampton taught us that people always come before profits. If we take care of our people, our customers and our communities, the business will take care of itself.

After his passing in 2018, we embarked on a journey to highlight the Ergon story, our values and our beliefs from the perspective of those who live them out every day. We’ve created a series of culture and values videos featuring Ergon family members from throughout the organization. The video linked below shares a glimpse into what makes Ergon a trusted partner to customers in more than 90 countries around the world — and what makes this an exceptional place to work, learn and grow.

Ergon has a heritage born of hard work, a foundation built by service and a future bound by what we create next. With a focus on always doing the right thing, the Ergon family invests our time, energy and talents toward a common goal — making this organization the best it can be.

Our Values

  • Empowered Service  
    Together, we’re committed to delivering unparalleled service. We do what’s right, provide solutions and foster stronger relationships with our teams and customers. Employee safety is our top priority and the first consideration in all aspects of our service. That’s empowered service.

  • Selfless Leadership  
    We lead with compassion and put those around us before ourselves. We don’t say we’re the experts, we demonstrate it through technical expertise, category innovation and care for what we do. We call this selfless leadership.

  • Purposeful Growth 
    We believe employee growth and company growth go hand in hand. We build our legacy together to ensure future success through purposeful growth. The company has always reinvested tremendously back into the business, but not just growing for the sake of growing, but growing in a careful and strategic way.

  • Respectful Relationships  
    And together, we foster a culture of respect, acceptance and diversity of ideas and of people. Our differences make us stronger. And we’re united by our shared values, always forging respectful relationships.

If you’d like to learn more about Ergon, start here: https://ergon.com/about.

And if you’re interested in joining the Ergon family, visit ergoncareers.com.

Meet Ashmita Niroula: Breaking Barriers in STEM

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On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Ergon recognizes the contributions of women and girls who push past stereotypes to contribute to science every day. We are proud of the highly competent women, like Ergon Refining Inc.’s Ashmita Niroula, who help steer product development and quality control efforts across our organization. They are helping change the narrative of science being a male-dominated field.

Meet Ashmita

Ashmita Niroula, a native of Nepal, moved to the United States in 2014. She graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and began her career in science as an intern for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Ashmita joined Ergon Refining in July 2019 and currently serves as Market Technical Support Representative – Dielectric Fluids (formerly Insulating Oils). Dielectric fluids are specifically used for equipment such as power and distribution transformers, switchgears and circuit breakers. Ashmita’s role requires extensive knowledge of this equipment as well as the electrical properties of different dielectric fluids and their impact.

No stranger to transformers, as a child, Ashmita spent time in her father’s electrical shop in Nepal taking small transformers apart to see what they were comprised of. This curiosity led her to pursue an electrical engineering career. “It wasn’t until around ninth grade when I started spending more time in my father’s shop that I decided engineering was what I wanted to pursue,” said Ashmita.

Breaking Barriers in STEM

Ashmita is one of many women breaking barriers in the STEM career field. But there’s still progress to be made. It has been reported that while there have been strides in the number of women who enter STEM-related fields, there are still fewer women than men who begin careers in this field, and they leave these careers at a “disproportionately higher rate than men.”

When asked what she would say to young girls interested in science specifically, Ashmita suggested they should stick with it because science should have no relationship with the gender of the discoverer. “Never feel bad for being the only girl the class. Instead, feel special, trust yourself and study with passion. You can make a difference,” she said.

Women Make a Difference at Ergon

As an equal opportunity employer that respects the diversity of ideas and of people, Ergon is honored to support the women in science within our Ergon family. Read about a few other women in science and technology at Ergon here: Ergon Women in STEM.

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Want to become part of the Ergon family? Visit ergoncareers.com for job openings today.

Ergon Asphalt Hosts Spokane Valley Fire Department Special Ops Groups

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“How you practice is how you perform. We are happy to extend the Ergon value of empowered service to the first responders we rely on to support emergency response efforts and care for our people.”

– Michael Kinard, Director of Operations Excellence, Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions

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Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions (EA&E) hosted the Spokane Valley Fire Department as they conducted their confined-space rescue training sessions in October and November 2021. During these sessions, special operations rescue groups utilized an empty tank at EA&E’s Spokane Valley location to train for first aid and retrieval out of confined space scenarios.

“We’ve trained in tanks in the past, but this was our first one at an Ergon facility,” said Tony Perry, Spokane Valley Fire Department Captain and head of confined-space training. “Each confined space is different, but having an opportunity to train in a place that’s a little more unique than what we’d have in other industrial settings proved helpful to us.”

Steve Barto, EA&E’s Spokane Valley Facility Manager, initially called to find out about the department’s confined-space program and to confirm rescue protocol and contact information. His forward thinking led to a hands-on training opportunity that would benefit the fire department, EA&E and other local fuel facilities and small tank farms.

“I mentioned that we had a tank open, and they were welcome to use it for a drill if needed,” said Steve. “I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to build an ongoing relationship with our fire department and also aid them in ensuring they had adequate on-site experience to facilitate efficient confined-space rescues in the future.”

In addition to confined-space training sessions, the Spokane Valley Fire Department also took time to familiarize themselves with EAE’s Lockout Tagout procedures, and they look forward to additional training sessions to come.

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EAE’s tanks are usually emptied for periodic tank floor inspections. There is an observation period prior to the tank being refilled with product in which walkthroughs, and now training, can be conducted.