I discovered DISTek at an interesting point in my life. As a newly graduated engineering student, I knew I wanted to be in this field, but I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to apply the skills I had learned. As I searched for an opportunity that fit best, I found DISTek through a recruiting company. While the work seemed interesting and very beneficial to my career development in engineering, something else piqued my interest. It was the people that made me want to join DISTek. After interviewing with my potential leads and team members, I felt an affinity for them that I hadn’t experienced with other companies I had interacted with. A big supporting factor of this for me was the fact that DISTek is employee owned. It gave me the impression that every employee is valued and has the opportunity to provide suggestions and input that leads to the success of the organization. All of this made me confident in my decision to accept an offer from DISTek and move from my home in Minnesota. I grew up in Minnesota, went to college there, and still took the chance to move to Dubuque, Iowa, for this position. After relocating, it didn’t take long for me to be confident that I had made the right choice.
After being with DISTek for more than a year, I know much more about the ins and outs of the organization. The first reason why I stay here is that DISTek provides services for a variety of industries, and therefore, I’m offered a wide range of opportunities and skills that I can utilize. Classes, through the DISTek U training program, are offered to cultivate future leaders within the company, expand our knowledge of business and ESOPs in particular, as well as learn the fundamentals of professional engineering. Another factor that keeps me here is that we also have a wide range of clients with specific needs, which means the breadth of knowledge is comprehensive at our company. Engineers are always available to each other at DISTek to share knowledge and overcome challenges together. This level of flexibility and cooperation reinforces my belief that DISTek has something to offer you no matter where you are located and what your skills may be.
From gathering perspectives of other employees at DISTek, a few things are clear. Anonymous surveys are taken by our team members to identify the current strengths and weaknesses of our company. With our most recent survey, employees valued the flexibility, fair treatment, and incentives offered by DISTek to perform their best. Our core values aren’t something that our people keep at the back of their mind but at the forefront of the work we do every day for our clients. I believe having a strong value system in the work one does is essential to having motivated and caring employees, and the responses of the survey support this conclusion.
Additional positive sentiments from employees include culture, leadership, and employee growth opportunities. The right work goes to the right people to best take advantage of the specific knowledge that employees have. Beyond maintaining healthy current culture, the survey also highlights that we value the growth-oriented mindset DISTek has. The structure of our teams encourages personalized treatment and a strong emphasis on employee development. While not everything is positive within these survey responses, almost every concern is prefaced by an appreciation for something else. Not every company is perfect, and there is always room to improve, something that DISTek takes very seriously, but I believe most of us have faith that DISTek is headed in the right direction.
Even with our remote employees we maintain strong connections and foster a sense of community. Leadership was also noted as seeking out and valuing employee input to improve, with one example being the survey itself. Related to this is the contribution of ideas and ways to platform employee voices. DISTek has many optional events such as town halls, lunch and learns, and development classes that can serve as spaces to express concerns and ideas. I’m glad to see so many of my fellow coworkers share positive experiences with our employer and share my sentiment of DISTek not only being a great place to work, but a great place to stay.
