Skip to content

Three-H building furniture and family

Keeping a tight-knit feel among a steadily growing workforce can be a challenge, but it's one that officials at the Temiskaming Shores-based Three-H Furniture Systems have embraced wholeheartedly through nearly 40 years.
3h
Employees at Temiskaming Shores' Three-H Furniture Systems see any number of perks, from additional days off every two weeks to education funds for their children. (Photo supplied)

Keeping a tight-knit feel among a steadily growing workforce can be a challenge, but it's one that officials at the Temiskaming Shores-based Three-H Furniture Systems have embraced wholeheartedly through nearly 40 years.

"Even with the number of employees we have, it's like a family," says Patricia Willard-Inglis, manager of human resources at Three-H.

"It's important to maintain that, and it's something I think we've accomplished."

Founded in 1973 as a manufacturer of European-style residential furniture, the company has since shifted to modular office furniture, a move which has landed some of its products for use by staff at the White House and the Smithsonian Institute.

Growth has increased from a handful of employees to 92. Most have been employed between a decade and 30 years.

Feeding into this longevity are a broad number of perks designed to keep staff from feeling as though the company is getting too big to be "personal," says Willard-Inglis.

Plaques and gifts such as large-screen televisions are given to workers to recognize their years of service. This begins from the five-year mark and progresses in five-year increments.

Employees' children are also rewarded through the company's ever-popular education plan. Staff members with kids in post-secondary receive $500 towards to help pay tuition costs for every year they're enrolled.

While even the most worker-friendly company must have guidelines, it's important to make sure staff isn't swamped in policies that derail their ability to achieve a strong work-life balance, says Willard-Inglis.

"We want to have the human factor built into everything that we do."

Incorporating what she refers to as an "unusual shift schedule," the company allows staff to work 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day for one week, and then 2 p.m. to midnight four days the following week. This provides staff with a minimum of two long weekends every month, and schedules can be further altered to better suit individual situations.

Such measures continue to be expanded as the strength of Three-H's products continues to draw interest from all corners, from large Toyota dealerships in New York, to Red River College in Winnipeg, to Saskatoon Power.

As the company sells directly to clients and dealers throughout North America, the Temiskaming Shores plant doesn't have a local showroom, preferring to sell its products through Grand & Toy outlets.

To dispel the sense of being "silent in the community," company officials frequently sponsor local events and institutions such as the Bikers Reunion, the Temiskaming Art Gallery, and the Temiskaming Hospital CAT Scan Foundation.

The impact of Three-H is also felt in the broader Northern Ontario community, not only through immediate employment, but also their use of other regional products. As just one example, Willard-Inglis says completed furniture is shipped in boxes obtained from fellow Temiskaming Shores firm Mid-North Containers.

As the effects of the recession begin to fade and Three-H's new line of configurable modular office furniture soars in popularity, even more people are being brought onto the Three-H team.

Hires in the coming weeks and months will include new positions in the production plant, such as machine operation and cabinet-building.

More people may be added in the near future, as officials consider doubling the size of the physical plant in 2010.

"We're certainly in the optimistic stage, which is good. I think that is going to be a great couple of years coming up."

 www.three-h.com