Indesign relies on culture that prizes teamwork, problem solving to deliever for customers

For Indesign, putting people first isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s integral to its ability to compete for contracts and talent.

The company earned the Top Workplaces special award for appreciation, with employees reporting they genuinely feel appreciated. And engineers there dive headlong into deeply technical projects that require close relationships with clients and a high level of collaboration between employees.

For that kind of work, you need innovative problem-solvers and a culture that prizes teamwork – and that’s just the way the company says it’s wired, according to those who work there.

"I think as a service company, relationships are really important,” says Rex Bennett, a project manager at Indesign. “We don’t develop our own products. We don’t own … intellectual property. All of the designs belong to the clients that we work for, and we try to build strong relationships with our clients.”

The same is true for relationships inside the company, Bennett adds. “Projects can be challenging, and when you have a team that goes through challenging things together, those relationships get stronger,” he says.

In that same vein, rather than running into a heavily hierarchical, top-down leadership structure, new employees are assigned a mentor or coach to help with their development, while being able to work directly with people at all levels of the company.

“I think we’re a fairly flat company – we don’t have a lot of tiers to work up,” says Mason Burgess, a software engineer who joined Indesign two years ago. That collaboration goes all the way to the top with engineers even working directly with company president and CEO Jerry Gotway on some projects, something Mason says he’s experienced firsthand. It’s not that smaller teams aren’t assigned to specific projects – they are; it’s just that everyone is willing to lend a hand if their expertise is a good fit and help is needed, employees say.

The complex and varied nature of the work certainly demands it – and that also keeps it interesting. “The variety is very fun,” Bennett says. “We work on consumer electronics, industrial systems, medical products – all kinds of things.”

Employees say the company offers competitive benefits; flexibility, with a hybrid work model, giving employees the ability to work from home and at the office; and opportunities to relax, recoup and bond with fellow employees through everything from organized walks at nearby Fort Harrison State Park to video game tournaments over lunch breaks, says Austin Kirchhoff, a principal software engineer who has been with the company for more than 16 years.

That latter also helps coworkers connect, Kirchhoff says, which helps with retention. “It’s really those connections with people that keep you tied to the company.”

Bottom Line

• Founded: 1997

• Headquarters: Indianapolis

• Company profile: Multi-discipline engineering design firm that develops electronic products for consumer, medical, computer, communications, military industrial and transportation markets.

• Locations: One

• Number of employees: 69

• Special award: Appreciation

• Website: indesign-llc.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indesign earns spot in Top Workplaces with emphasis on relationships