Seventeen years ago, Northwest Pump made the jump to become an employee-owned company. Since this decision, we have seen many benefits for our employees, our customers, and the communities surrounding our eighteen different branches. While there are many characteristics of employee ownership, we have found the five most significant qualities. Any co-owner at Northwest Pump will have these five characteristics: Outreaching, Wise, Neighborly, Excellent, & Responsible- or OWNER, for short.
O – Outreach
Even before employee ownership began in 2006, Northwest Pump already participated in charitable activities in the communities we live in. For over fifty years, Northwest Pump has worked with several charities to donate to families in need in December. Since becoming an employee-owned company, Northwest Pump has expanded our efforts to give back to our communities. We have proudly worked with organizations such as Best Buddies, Habitat for Humanity, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and many more. All eighteen branches also participate in an annual food drive to local food banks in their areas.
W – Wise
One of Northwest Pump’s core values is self-improvement- the ability to seek out new learning opportunities and challenge oneself to be better. Our co-owners are always looking for ways to grow and share their knowledge and expertise with each other.
Because Northwest Pump provides a wide variety of industrial & petroleum equipment, it would be difficult for one person to understand all of the complexities of both divisions. However, what our teams focus on is having a reliable network of experts who have extensive information about a particular brand or product category. Our collaborative culture allows for this even when the expert is not associated with a particular branch or division.
N – Neighborly
The biggest feature of being an employee-owned company is the neighborly culture here at Northwest Pump. Our most common response when co-owners are asked about why they like working at NWP is the company culture. Our teams are not just checking emails to carry on with their day, they are ready to jump in whenever and wherever a problem needs to be solved. If it needs to be handled by another division, department, or branch, we work together to get the job done.
We have a team called Employee Ownership Team to help maintain the company culture. The team is responsible for leading conversations on how the ownership works, organizing conversations around customer service & improving the company, and leading the various activities like our annual Halloween party and the food drives.
E – Excellent
Our motto at Northwest Pump is customer service is our business. At the heart of every project, we focus primarily on the needs of our customers. We strive to see every project through the eyes of our customers and do what we can when we can to find the necessary solution the first time around. We have prided ourselves on providing excellent customer service for more than 60 years.
R – Responsible
One of the key factors in ownership is taking responsibility, especially when something goes wrong. Once we begin our projects, we will take care of anything that comes up during the process. We will ensure every customer is taken care of and every project is completed as promised.
Careers at Northwest Pump
Anyone looking for an opportunity to see ownership culture in action should view our open positions. As of January 2023, we are hiring a variety of positions at several locations. We look forward to the growth, especially in our Portland pump shop, that 2023 will bring.