Living Our Values
By Perry Odak
CEO, Evenflo Company, Inc.
Since 1920, Evenflo has developed a strong reputation as a leading manufacturer of high-quality products for babies and children. With this history comes the foundation of trust we have established with parents to provide reassurance they are making the best choice for their newest, most precious family members.
At Evenflo, we believe the strength of this bond presents an untapped opportunity to build upon our strong history to nurture the values that are most important to our culture and to our customers. This is what attracted me to this company, as there is no deeper bond than the one between a mother and her new baby.
We recognize this at Evenflo, and, as a team, we have developed and devoted ourselves to five important values that we believe are at the heart of the company. These values stem from our steadfast mission to build upon our tradition as a trusted partner in nurturing children to provide quality products for children and those who care for them.
Passion … We encourage every Evenflo employee to have passion for what we do, and we hire people with passion. From the safety technicians who sled test our car seats and the folks in our manufacturing plants, to our home office staff, field sales people and everyone in between, it is our goal to infuse a passion throughout our organization that translates into the best quality, safest and easiest-to-use products for babies and children.
Ownership … At Evenflo, we want our people to take ownership of the very important task of delivering excellence in our products. We know when people take ownership of their work, they put themselves in the mindset of our consumers, which allows us to innovate and develop products that meet the needs of growing families.
Partner … We believe in treating everyone with respect, and that relationships with our partners – be it retailers, various departments and brands working within the Evenflo organization, or community partners – must be mutually beneficial.
Leadership … With a 90-year history in the juvenile products industry, we are fortunate to have high awareness among consumers and are a market leader in many of our product categories. However, we view leadership as much more than market share and winning product awards. We will nurture and encourage leaders within our organization. We want every employee to provide a positive influence, demonstrate good work habits, live our core values and lead in our relationships, both inside and outside the company.
Social Responsibility … Near and dear to my heart, this final value for Evenflo ensures that we give back to our local communities by sharing our knowledge, expertise and passion with parents and caregivers. To demonstrate the importance of this value, we’ve initiated a Volunteer Time Off benefit for all U.S. Evenflo employees in which they will be paid up to 20 hours a year for volunteer service.
We continue to strive toward achieving our mission to provide quality products for children and those who care for them. We will get there by living these values and by nurturing a bond of trust with our consumers. I am excited about the prospects for this company and I look forward to driving a culture that will not settle for less when it comes to bringing our consumers the best baby and children’s products available.