The Duncan Download Blog: Business Aviation Advice & Observations

Contributed by Dayna Mattson, Wellness Coordinator

Duncan Aviation's Wellness Program invests in various health initiatives to provide team members the best possible chance to be healthy, happy and more productive.

Wellness…. Corporate Health…. Health and Productivity Management….

These aren’t exactly common buzz words in business aviation, but more and more companies are beginning to understand and use them as they investigate solutions to seemingly insurmountable health care costs. But still, why would a company on the leading edge of business aviation care about Wellness?

Simply put, a successful company takes great care of their most valuable asset. At Duncan Aviation, our best asset is our workforce, our people… our family. We commit a significant investment into their well-being to ensure they have the resources available to achieve a high level of Wellness. As we care about them, they in turn take care of our customers and give them the best service possible.

A Vision of a Healthy & Productive Workforce

Duncan Aviation’s Wellness Program all started when then Chairman Robert Duncan and President Aaron Hilkemann had a vision of a healthy and productive workforce. The idea was with just a little effort and investment in our personal health, we could all be better, happier and healthier. And with that, the Duncan Aviation Wellness Program was launched in 1998.

Over the years, programs and staff have been added and we continue to invest in various health initiatives to give our team members the best possible chance to be healthy. From the beginning, our focus has not only been to have a positive impact on individual team members, but their families as well. By extending many of our wellness benefits to spouses, we’ve witnessed entire families change for the better with amazing results.

In my six years at Duncan Aviation, I can say with complete honesty, the care, investment and value that Duncan Aviation invests into each team member’s health and wellness is matched by very few others. As a Wellness Coordinator, I couldn’t ask for better support from a Senior Management Team.

Corporate Wellness Growth & Impact

It’s been very rewarding to watch the program grow and become better every year. It has won many Wellness awards and is recognized nationally as a Platinum Level Corporate Wellness Program by WELCOA (the Wellness Councils of America). But, by far what is the most rewarding for me is when an employee says, “Look what I’ve done for my health,” “look at how much weight I’ve lost” or “I’ve never felt better. Thank you for helping me.” Making a difference in an individual’s life is the best part of my job. That is exactly what wellness means at Duncan Aviation: making a difference in the lives our team members, showing we care and helping them because it’s the right thing to do. Oh and the icing on the cake… we’re saving money on health care costs and improving productivity.

Removing Barriers to Better Health

Because there are many barriers to not living a healthy lifestyle, we’ve removed as many as we can by offering a wide array of programs. Making it easy for everyone to be active and participate. Even with over 2,000 employees, we have 100% participation in our Health Education Program.

We’ve recently begun integrating our wellness goals with that of Human Resources, Benefits, Work Comp and Safety to enhance the employee experience for our team members. In the future, we will continue offering strong rewards for team members who live healthy by reimbursing health club memberships and Benefits premium discounts.

Duncan Aviation is a truly unique company. The experience you get here is unlike any other. No matter if you’re a customer or an employee.

Dayna Mattson is the Wellness Coordinator at Duncan Aviation-Lincoln, and is integral in developing a Wellness Culture. She works to educate and consult with team members on a variety of health topics and healthy lifestyle changes, in addition to managing the on-site fitness center. She has worked in aviation since 2004.

I was involved in a couple interviews today and the focus was not on the depth and breadth of the candidate’s technical experience but whether or not they will fit the Duncan Aviation culture. Determining experience and technical ability comes right off the resume and can be quickly affirmed with some targeted interview questions during a pre-screening or initial interview. In this, the final interview, what we wanted to find out is which individual would fit best with our company's culture and values.

So, what is our culture? At Duncan, our culture and values evolve around honesty, integrity, loyalty, respect, teamwork, innovation and hard work. Our Core Values were defined by our employees 14 years ago and continue to guide and make us successful yet today. They will not be compromised and anyone coming on board will need to understand this.

I tend to ask interview questions that paint a picture of a candidate's working or leadership style, motivation and expectations of an employer. This helps me to determine whether they will play well in our sandbox. If a compatible match exists, there is a much greater likelihood of employee retention than someone who just has the "skills" to do the job.

Those that fit our culture will be happier, will look forward to coming to work and will be challenged technically by using their training and skills.

That's my perspective. What do you think, is it more important to focus on skills or cultural fit when interviewing and selecting talent?

Duncan Aviation is beginning to feel a rebound after the negative economic affects of 2009 with our first new-hire orientation in almost a year at our Battle Creek, Michigan, facility. Although we see glimmers of hope as we near the edge of the woods, we are still optimistically cautious. Recruiting quality candidates remains strong with tremendous response to each posting.

It has always been our goal to hire the best and brightest talent for all available positions. However, those individuals aren't always next door and it can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars to bring in a candidate for a first-round interview. And if you bring in more than one, well...you can do the math.  I've always felt there must be a better way to conduct early round interviews without incurring the high travels costs.

It wasn't until I was video-conferencing with my in-laws from Ireland that the idea hit me, "Why not use Skype for the initial interview for candidates thousands of miles away?" I've been using Skype for years, to keep in contact with my in-laws and parents in Florida. It's easy once you buy the camera and sign up for your "free" Skype account. In the early years, a video-conference call was like watching a poorly dubbed foreign movie. Today however with high-definition cameras and integrated microphones, quality has tremendously improved.

Our plan was to start out small and test Skype to make sure it was effective and well-received. The feedback from the manager who did the first Skype interview was positive. In fact, he said it was "Great!" He felt it was much better than a phone interview because he was able to see the candidate's face and pick up on non-verbal cues.

We have now conducted Skype interviews with candidates from Alaska to New York and have expanded the utilization of Skype to our Lincoln, Nebraska, facility.

View Duncan Aviation Career Oppurtunities.