The Best Places to Work in Direct Selling contest was designed by Direct Selling News with several goals in mind:
- To spotlight the channel as a positive job-creating engine.
- To recognize and honor companies that have created positive work environments and become employers of choice.
- To identify and share best practices with the wider direct selling community.
- To provide valuable feedback and data to participating companies that will assist them in measuring levels of employee satisfaction and engagement.
We all know that direct selling is a people business.
Measuring field engagement is critical to any company’s success, and consistently delivering on that is a hallmark of the channel. But the field is only part of the people equation. Best Places to Work in Direct Selling celebrates the important role companies play as employers in the marketplace and highlights those companies that are setting the bar for establishing and nurturing work experiences and environments that bring out the very best in people.
Congratulations to 3 Time Winner Total Life Changes!!
HEADQUARTERS | Fair Haven, Michigan
NUMBER OF FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES | 339
YEAR FOUNDED | 1999
What sets your company apart as one of the Best Places to Work in Direct Selling?
Our culture, rooted in love, is what sets us apart. At Total Life Changes (TLC), our employees are not mere numbers or resources; they are a part of our work family. Ours is a safe environment where people are encouraged to rise to the pinnacle of their potential. They are empowered and encouraged to do this using state-of-the-art tools and constant encouragement to achieve their dreams and live with authenticity.
How does your company bring the same red-carpet treatment to your employees that you give to your distributors?
Every day John Licari, our COO, walks around to every department and delivers an insightful speech to inspire, encourage and cause reflection for our work family. We are known for our parties, and we bring them home through annual events like our Memorial Day cookout, founder’s birthday celebration, Thanksgiving feast and holiday party. Our events are a time for our employees to celebrate and relax together. We also encourage our departments to participate in teambuilding events throughout the year.
What’s the “definitive elevator pitch” that you would offer to a prospective employee about why they would want to work for your company? Can you describe your culture in just a few sentences?
There are many companies around the world, and they create some of the greatest products in the world, but here at TLC, we engineer an amazing culture that produces the greatest people in the world. We lend value to people that lend value to life. That’s how we change lives…One cup of tea at a time.
What is your top priority when it comes to maintaining a great work environment? How had that changed as people balance working in the office and working from home? what does that look like for your company?
Our culture is built around a love for our work family and our community. Because of our relationship with each other, we prioritize working in the office. But we also know that there are times when it makes more sense to work remotely, especially when the health and safety of our work family are at risk. When we work remotely, we find creative ways to have fun together, like our relaxed group chats and our popular social media live streams. We are a work family, and like any family, the key to cohesiveness is effective communication, and through this, we find ways to remain close, even when we are apart.
How does your company support team members in their personal and professional development?
We actively scout talent and promote from within. We also connect our work family with certified training programs specific to their jobs; provide advanced training for new tools; and encourage and support our team members to attend seminars and other external training resources.
The only thing constant in 2021 was change. How have you managed the constant pivots required during the pandemic? How are you maintaining and building a sense of community?
As the pandemic spread around the world and many people found themselves unemployed at home, we grew our company and created opportunities for our Life Changers to generate income by selling products from our extensive portfolio. We also expanded our social media live broadcasts to reach our community and team members in their homes, to connect with them and have some fun to alleviate the isolation many of us were experiencing.
Our 2022 contest was open to direct selling companies with at least 40 fulltime employees based in North America. Any employer or employee could have nominated their company during the open period last fall, which ended on October 25, 2021. Each nomination included a contact person who received all of the communications from Quantum. After the nomination period ended, Quantum sent out an official invitation to each company to begin the survey process. Employees were invited to complete an anonymous and confidential survey. A certain percentage of employees at each company, based on size, had to complete the survey in order for the company to reach the threshold to be included. After the survey period was over, the team at Quantum calculated the responses to determine overall scoring and ranking. Only companies who met the threshold determined by Quantum as the baseline for a Best Places to Work environment were announced as Honorees for 2022.
Read full feature article on Best Places to Work in Direct Selling 2022. From the April 2022 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
