When David Lopez started working for AGS in 2014, circumstances were quite different. Lopez admits there was “almost no product to sell and almost no revenue or EBIDTA to speak of.”
But Lopez not only saw the potential of AGS, but realized the company could stand out by promoting its culture.
“I’ll be honest with you, not a lot of companies were talking about culture,” says Lopez, AGS’ CEO. “It was sort of peppered in here or there. It would come up, but it wasn’t something that companies would focus on.”
Focusing on culture has paid off handsomely. For the 10th straight year, AGS has been named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, an honor affiliated with the National Association of Business Resources. Companies are evaluated by an independent research firm based on metrics including compensation, benefits, and employee solutions, and creative wellness and well-being solutions.
Other companies recognized include the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, AmTrust Financial, and Butterball Farms. The honor is based on employee feedback collected through a third-party survey.
AGS is the only gaming company in the country to apply for and receive this honor and one of fewer than 20 companies this year to receive it for 10 straight years.
Lopez says AGS didn’t pioneer focusing on its culture but certainly used it to attract talented workers. He mentions Chief Marketing Officer Julia Boguslawski Hemberger, who joined the company from Scientific Games, as an example of the type of employee who gravitated to AGS.
“Julia, we couldn’t afford to pay her the same,” Lopez said. “We actually paid her much less than she was making at Sci Games, but convinced her to come join the party because it’s a very different culture where she can make an impact on the organization. That’s much more significant. She could really reshape the look and feel of AGS and everything that we do.”
In allowing employees more of a say in how they work, AGS provided access to upper management. Any employee was and is able to approach those in charge with ideas or questions.
“There wasn’t any red tape, there wasn’t yellow tape, there wasn’t even white tape,” Lopez recalled. “There was no tape, and we couldn’t afford the tape. We didn’t have all these things to get in the way of doing business. Not only was there accessibility and transparency, but there’s an ability to make decisions very quickly in the organization.
“And we didn’t need a committee. Two or three people get together, we talk about an acquisition, we get a small acquisition done in two weeks. We’d get something done in two weeks that, if we were a bigger company, would have taken two months or longer.”
One example is how AGS’ operations teams operate. Lopez says many organizations are hesitant to “turn over the wheel and brakes and gas” to such teams.
“But we did that and we ended up finding real rock stars out on the production floor,” he says, “that were able to make us 10-20-25% more efficient in how we were building and assembling the slot product. The things that we were doing and how we constantly were evolving and becoming more efficient, I think that’s maybe one of the best examples of empowering employees.”
Part of AGS’ success, and one of the reasons the company has been named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For for 10 straight years, is the type of employees hired by the company. Lopez notes that AGS is able to hire people who do not merely agree with the status quo but are willing to share opinions.
“We don’t want people to come in and toe the line,” Lopez says. “We don’t want people to come in and just check in, check out.”
The end result is AGS reputation has been burnished to the point where prospective employees are recruiting them. Lopez says that feels like a win for the leadership team, but it only goes so far.
“The awards are great, but they’re only as important as the day you received it,” Lopez says. “The next day, the award means nothing, because you’re starting all over again. We have to continue to do the right thing and communicate well and be accessible and be focused on winning, or those awards don’t mean anything.”
