A local company which started in a wooden shed is now a Great Place to Work.

In late October, Advanced Electronics Services Inc. earned a Great Place to Work certification, according to Nicholas Cooke, the company’s financial coordinator.

Great Place to Work is an organization that calls itself “the global authority on building, sustaining, and recognizing high-trust, high-performing workplace cultures.” The entity also produces the annual Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

The program evaluates organizations across the country through employee surveys which gauge matters such as the work environment and involvement in the community.

Cooke said AES scored particularly well in the areas of employee pride and offers a great work atmosphere.

AES is housed in a 90,000-square-foot facility on Technology Lane off Riverside Drive. Starting in 1992, two employees did repairs to electronics in a shed, said Cooke. Since then, the company has grown and branched into other areas. AES continues to perform repairs on electronics, but it also services all Kodak printers, and recently the company started a section which repairs mechanical and hydraulic equipment.

According to Cooke, AES now employs 135 people.

Cooke said one thing the company does particularly well — and something which contributed to the company’s certification as a Great Place to Work — is the company’s work in the community.

AES actively supports the Children’s Center of Surry, even serving as event sponsor for the Children’s Center’s annual Heart of a Child fundraiser. It also donates to the Shepherd’s House, Yokefellow Ministries and Helping Hands, a charity organization Cooke started.

Cooke noted the company also puts together teams of employees for charity events such as 5k runs.

The Great Place to Work certification process took AES two to three months to complete, said Cooke.

Human resources director Donna Stevens said her company hires the most qualified and best candidates available for jobs, and the Great Place to Work certification will do nothing but help AES in that goal.

“Our positive reputation in the community provides a nice applicant flow of qualified job applicants,” said Stevens.

She said one employee told her on his first day at AES, “I already love this place.”

“We do our best to be welcoming and provide the training and resources for every one of our employees to be successful,” said Stevens. “It works well for us.”

Mount Airy News- November 6, 2016