MAGNET is 3rd-place winner, Small category: Top Workplaces 2022

Top Workplaces 2022: MAGNET 3rd place winner in the small company category

MAGNET employees have enjoyed a variety of team activities over the last few years including kayaking, golfing, go-karting, and even karaoke. They are the 3rd place winner in The Plain Dealer 2022 Top Workplaces on the Small company category. - Photo courtesy of Ethan Karp, MAGNET

Name: MAGNET

CEO & President: Ethan Karp

Address of local operation: 1768 East 25th St., Cleveland, OH 44114

What the company does: MAGNET is a mission-driven non-profit organization whose goal is to strengthen and grow Northeast Ohio’s economy through manufacturing.

Our goal is to strengthen and grow Northeast Ohio’s economy through manufacturing. Half of the company works all with small/medium size manufacturers to help them grow their jobs, by inventing the next new products, streamlining operations, getting the latest technology, and by automating the business which will help drive them forward.

The other half of the organization works with people, primarily in Cuyahoga County but not exclusively. The ultimate goal is to get diverse populations of people into high paying manufacturing careers that they may be unaware of. In filling these thousands of open roles with people from the surrounding communities they can help elevate those that may be living in poverty to middle class and beyond.

Years in business: Founded in 1984

Why they won: “Magnet has become a bit of a haven. Work is intense and difficult, but it is a little shelter from the uncertainty out in the world. I like to think that our culture creates a little bit of a buffer or at least so that work isn’t one more thing to fear or be uncertain about. One buffer for the world and your personal connections in our culture and supporting you through the external worlds craziness versus being a drain on your energy. That’s been our goal and I think we are achieving that.” -- CEO & President Ethan Karp.

“Diversity equity and inclusion. Very important to the work that we do. Especially with communities to get mostly diverse people into manufacturing. But it is also important to our culture. You can’t have a caring environment if nobody recognizes racial disparity. You can’t have a caring environment if your welcoming attitude has micro aggression, you can’t have a strong culture like this that is open and vulnerable with one another if there are all sorts of things related to race and equity that go unspoken and we have felt those things in our work in our work place we talk about them we try to grow together, making an inclusive environment is very important to us especially in an industry that is not as diverse as our community. This is really important it is fundamental to all our values.” -- CEO & President Ethan Karp.

MAGNET’s take on employee retention in the face of staffing shortages is that it has been a blessing and a curse. They have wonderfully talented employees that they have trained to be top candidates. As a small company there are limited top positions. Even though they have very little voluntary turnover they support those that leave for great community roles and take pride in seeing their folks succeed. So, curse people will move on, blessing there is top talent out there looking to fill open roles.

Said one employee: “I most value being well informed about what employees in different departments are doing -- what manufacturers and startups we are working with, what schools we are engaging in ECEC, what employers and training providers we are working with in sector partnership, what grants we are applying for, and so on. In other words, I value being well informed about the impact that MAGNET is making on our community.” Said another employee, “I get to do things I love each day with people I love.”

For the 2022 Top Workplaces list, cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer have compiled 220 stand-out Northeast Ohio employers based on employee surveys. This year we’ve focused on employee retention in the face of staffing shortages. Find the full list and stories on the top three winners in each category at cleveland.com/top-workplaces.

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