HIGH FIDELITY: Employee loyalty at this travel-gear manufacturer is considered paramount; hence the on-site gym, company-paid yoga instructor, $2,500 tuition reimbursements for continuing education, and an incentive-based volunteer program. Staff members with the most community-service hours are awarded a $1,000 donation to the charity of their choice. Oh, and the annual three-week-long horseshoe tournament, with cash prizes for winners, doesn't hurt. "Everyone here is pretty competitive,"says human resources manager Parm Gulshan. "It's an interesting few weeks." eaglecreek.com

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: FROM THE COMPANY

ABOUT
Eagle Creek is the industry leader in adventure travel gear, luggage, and accessories and has been in business since 1975. We are a global organization with distribution in more than ten countries.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
Our corporate culture promotes volunteering in many ways. Each month, employees have the opportunity to take paid time to volunteer for a charity of their choice. Each year we hold a food drive to benefit North County Community Services. Employees donate supplies and volunteer time to get our local community involved. Additionally we have a volunteer recognition program for completing community service hours through VF Corporation. Associates who accumulate the highest number of community service hours will be honored with a donation of $1,000 on their behalf to the qualified charity of their choice. All active full-time and part-time associates who average 20 hours per week and who have been employed for at least one year prior are eligible. This is done through a nomination process.

EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION
We are oddly proud of our annual horseshoe tournament. From the draw of a hat, all employees are paired into teams and compete for the coveted plastic Horseshoe Trophy. The tournament ends with a companywide barbecue and trophy presentation. We have an "Eddy Out" committee that organizes such events each year—appropriately named from the kayaking term meaning a time of collecting oneself and relaxing between rapids. This committee is made up of a cross-functional group of individuals within the company whose sole purpose is to come up with fun and morale-boosting events throughout the year. Some examples include Halloween costume and pumpkin-carving contests, a Cinco de Mayo event with a salsa-and-guacamole-cooking competition, Easter egg hunts, and other holiday-related events.

OFFICE CULTURE
As we are a casual, family-oriented company, and we provide accommodation if necessary to allow employees to bring their kids and sometimes pets to the office. The culture has a focus on the outdoors, and we have a passion for preserving the environment through our sustainability efforts. We also see a lot of cross-functional work teams—because we have a "down to earth" (not corporate) environment and are relatively small, we have more team and committee involvement in our company's initiatives. This is great because everyone is involved and everyone has some level of ownership in our business.