The Amway/Nutrilite facility in Buena Park has been named among the Orange County Register’s Top Workplaces for a second year in a row, ranking No. 2 in the Large Company category for the region. Amway has been ranked as the No. 1 direct-sales company in the world and is known for its personal- and home-care product lines, such as Nutrilite supplements, Artistry skincare and XS energy products.

“Nutrilite and Amway have a corporate mission of ‘helping people live better lives,’” noted Matt Wolf, head of Amway’s protection-services team. “This is also true for employees. I’m so thankful for a work environment, a culture and core work values that allow every employee the opportunity to live better lives.”

With approximately 620 employees at its Buena Park location and more than 19,000 globally, Amway notes that it offers career pathways in variety of career fields – from finance to farming, from sales to science. The firm notes that its employees are afforded the opportunity to team up with top thinkers, practitioners and collaborators around the world. According to the firm, employees can work almost anywhere in the world, in almost any discipline, at almost any point in the value chain and even – where passion and aptitude are present – make surprising career transitions while staying within the company. Additionally, employees have the chance to work in an environment where all ideas are considered, and all employees can bring energy and life to meaningful projects.

“Nutrilite’s mission of promoting health and wellness is exactly what I believe today’s world needs,” said Steven Luamanuvae, a warehouse distribution coordinator at the Buena Park location. “The company provides employees with all the means to lead a healthier, happier life. This includes a four-day work week, a revamped 24/7 fitness facility and most importantly, the essential Nutrilite products that are vital to supplementing a better lifestyle.”

Purpose and opportunity

For Wolf, highlights of working for Amway include the people, the company culture, and the company’s overall purpose.

“Every day, I get the opportunity to work around the most talented professionals for whom I have the utmost respect,” he said. “Working with these individuals to produce high-quality and innovative food supplements to improve worldwide nutrition gives me great job satisfaction. I enjoy the people, culture and diversity. It feels good knowing I am appreciated, trusted and allowed to take initiative to accomplish my role.”

One employee who has experienced Amway’s growth opportunities firsthand is Aman Bagga, who started his career at Amway just six years ago at its Michigan headquarters. His career with the company began in procurement and led him into human resources, with the company also helping him relocate his young and growing family to Southern California. Today, Bagga has redefined his role once again and is now a supply-chain analyst.

Bagga said, “Amway has a unique culture that has provided me with the opportunity to take on challenging roles across the organization. But it’s more than that; Amway lets us experiment and try new things so we can grow. Senior leadership wants to see us develop and reach our full potential. Plus, with a young family, they emphasize a positive work/life balance. Living in Southern California is a dream. Working for Amway made that possible.”

Dinah Hanna-Gomez, lead corporate strategist for supply-chain operations thrives on the company’s team-driven culture.

“After 23 years of working for Amway/Nutrilite, I still get excited to come to work every day,” Hanna-Gomez said. “It’s having the sense of being one team – a team that’s helping people at work, in our communities, and our Amway Business Owners around the world live better lives. I am very proud to work for Amway.”

Commitment to community

For many Amway employees and Business Owners, one major component of their job satisfaction is the company’s #AmwayVolunteers initiative, representing its commitment to community service. Amway’s global programs rally the resources of its Business Owners, employees and community partners to try to make the world a better place through local volunteer efforts. Since 2013, more than 4 million volunteer hours have been contributed and 13 million individuals have been helped, the company notes.

“Volunteering, especially when it comes to raising funds for cancer or working with our youth, is meaningful for me because it helps me remember my late mother,” said Amway packaging engineer Francisco Alvarez. “She lost her battle with cancer in 2007. My mother was a very caring and unselfish person, helping family, friends and even strangers at times. So, what better way to honor her than to help others in need?”

The Nutrilite Power of 5 campaign is dedicated to addressing the issue of global childhood malnutrition and has a goal of reaching 500,000 children with Nutrilite Little Bits by the end of 2019. (More information is available at www.powerof5.nutrilite.com.)

Employees at the Buena Park location also have the chance to work with local community partners such as the Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park; Giving Children Hope; the Orangewood Foundation; Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education; and the annual Kids Run the OC event in coordination with the OC Marathon.

Sean Lawrence, the executive director for Giving Children Hope, said, “Over the years, the team at Nutrilite has volunteered thousands of hours, packing food for families in need here in Orange County or others affected by a natural disaster somewhere around the globe. Often, the items they are packing are food or vitamins they donate to us.”

Lawrence added that Nutrilite has also helped Giving Children Hope improve its business excellence by providing practical services that it probably wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.

“Some of these items and services include bringing in a team of experts to help us with our strategic plan, implementing a security plan for our facility, and the unglamorous but very much needed practical task of remodeling a volunteer restroom,” he said. “We are so grateful to have a community partner like Nutrilite who always goes above and beyond in their service to us and our mission.”

Spreading STEM awareness

Marydee Marchan is just one of the scientists involved with helping the STEM education initiatives in Orange County. She said, “Having the opportunity to talk directly to kids of different ages and place a seed in their mind about the possibility of exploring science careers is a blessing. I love the fact that I can debunk the ideas that everybody in science is boring and only geniuses can do it.”

Marchan noted that her work with the initiatives has helped her break stereotypes about who might be successful in a STEM career.

“During a career day at Buena Park High School, the students were surprised that I was woman, Latina, and in an engineering field,” she explained. “They were very engaged and asked me interesting questions. In that moment I realized that I could make the difference for those kids, just by showing them that minorities and women can also have an opportunity in science – I am proof of that.”

Amway/Nutrilite

Sector: Manufacturing

Employees in region: 620

Headquarters: Ada, Mich.

Founded: 1934

Website: nutrilite.com

Awards

• Top Workplaces – Orange County Register, 2015, 2016. (No. 2 among large companies in 2016)
• Spirit of Volunteerism – OneOC, multiple years

• “The people I work with are family – we respect each other, we can pull each other in to help, we listen, we laugh and cry together, we celebrate each other’s personal accomplishments, team accomplishments, and we build each other up.” – Lisa Rehnborg, Amway human resources

• “People here care and support each other. You can feel the warmth when you walk down the halls. Nutrilite is so much more to me than a job; it’s a big part of who I am. I take pride in this business. Everyone here does.” – Marie Wright, IT manager
• “I enjoy working at Amway because I am treated with respect; the work I do is essential and adds value. I believe in ‘why’ our company exists … we are all about better living.” – Al Douglas, environmental, health and safety analyst