Fifty years is a long time to be in business. It’s an even longer time to keep people. Our longest-standing employee has been with Schmidt Associates for 43 years, and our average employee tenure is 10 years. From my perspective in human resources, those numbers are meaningful, but they tell only part of the story. What matters more is what happens during all the years in between.

When someone joins Schmidt Associates, we tell them they will be valued as an individual, supported in their growth, and welcomed into a culture grounded in servant leadership. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in HR is that retention depends on whether those promises continue to feel true as employees’ careers, ambitions, and lives change. The real work is proving them, not just in someone’s first few weeks, but year after year.

The Real Test of a Culture

Most organizations know what they want employees to experience on day one. The harder question is whether those same values still describe someone’s experience five, 10, or 20 years later.

Employees notice the everyday things. Does a leader make time when someone needs to talk? Does a manager follow through on a development conversation? Does an employee feel comfortable raising a concern or suggesting a different way forward? When life changes outside of work, does the organization respond with understanding?

Those moments may seem small, but together they shape how people feel about their future with an organization. That is why retention cannot begin when someone is already considering another opportunity. By that point, hundreds of experiences have already influenced the decision. The more important work happens earlier. It means staying connected to what people need and recognizing that what motivates someone today may not motivate them five years from now.

An Open Door Has to Be Worth Walking Through

Saying there is an open-door policy is easy. Creating an environment where people believe they will be heard is much harder.

At Schmidt Associates, that openness extends all the way to the C-suite. Employees can bring questions, ideas, and concerns to leaders across the organization, regardless of title or tenure. What matters is not simply that the door is open, but that leaders are accessible and willing to engage.

Interior Designer Kathryn Roche experienced that culture almost immediately. She joined as an intern. On her second day, Wayne Schmidt, our founder and CEO at the time, stopped at her desk and introduced himself. He then gave her a personal tour of the building while sharing the story behind its renovations. He took the time to learn who she was and make her feel like she belonged.

Years later, Kathryn is still with Schmidt Associates as a full-time employee, and she has watched that expectation carry forward. Today, our leaders still make a point to learn every intern’s name.

Culture is rarely built through a single major initiative. It is built through consistent actions that show people they matter.

Growth Has to Remain Personal

Professional growth cannot be one-size-fits-all. People change, their interests evolve, and their responsibilities outside work shift. Someone who joins focused on a particular technical skill may eventually want to lead a team, conduct research, serve on a board, mentor younger professionals, or explore an entirely different area of practice. Our role is to keep asking what growth looks like for that individual.

At Schmidt Associates, employees can access Schmidt Academy, peer-led Tech Talks, research, board service, and paid volunteer time. Schmidt Academy alone has delivered more than 350 courses and 5,000 completed learning units.

Programs do not create development on their own, though. Growth becomes meaningful when employees can connect those opportunities to their strengths, interests, and goals. That is why career development should be an ongoing conversation rather than something reserved for an annual review.

Retention is a Lagging Indicator

We track tenure and retention because those numbers reveal patterns. But by the time a number appears in a report, many smaller decisions have already happened. An employee decided whether to ask for help. A manager decided whether to make time. A leader noticed, or did not notice, someone’s contribution. A career conversation happened, or it didn’t.

Healthy retention also does not mean convincing every employee to stay forever. Careers evolve, and sometimes someone’s right next step leads elsewhere. The goal is an environment where people can contribute meaningfully, keep growing, and see a future for themselves for as long as that future is right for both the employee and the organization.

Recognition Reflects the Experience

Schmidt Associates has been recognized as a Best Place to Work in Indiana and Louisville and is part of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s Best Places to Work Hall of Fame. Those recognitions are meaningful because they reflect experiences employees have shared. But awards are not what make a workplace worth staying for. The real measure of a culture is what employees experience when no award is being judged, no survey is being completed, and no one is watching.

Keeping the Promise

After 50 years, I believe culture still comes down to relatively simple things:

• a door that is genuinely open
• a conversation about someone’s future that actually happens
• support when someone needs it
• sometimes asking, “How are you, really?” and being willing to hear the answer

What matters is continuing to earn the trust people place in us when they choose to join. That is the promise we make when someone becomes part of Schmidt Associates, and it is still the promise we are responsible for keeping.

Interested in being part of that story? Explore open roles at Schmidt Associates.