Volunteering is a key part of the Longboard culture

In July, 26 employees of Longboard Architectural Products took a massive leap of faith – as in, out of an airplane from 10,000 feet above ground.

The leaps were for an annual tandem skydiving fundraiser event for the Cyrus Centre Ministries, a Fraser Valley organization that provides youth with emergency shelter and support services, which Longboard sponsors. The company also provides employees who sign up to jump with $400 of the $800 in donations they need to raise to participate.

Tricia Harrison, community and events coordinator, kept her feet firmly on the ground this year to assist with day-of event needs, but says with a laugh that she’s committed to taking the leap next year. For Harrison, who joined Longboard a year ago on a maternity leave contract and is moving into a full-time position, the event exemplifies what’s special about the Abbotsford-based company.

“The company really wants people to get involved, make a difference, and ideally encourage them to keep doing it,” she says.

A large portion of her role is aimed at doing just that, by promoting fundraising and volunteering opportunities for the non-profits and charities Longboard supports and seeking out new community partners. “My biggest focus here is to make it so that people can get out there and feel what it feels like to make an impact and how much a small gesture really matters.”

Founded in 2005, Longboard manufactures premium woodgrain-patterned aluminum products used for cladding, siding, walls, ceilings and more. The company’s first few years were a “journey,” says owner and CEO Mike Heppell, as the then-small team figured out the market for its products and then got walloped by the 2008 recession.

When the company reached profitability after those early hard-scrabble years, Heppell gathered employees to identify the company’s core values. The first one was that the people come first. Another was a commitment to “compassionate acts and human flourishing.”

“We started identifying organizations where we could be involved with them and volunteer our time and effort to make life better for people in our community,” says Heppell.

The company encourages volunteering by providing employees up to two days of paid volunteer time per year. Staff members have spent that time in a variety of ways, including donating plasma with Canadian Blood Services; building homes with Habitat for Humanity; helping out at Zajac Ranch, a summer camp for children and adults with medical conditions and disabilities; and packing up Starfish Packs, a weekend’s worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks for children in the Fraser Valley who otherwise wouldn’t have enough food at home.

As part of Longboard’s commitment to putting its people first, it invests in professional development and fosters a culture of psychological safety, respect and kindness. It’s had an impact: in the company’s 19 years, its employee ranks have swelled to roughly 170, Heppell says, and many have racked up long tenures.

“No question, it’s nice to be on the black side of the ledger,” he says. “But I would say the most fun part for me as an entrepreneur has been seeing the team come together, develop, and grow their areas of expertise.”

Harrison says she’s felt Longboard’s “people come first” culture in her first year at the company.

“It’s unlike any place I’ve ever worked before. It’s very welcoming, a really encouraging and social environment,” she says. “And that means a lot coming from a new person – in your first year, you’re full of questions no matter what the job is. It’s nice not to feel like a hindrance and to be supported.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's BC’s Top Employers winners, published February 11, 2025 in the Vancouver Sun. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

Longboard Architectural Products shares its success

Longboard Architectural Products was not always a model employer. “It was a horrific grind for years,” admits president Mike Heppell. At one point his accountant begged Heppell to shut down the debt-ridden, money-losing manufacturer he founded in Abbotsford, B.C., in 2005. Longboard simply couldn’t afford the things its employees enjoy today, like the on-site gym and trainer, the wall-to-wall health benefits or the full tuition subsidy for continuing education.

“Profitability is like oxygen. If you don’t have it, you’re really in trouble,” Heppell reflects.

But he stuck with it, and the turnaround, when it came, enabled him to embed his values into the way the company operated. First among those values is that people come first.

“We want everybody to live their best life possible,” Heppell says. That’s why Longboard bankrolls employee education. If people grow their skill set, they add value to the company and increase their own earnings. And if they take those skills to another employer, he adds, “we don’t see it as a cost to our company. When that happens, and they get a better opportunity, we celebrate that.”

Another core value Longboard strives to nurture is open-handed generosity. It matches employees’ donations to charity and allows them to volunteer on the company clock for community initiatives like cleaning up local trails or the Starfish Pack program, which provides knapsacks stuffed with food to the families of needy schoolchildren. By inviting workers to contribute to the community at no risk to their household finances, Longboard aims to instil a “soft entry to generosity,” Heppell says.

Ahmed Sadeqi first heard about Longboard in 2022 after he had applied for a home for his Afghan refugee family through Habitat for Humanity. The company had donated some of its signature woodgrain-patterned aluminum cladding and a team of employees to help build homes at a project in nearby Mission, B.C. Sadeqi’s application for one of the homes for his five-member family was successful. Then he got a job as a forklift operator in Longboard’s warehouse. He ended up starting his job just a week after moving in.

“It’s a miracle that I found the work. I’m really happy,” says a grateful Sadeqi. “The past I had, I don’t want my kids to have that situation. I just always pray that my kids have a bright future.”

“Ahmad’s story was unique. When he applied for the job we didn’t understand the connection. We found out after the fact,” Heppell says. “It was fun to see a tangible connection to a man and his family who needed that kind of support. And it came full circle where he’s a critical part of our team at Longboard.”

The company's empathetic and supportive nature shines through in its exceptional top-up program for parental and medical leave. This initiative, deeply rooted in compassion, was inspired by the personal challenges faced by two employees. One bravely battled cancer, requiring time off for treatment, while another devotedly cared for a spouse during a health crisis.

For both, living just on Employment Insurance was a big financial blow. So Longboard introduced a program that would top up employees’ income to 85% of what they were making at the company for up to 21 weeks. In its first 18 months, nine employees who became mothers-to-be took advantage.

“We’re super happy to be able to support them that way,” Heppell says.

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers winners, published April 2, 2024 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.