Work-Life Balance at SIGMADESIGN

BILL HUSEBY, PRESIDENT & CEO

BY BILL HUSEBY, PRESIDENT & CEO

Personally, I believe that work-life balance is extremely important for everyone. Work shouldn’t be the “be all end all.” To be productive at work and to ENJOY your work requires an equilibrium between what you do for a living and what you do outside of work. To help reinforce this, I tell every new employee at their orientation meeting that I will support whatever is important to them outside of work.

Whether it is a Star Trek convention they want to attend, an extended travel vacation to unknown lands, or an important family event, SIGMADESIGN will always make sure they can attend. Of course there needs to be planning involved to make sure their work responsibilities are covered, but with some organizational processes in place, that’s easy to accommodate.

SAILING ACROSS THE PACIFIC

This summer I took time to do what is important to me. I enjoy racing sailboats. In July, I raced with a team from the West Coast to Hawaii in the Vic-Maui Race. This International Yacht Race, first contested in 1965, is the pinnacle of Pacific Northwest ocean racing. Vic-Maui runs every second year, starting in June or July off Victoria, British Columbia and finishing near Lahaina, Maui, a distance of approximately 2308 nautical miles.

This would be my seventh time doing this passage. What made this trip unique was that I was able to take my 18-year-old son Carson and his good buddy Carter. We voyaged with my long time sailing friend Joby Easton on his Cascade 36, Raindrop.

The race was a great experience, one year in the making, for me and my son. This is a special event I will always cherish. I am grateful to the entire SIGMADESIGN Team for giving me the confidence that “all would be fine” while I was away for the entire month of July.

THERE AND BACK

What wasn’t in the plan was having to go back to Hawaii at the end of August to bring the boat back home. There were three of us sailing the boat back including myself, Isaac, and Paul Wellner, one of our Mechanical Engineers at SIGMADESIGN. The trip back is a bit more of an ordeal due to the unfavorable direction of the trade winds. However, we made the passage back to Astoria in a blazing 16 days- two days quicker than anticipated.

FINDING WORK-LIFE BALANCE

For me, the trip to and from Hawaii was key to balancing my work commitment with my life outside of work. I came back full of energy and enthusiasm for the challenges at SIGMADESIGN. My personal goal is to prioritize an environment at SIGMADESIGN in which each and every employee can balance their personal life while contributing to the continued success of the company. It’s all about maintaining the right work-life balance.