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shifted to the other. While the sites are close enough to operate in a coordinated way with unified leadership, they are far enough apart to function as distinct operations, with separate teams on the ground. It is the quality and commitment of those teams that Mountain Ridge considers its most important investment of all.
Indeed, Mountain Ridge is just as deliberate about building its workforce as it has been about expanding its facilities. The company approaches recruitment carefully, striving to find‘ forever people,’ talent that will stay on board for the long term. Braxton explains what that looks like in practice.“ Being familyowned gives us the freedom to take the time to find the right people, without the corporate pressure to simply hire anybody. Some of our operators have been here for almost 30 years and worked for my father before me, so they know my family well. Because we are not driven by corporate targets, people are not numbers here. They are people.”
That people-first philosophy permeates every aspect of the company’ s culture, which is one of care and close relationships.“ I have consistently tried to bring the team mentality of sports to everything I do as well as into the workplace, making us a deeply team-oriented organization,” Braxton shares.“ While not everybody loves that approach, the people who connect with it are typically the forever people, because they understand that we are here to do a job, but that we can also do things together outside of work. Naturally, it is not always perfect and there are occasional disagreements, but we talk them through and move forward together.
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