Why work at Object Partners

1. Free Healthcare. Yup, I said it. Free. And, for your entire family. How many companies out there right now offer free healthcare? I’m guessing slim to none. Healthcare costs continue to rise; not for our employees.
2. Paid OT. Everyone is a full-time salaried employee around here, which is uber cool. What’s cooler than cool? Well, you get paid if you have to put in a few long days once in a while. Or if you’re itching to get some more R&R in, well then just bank those OT hours right into your PTO account. Just think of those sunny warm days in Costa Rica while the rest of your cronies are back in MN when it’s -30. Suckers!
3. 24 days of PTO + 10 days of sick time. And it’s not a use it or lose it policy. If you “are a robot sent from the future to solve the worlds problems” (real quote from a client about one of our consultants) and just don’t need time away, we’ll just pay out cash money after the 200 hour cap is met. Show me the money!
4. You work with the best. I’m really not overstating this. How many times have you run into Captain Corporate America at your employer that holds all the secrets and ideas to the application you’re working on? But The Captain is as sharp as a bowling ball and likes to over-engineer and architect systems that The Lord himself couldn’t figure out what’s going on. Do you find yourself coming up with creative and witty ways to comment out code that he/she makes you write? If so, it’s time to punt! In addition to the previous fun fact, our employees are great people, most develop lifelong friendships with people they work with on a daily basis. Working with really talented people is the single biggest benefit of working at Object Partners, ask anyone around here.
5. Small company vibe. It’s weird, people actually care about each other here. Are you sick of being just a number? Well we don’t have a lot of numbers here, so we honestly care. OPI far and above any company, treats each employee like a professional. We empower our employees to use their own judgement and make decisions based on what they feel is right, not just follow some HR made company guideline. A common phrase from the owner is “Just use your best judgement.” How nice is it not to have to follow some strict company policies or procedures to do your job successfully? I would say really nice.
6. We keep up with technology. We’re a technology company, we have to. If we don’t, we fall behind our competition very quickly. Customers look for us to help them navigate the craziness of ever changing technology. Whether it’s Java, Spring, Grails, iOS, Scala, or inventing the Pomegranate Phone (OK we didn’t really do that, but should’ve), we’re at the forefront of all the hype and buzz, and are leaders in the technology community, not just in MN but nationwide.
7. Beer in the fridge, all the time! And we have enough candy, granola bars, beef jerky, and soda to power a small city. I’m the only one that likes Miller, so of course that’s not included in any order (it’s the champagne of beer people, c’mon!). Plus, technologists are beer snobs and only operate on fancy expensive beer that costs 16 bucks for 4 beers. So sit back, throw a build out there, and enjoy a nice cold fancy beer while you wait. Or more realistically (but not as cool), a soda.
8. Company Trips to Cancun! 5 star all inclusive Cancun goodness, in January even! The last Cancun trip we took was exactly 100 degrees warmer than it was in MN, no kidding. Oh, and feel free to bring your significant other, we include them. Or maybe you don’t want them with?
9. Shared Success. The success of Object Partners is shared with each consultant on a personal level through profit sharing and the various quarterly and yearly company events. Family events like WaterPark of America and ValleyFair, team building trips like Cancun, Twins games, Casino night, and various Consultant Lead dinners and happy hours. Everyone has an integral part of the success of Object Partners, and we make sure to give back to each and every one.
10. The owner. I can’t count how many times the owner of OPI, Chris Spurgat, has gone out of his way to help people who work for him. From looking after employee family issues, organizing charity events, to lending a hand shingling a roof or running electrical wire. Seriously, I probably wouldn’t be here today if I tried to wire the electrical in my basement. So really, he saves lives too. He’s like Superman, but can code (or used to code).
11. Low company overhead, which maximizes profits for the consultants to share. Our operations staff has deep experience and knowledge of the business and the market, and everyone wears multiple hats to keep things running lean and efficient. But even so, our witty nickname from the consultants continues to be “The Big Bonus Suckers!”
12. We have 2 employee lake homes. As if this list wasn’t good enough, I had to throw this out there.

All of these items translate into low turnover, which in turn helps keep the quality of our services very high. Clients appreciate the fact that they can come to us and get consistent results, and can always find extremely talented individuals doing what we know best; helping our client’s achieve their business and IT objectives.

So what are you waiting for? Check out our current opportunities, or get in touch with me directly at ehren.seim@objectpartners.com.

Health and Dental Insurance

Health Insurance (Health Partners & HSA Bank)

• The health insurance is paid for 100% by OPI, zero out of pocket (no-copays or premiums).
• A high deductible plan is used in conjunction with an Health Savings Account (HSA).
• The high deductible plan is administered by Health Partners. A provider can be located at www.healthpartners.com.
• Deductible levels are $2000 for single and $4000 for family (per calendar year), but OPI funds the entire deductible.
• You are eligible for insurance coverage the first day of the month after employment.
• You may also choose to use pre-tax payroll deductions to fund your HSA up to the maximum allowed by the IRS ($3250 for single and $6450 for family for 2013).
• The HSA account belongs to the employee, not OPI. It is also not a “use it or lose it” account. Contributions made now can be used to pay for medical expenses in the future on a tax-free basis.

Dental Insurance (Healthpartners www.healthpartners.com)

• OPI provides dental insurance for employees and their families through Healthpartners. All premiums (employee and family) are paid for by OPI.
• The calendar year maximum for each participant (each individual family member) is $2000 in network and $1000 out of network.
• Preventive care is covered at 100%; basic services at 80% and major services at 50%.
• There is also an orthodontia benefit for dependents 19 and under with a lifetime maximum per individual dependent of $1000.

How Do I use this plan?

• You will receive an insurance card from Health Partners. You can verify that your doctor is part of the plan on www.healthpartners.com.
• When you go to the doctor, all you will need to do is present this card. There are no co-pays.
• The doctor’s office will bill Health Partners. Health Partners will recognize the doctor and apply its discounts to the doctor’s bill. Health Partners will then generate and Explanation of Benefits (EOB) which will be mailed to you and the doctor. If the charges were applied against the deductible (most will be except for annual physicals/well child-patient visits) Health Partners will list the amount due as “patient responsibility.”
• When you receive the EOB, verify that the visit dates were correct.
• The doctor’s office will receive the EOB from Health Partners and bill you the amount owed.
• You receive the doctor’s bill and pay the bill with the funds available in your HSA account. Be sure to retain receipts for your records.

How do I fill prescriptions?

• There is no co-pay for prescriptions.
• Present your Health Partners Insurance card to the pharmacy.
• The pharmacy will recognize the coverage, discount the prescription and apply appropriately to the deductible.
• You can pay for the prescription using your HSA account debit card.
• Retain the receipts for your records.

Life Insurance and Disability Coverage

Disability

• OPI offers both short term and long term disability coverage.
• OPI self funds the short term disability.
• Short term disability coverage is 60% of pay for 90 days with a maximum monthly benefit of $8500.
• Long term disability is administered through Principal.
• Long term disability coverage is 60% of pay with a 90 day elimination period and a maximum monthly benefit of $8500.

Life Insurance

• Life insurance is administered by Principal.
• OPI offers life insurance and AD&D coverage at $250,000 for each employee.

401k and Dependent Care Reimbursement

401K

• OPI sponsors a 401K plan administered through Fidelity.
• Employees are eligible to participate on their date of hire.
• OPI pays a profit sharing match to each employee employed on Dec 31.
• The profit sharing match is equal to 2% of the employee’s gross compensation for that fiscal year.
• You do not need to be contributing to the 401K plan to receive the match.

Dependent Care Reimbursement Account

• Up to the IRS maximum ($2500 for single filers and $5000 for married filers) you can elect to make pre-tax payroll contributions to an account to be used for the reimbursement of dependent care expenses.
• OPI administers the plan which will reimburse eligible dependent care expenses if amounts deducted from payroll are available to reimburse those expenses. (Expense are paid out once the pre-tax payroll deducted funds are available to pay for those expenses).

Profit Sharing

Profit Sharing Bonus

• Each consultant is eligible for the quarterly profit sharing bonus.
• The bonus is equal to 20% of net income before taxes for the quarter.
• Resume, administrative duties, tenure and job performance are all taken into consideration in determining the bonus.
• This bonus is paid on the 2nd payroll following the end of the quarter.

Vacation and Sick Time

• Each employee receives 24 days of vacation/holiday time and 10 days of sick time per year which is accrued at 8 hours of vacation/holiday and 4 hours of sick per pay period. (semi-monthly payroll).
• Vacation/holiday hours accrual caps at 200 hours. Hours after that are paid out to the employee. The cap is calculated monthly.
• Sick hours accrual will cap at 80 hours. This cap is calculated each pay period.

Payroll and Overtime Pay

Overtime Pay

• When billable hours exceed the total available hours in a given pay period, overtime is earned.
• Overtime rate is calculated by taking the annual salary and dividing by 2080 hours.
• Overtime is paid each payroll for hours earned during that pay period.
• Overtime hours can be converted to vacation hours.

Payroll

• Payroll is paid on the 6th (16th through end of month hours) and 21st (1st through 15th hours) of the month.
• Direct deposit is available and preferred.

Perks of OPI

Company Lake Home & Condo

• OPI has a company lake home, located near Minong, WI (1 hour east of Hinckley) and a company lake condo, located near Cable, WI. The lake home is a 4 BR, 3 BA home situated on lake Nancy. The home is available to all OPI consultants and features a pontoon, air hockey table, fire pit, private beach, and is fully furnished with all the necessities. It’s also available in the winter time. The condo is a 3 BR, 2 BA condo situated at the Lakewoods Resort and Convention Center on Lake Namakagon. The condo is available to all OPI consultants as well and features an indoor and outdoor pool, an on-site restaurant, golf course, and very own marina to rent various aquatic equipment and boats, or dock your own.

OPI Issued Laptop

• All OPI Consultants receive a development grade laptop (Macbook Pro if requested).

Cell Phone

• OPI reimburses each employee $30 per month for their cell phone.

Employee & Sales Referrals

• The gross pay reward for a successful employee referral is 1% of all revenue that referral brings into OPI. It will be issued monthly on the first payroll run.
• The gross pay reward for a successful sales/client referral is $2,000.00. It will be issued as gross (pretax) pay on the first payroll run after an OPI employee has worked at that particular referred client for one month.

Tools of the Trade Reimbursement

• There are certain ordinary expenditures, necessary to the day-to-day activity of employees which do not require specific approval for expensing. These, “Tools of the Trade” may be expensed and include books, ordinary hardware needs such as a mouse or keyboard, antivirus software, etc.

Parking Reimbursement

• Object Partners will reimburse employees for reasonable monthly parking costs while at a client where free parking is not available.
• When a consultant is working from the office, Object Partners will pay for the costs of downtown parking.