This year marks Ruby’s seventh year on the Fastest Growing Companies in Oregon list! But did you know that a few years ago, we deliberately tried not to grow as a company? What happened next changed the way we thought about Ruby — and the way we thought about growth itself.
Ruby has grown every year since we opened our doors, but in 2008, we had a particularly rapid growth spurt. To make sure our customers were getting top-notch service, we decided to take a breather. We turned off our advertising and focused on what we did best…and, thanks to positive word-of-mouth, we still grew 15%. But at this pace, we weren’t able to make any technology improvements for our clients. We weren’t able to promote any of our employees, and we didn’t add any new benefits. And honestly, it was a little stale. Coming to work felt for the first time like work. That year, we learned a valuable lesson: If we’re not growing, we’re not Ruby.
Growth has become such an important part of our culture that we added “Grow” as our fifth core value:
Grow
Whether we’re growing personally or professionally, we’re always up to the challenge. We aren’t afraid to make mistakes; we’re risk-takers at heart and each decision makes us wiser. Change inspires us, and learning is a life-long passion. We adapt, transform, and get excited about what lies ahead.
We thrive through growth.
In this our seventh year as a Fastest Growing Company and our sixth time in the state’s top 50, we’ve been able to make some major technology upgrades that will go into effect in the coming months. We launched a Leadership Development Program to support a myriad of promotions from within. And several employees were able to take sabbaticals, fulfilling lifelong dreams and returning inspired and ready to take on new challenges.
Heartfelt thanks go out to everyone whose hard work and commitment to growth got us here. Can’t wait to see what you make happen next!
