Friday morning, July 26, Porta Kleen’s Lancaster Campus rang with the Olympic theme song—the 2024 Porta Kleen Olympics had begun! With the exception of the drivers, all 61 staff members on the Lancaster Campus participated in their choice of eight events spread throughout several days, culminating with an employee appreciation breakfast and award ceremony August 16.
“There was a lot of talk about the Olympics because it was happening this year in Paris,” said Human Resource Generalist Adam Boyden. The television sitcom series, The Office, has an office Olympics episode, which prompted a more or less serious discussion of doing the same thing at Porta Kleen.
In general, Porta Kleen strongly promotes monthly employee events, such as the annual Turkey Bash in November and September’s Driver Appreciation Week; employee engagement, teamwork, morale and positive spirits are vital to the Porta Kleen culture.
The Porta Kleen Olympics concept was presented to President Adam Black, who really liked the idea. “He said, ‘That’s awesome’ and that we should totally do it,” said Boyden.
So, Boyden teamed with EHS Training & Safety Coordinator Nanette Vogel, Marketing Coordinator Lee Binkley and Executive Administrator Chelsie Arch, and they got to work researching events online and figuring out how an Olympics competition is organized.
Arch said there was far more to the Porta Kleen Olympics than merely copying the Parisian event. “We also wanted to lift people up and encourage happiness in the workplace,” she said. This time of year, Porta Kleen employees are “knee deep in high season” and burnout is real. “People are working their tails off, and we wanted to appreciate them through the Olympics,” Arch said.
The team decided on eight events—Speed Typing, Ping-Pong Basketball, Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, BB Gun Target Shoot, Mental Gymnastics, Toilet Paper Tower Race and Toilet Paper Shot Put. All Porta Kleen employees permanently stationed at the Lancaster Campus were required to enter at least one event, but no-one had any regrets. Each participant had a great time!
“There was a lot of interaction between people with different jobs, so that’s really nice,” said Vogel, who explained that many employees who work at the Lancaster Campus never get to know each other because they work different shifts and simply pass each other at the beginning and end of their days.
Logistics Manager Denise Tullius, who won a gold medal in the Mental Gymnastics event with the rest of the logistics team, agreed. “It was cool that everyone in the company participated and that the employees had a chance to interact with other employees they may not normally see on a daily basis,” she said.
“A little friendly competition is always good,” said Route Coordinator Ben Slykerman, who also won a gold medal in the Mental Gymnastics event along with his teammates.
Most contestants found the BB Gun Target shoot, the Toilet Paper Shot Put and the Toilet Paper Tower Race to be the most fun of the events. While many of the contestants said they’d like to have Porta Kleen Olympics every year, there’s no agreement yet on when or if there will be another.
For now, the 2024 Porta Kleen Olympics remain a fond memory. “I would say for the first time doing this, it went really well,” said Binkley. “Everyone has enjoyed it and all the different events.” He said the Friday breakfast and award ceremony was the perfect way to close the event. “It brought everyone together for a good meal, camaraderie and celebration.”