SupplyHouse.com checks on employees' happiness every quarter 

The happiness of the employees of Melville-based SupplyHouse.com is taken so seriously that managers inquire about it in their reports' quarterly reviews. “Please rate your happiness at work” is the first item on quarterly “check-ins."

Among small Long Island employers ranked as Top Workplaces by Energage, an Exton, Pennsylvania, firm that researches employee engagement, SupplyHouse.com ranked second based on workers' anonymous responses to a survey.

The company sells plumbing supplies — valves, thermostats, central air conditioners, PVC fittings, boilers and much more — to contractors, homeowners, local entities like government agencies, universities and schools via its website.

The private firm was founded in 2004 by Joshua Meyerowitz, who has an MBA from New York University and is the third generation of his family to enter the plumbing business. The company employs 115 on Long Island and has warehouses in New Jersey, Ohio and Nevada.

Employees' happiness yields dividends, Meyerowitz, 40, said.

“It translates into a successful business where orders don’t slip through the cracks, where people say they are going to do something, and they do it,” Meyerowitz said.

A glance at the company's website gives a sense that the company is unusual; besides images of the company's products, it also has photos of workers on the job or at "giving back" charity events. Clicking on a "Meet the Team" link opens photos and short bios of more than 130 of the company's workers, and not just top executives.

The company’s Long Island employees work in an open-floor-plan office with a millennial feel. Employees can bring their dogs to work. The company stocks the lunchroom every day with fresh fruit and free snacks. There’s a free hot breakfast on Wednesdays, pizza on Fridays, a nap room with beanbag chairs and a yoga room where employees can spread mats and unwind.

Chief operating officer Fernando Cunha, 35, said the company hires more on values like humbleness, honesty and kindness than skills.

“We have passed on people who are highly skilled because the other person was a better cultural fit,” he said.

Jo-Ann Alperin, 56, who couldn’t find a special-education teaching job when she jumped back into the market after 20 years off, didn’t think SupplyHouse would hire her because her skills weren’t a great fit. But five years ago she joined as a receptionist.

“They hire more on personality and values rather than the actual job," she said.

The company hires a lot of recent college grads, and the median age is about 29, Meyerowitz said.

Product-support employee Christine Boehm, 23, graduated last year from Fredonia University with a degree in music theater. Management asked her to conduct acting classes to help with phone etiquette and product videos, she said: “They have a great eye for seeing the best in people.”

- Carrie Mason-Draffen