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By this point, the A.R.K. Ramos Architectural Signage (asi/37150) office parties are as much legend as tradition. Not a lampshade-on-your-head sort of legend – more one that embraces the ethos of the company’s founder, Max Ramos, who had a penchant for production and innovation, says his granddaughter, Courtney Ramos-Fincher, the company’s president and CEO. “I came here for all the office parties since I was little,” Ramos-Fincher says. The parties, she says, “were very family-oriented” with little “delineation between employees and everyone else.”

That attitude has fostered employee loyalty and created an atmosphere where workers simply don’t leave. Some have been with the firm for more than 30 years. These days, the company focuses on streamlining processes, such as Ramos-Fincher’s idea to push for a paperless office to increase productivity and efficiency.

As for the family focus, Ramos-Fincher has honored her grandfather’s legacy by creating a kids area with toys, books, a computer and TV for employees who occasionally need to bring children to work.

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