Date:12/21/2010

Owner Protected Jobs in Recession
Published by the Orange County Register
Mike McKinley has always looked for ways to keep McKinley Equipment, founded by his father, going and growing.
And people notice.
His concern for his employees led a family friend Kathleen Immel to nominate McKinley for the Register’s 23rd annual Holiday Spirit Award. You readers concurred, the second highest vote total.
The distributor of industrial equipment started in downtown Los Angeles in 1948 and moved to Irvine in 1972. Mike McKinley took over the company from his father in the 1980s. Seeing a need to diversify, McKinley created a division to distribute wheelchair lifts and spun it off as McKinley Elevator in 2005.
Despite a long recession that hurt many companies, “Mike has not laid off people even though there was not regular work,” Immel wrote. “He had employees do other duties so that he did not have to furlough anyone.”
McKinley acknowledged no layoffs but said by attrition and some performance dismissals the company’s roster of 90 employees is less than it was before the recession.
“I don’t like the term family business but that’s what we are,” McKinley said. “We try to treat everyone with respect. Every year our message is the Golden Rule, treat people the way you want to be treated.”

Immel described McKinley as the type of boss who visits his employees when they are in the hospital or at their home if they are ill. They invite him to family weddings and he goes.
Recently when a long-time employee died at the age of 82, McKinley spoke at his funeral.
Three years ago, McKinley noticed that employee gift exchanges led some to get a desk full of packages and others to receive none. So he suggested that instead of employee gifts – especially to him – that they collect the money and use it to buy presents for needy children.
The first year, the employees and company gave $7,000, the second $13,000 and this year $21,000.
McKinley personally took the gifts to Orangewood and to homes for abused women and their children. “Even though we’re down people, giving is up,” he said, praising his employees.
Immel concluded, “In the work climate today, it is rare, if not unheard of, to find an employer who cares so much about his employees and who puts as much effort into providing a happy work environment.”