Community
Our mission is to bring smiles and warm memories to families all over the world, including in our offices and neighborhoods. Radio Flyer is an award-winning workplace thanks to great training programs, engaged workers and many great perks, including paid time off to volunteer! We also hope to bring smiles to our community by building playgrounds in underserved areas and donating products.
A Great Workplace
Awards
- Top 5 Best Places to Work in Illinois for 2009-2012, 2015-2020 (#1 five times!)
- #1 Great Place to Work & Fortune: 50 Best – America’s Small & Medium Companies to Work For 2015 (on the list 8 times!)
- Top 25 Crain’s Best Place to Work in Chicago (on the list 7 times!)
- #2 Best Place to Work for Minorities in Chicago: Crain’s 2017
- #3 Best Place to Work in Illinois for Women: The Daily Herald 2019
- #1 on the 101 Best and Brightest in Chicago 2010
Amy Bastuga, SVP of Human Resources
Our goal is to create a great workplace where everyone says, ‘I love my job,’ where we have fun, keep learning, work passionately and develop personally and as part of a team. To ensure that all of our teams are engaged and all ‘Flyers’ are highly focused and motivated, we develop five annual company goals and align team and employee goals with these. Our rigorous 10-step hiring process ensures that we bring people in who share our values. Our top-ranked internship program and Wagon U help us attract talent and ensure that existing Flyers develop their skills and reach their potential. Women hold 52% of management positions and all managers participate in regular reviews and monthly company meetings with Flyers. Above all, we strive to abide by the Little Red Rule: every time we touch people’s lives, they will feel great about Radio Flyer – because we live the Flyer Code.”
Our Pledge
We commit to be an example of a Great Place to work for all and support gender equity through:
- Respect
- Equal Pay
- Equal Access
- Supportive Benefits
- Safe Environment
Volunteering
To further our mission to improve our communities, we provide our U.S. “Flyers” with 24 paid hours for volunteering in community service projects. This includes their participation in company-wide SMILE day events such as our playground-building project. Flyers are extremely passionate about this experience.
Building Playgrounds
Active play is a powerful thing. Playgrounds build muscles, imagination, and community and help children develop the skills they need to become successful adults. At Radio Flyer, not only do we enable outdoor play through our wagons and trikes, we also build playgrounds. We have built eight playgrounds in under-served Chicago neighborhoods through a partnership with KaBOOM!, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that kids have opportunities for active play.
Mitesh Shah, Quality Assurance Engineer
“Having the opportunity to volunteer with fellow “Flyers” means a lot to me because we get a chance to help make someone else’s day better. Volunteering is a great way to spread happiness and give kids an extra reason to smile. I love that I’ve been able to do such a wide range of volunteer work through Radio Flyer, from hosting a small game session at a daycare to building an entire playground at Kaboom.
At the Kaboom events, many of the kids are just looking for a safe place to play together. Knowing that thousands of kids will get to play on this park in the years to come makes me feel nostalgic for parks from my childhood. This is definitely one of my favorite days of the year at Radio Flyer.”
Above: Radio Flyer's International team volunteers time and scooters at a local organization.
Donations
Social Compliance
The health, safety, and fair treatment of the workers in the manufacturing plants where our suppliers make our products are critical aspects of our commitment to responsibly made products.
Our products are manufactured in the United States and overseas. 99.9% of our overseas volume comes from suppliers who have received the “ICP Seal of Compliance" and we are working toward our goal of 100%. This seal means that the facilities have been audited and met the standards of the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) ethical manufacturing program, called the ICTI CARE Process (ICP). The Seal of Compliance ensures that these facilities have responsible practices in the areas of health and safety, child and forced labor, working hours and wages, discrimination and disciplinary practices, and social benefits.
The ICP Seal is required for all overseas factories that manufacture products sold to one of our major customers. This helps companies such as ours promote positive change in our supply chains. Less than one percent of our products are manufactured at supplier that does not yet meet the ICP requirements; our goal is to work with that supplier to get the certification.
