Top Workplaces: Axle Logistics has a new building but the same mindset for success
Axle trains its employees to make cold calls, recruit business, find the best shipment deals, answer those 2 a.m. messages from clients and see shipments through delivery. It's what Axle Logistics President Shawn McLeod calls "cradle to grave."
The company's employees do all this and more with unlimited in-office access to a running track, weight room, rooftop patio and NBA-regulation half court. It's all about creating a positive, competitive work culture that has landed Axle Logistics as the Top Workplaces 2025 for a seventh time, winning the large company category.
As a third-party logistics company, Axle provides trucking, intermodal, less-than-truckload shipping and warehousing logistics for customers in Canada, United States and Mexico. Jon Clay and Drew Johnson founded the Knoxville-based company in 2012, and it has since grown into a destination workplace for young professionals across the country, Sarah Gilliam, Axle's senior corporate trainer, told Knox News.
"We've had two people that have started this year who moved to Knoxville with the intention of working at Axle. Maybe it hasn't worked out for them their first couple rounds of interviews, but they've waited it out," she said. "Just the demand to want to work here is higher than it has been."
Axle employees can work individually or on a team to build client bases with a variety of businesses, from local brands to Fortune 500 companies, McLeod said. This model allows Axle employees to create the kind of job they want. There is no ceiling.
"There are employees here that make good money, and then really, really good money. And it comes from a ton of hard work," McLeod said.
Axle encourages their employees to give back to the community in whatever way they can − to take what they make and pay it forward.
For example, Axle employees recently donated money to the Austin-East Magnet High School athletics department to help fund a new weight room. The school's funding had fallen through, and Axle sent a message out seeking donations. Within three days, Axle had collected $20,000 from employees at the "desk level," Gilliam said.
Axle's main headquarters is at 835 N. Central St., but the company quickly outgrew the space. Axle had more than 600 employees scattered in buildings across Knoxville and another location in Chattanooga. McLeod says in-person teamwork is part of what makes the Axle machine run so smoothly.
Axle has been working to consolidate employees in the same location for efficiency. Axle now has a second headquarters across the street from its original building.
The new space is 90,000 square feet across five-and-a-half stories. In addition to the basketball court and weight room, the office space also has floor-to-ceiling waterfalls and table games.
"It's very hard to keep your culture together and do the things that we want to do when we're separated," McLeod said. "Through buildings, you can see microcultures pop up that we didn't like. So, getting them back here is going to be a godsend for all of us."
Axle has started moving its first wave of employees into the new building, which can hold 900 employees. It expects to double in size in the next few years, reaching nearly 1,300 employees.
What Axle Logistics employees had to say
The Top Workplaces designation is given based on anonymous employee feedback in a survey conducted by Knox News' partner Energage. Below are some Axle Logistics employee responses to the prompt, "I love my job because."
'Every day is similar but completely different. I learn new things each day, regardless of how long I've been in the industry.'
'I am paid very well and get to lead the future generation of Axle Superstars to achieve their dream just as I am achieving mine.'
'I have all of the tools and motivation to succeed. The environment is team-centered.'
About Axle Logistics
Years as a top workplace: Seven
Year founded: 2012
Number of offices: Two (Knoxville & Chattanooga)
Local address: 835 N Central St.
Number of local employees: 635
Joanna Hayes is the restaurant and retail reporter. Email: joanna.hayes@knoxnews.com.
Support strong local journalism by subscribing at subscribe.knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Top Workplaces: Axle Logistics embraces new Knoxville office building
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