Love. Give. Serve. Enjoy. We add value by adding values.

First Rate Living

Love. Give. Serve. Enjoy.

These actions are at the core of our life philosophy and company values. Love, give, serve and enjoy are applied to how we Interact with our coworkers, our customers and the communities where we live. By putting these action words into daily practice, we at First Rate have not only created an internal culture that enhances our work/life balance, it also translates to how we do business and how we give back. We believe that because of our commitment to these values, First Rate is one of the most unique companies in the world.

We add value by adding values.

When we set out to develop our values statements, we didn’t want to simply put them on a plaque or in an employee manual, only to be forgotten. We wanted them to actually bring value to our everyday lives.

In addition to our values, First Rate has "25 Pillars" that help to guide our staff do their jobs and enjoy working with their co-workers. The Pillars provide common language and behaviors to act on to help us be more efficient in our tasks and effective in our relationships. We honor one pillar each week, all year long. We all feel like we belong to an organization that stands for something. As we all embody these core values and pillars, we will remain a unified company as we grow, it will ensure our customers receive the level of technology and service they’ve come to expect.

What it means to live an empowered life.

We’re an independent company with the freedom to adhere to values that benefit the lives of our people and our clients. We view wealth in more than monetary terms because quality of life is the goal of everything we do. Happiness, fulfilment, and security are the true measures of success. We ensure these by providing our staff with world-class benefits and empowering them to exceed expectations – both with the technology we develop and in our determination to provide the highest level of service to our clients and our communities.

We embrace and support religious faiths and secular philosophies. As diverse as we are, we share one core belief – that everyone deserves to be respected and free bring their whole self to work. This has been in practice for more than 30 years, and it works wonderfully. It makes First Rate a special group of people to work with. In fact, most of our staff have been here for 12 years and our clients average 14+ years. Even if you don’t fully understand the concept, the numbers speak for themselves.

How Four Simple Values Change Everything

Our Four Values

What is First Rate Living? Our four values define how we interact with our co-workers, our customers, and our communities and how we show our Creator’s character in business. They are four words which positively translate to every language and society in the world. They are also words and values to live by found in major religions practiced by almost anyone we come into contact with – inside and outside of work. These four values are talked about and practiced at work to then be lived out in our lives outside of First Rate’s halls. Living out First Rate’s four values helps us do business for relationship sake, not transaction sake. First Rate Living is being the change you want to see in the world.

Love. Give. Serve. Enjoy.

Love

We define “love” as the genuine concern of someone’s well-being. Love can be shown through kind words, acts of kindness, fulfilling a need, or simply showing support when someone needs it. We aspire to show love to our co-workers, our customers, and our community by authentically and actively caring for them. Relationships move the world to a better place, we’re in business to create better relationships with our co-workers, customers, and communities.

Give

Giving of our time, talents, and resources allows us to not just live for ourselves, but for those we come into contact with each day. We support organizations and individuals with ten percent of our revenue to honor our Creator and acknowledge the blessings given to us as a company. Every employee at First Rate is able to participate in giving contribution dollars to charities of their choice; charities they believe in and want to see make an impact in the community they’re serving. Giving of resources is one of First Rate’s ways of partnering in the bigger picture to meet the physical, mental, and spiritual needs in the world around us.

Serve

"A study of almost 13,000 adults found those who volunteered at least two hours a week experienced greater happiness, optimism, and purpose in life, compared to those who did not volunteer at all. They also had a reduced risk of mortality, were more physically active, and had lower depressive symptoms such as hopelessness, loneliness and isolation compared to those who did not volunteer." Helping others, helps us. There are social connections made when we volunteer which impact our ability to empathize or sympathize with the people around us. Serving allows us to think of others first, ourselves second, and this creates a tie to humanity and our own humanness. Making it a priority to serve those around us, reminds us of our purpose in life, connects us to our world, and gives us a spiritual or moral boost we need to get us through our next days and weeks ahead.

Enjoy

Someone once said, ‘work hard, play hard,’ and we take this to heart at First Rate. We want to enjoy life and the people we’re with on this life journey. Enjoyment is key! We want to reward, acknowledge, celebrate, even help lift the spirits of those around us by taking time for laughter, fun, learning, and developing great relationships. See the world around you, take it in, and enjoy the big and small moments with the people in the world around you. Relish in the beautiful memories made with great co-workers, customers, and community members.

We believe companies are more than the services they sell.
You must also consider the service they give away.

Our guiding principle is serving others. Every member of our staff is empowered to offer customers the highest level ofservice possible. Nobody gets in trouble for going the extra mile. We make the effort to exceed expectations. Whether that means perfecting a tech upgrade or helping a customer customize their reporting tools. We even encourage our staff to give of themselves in the communities where they live. One of our Pillars is to “Invest in Others,” reminding our staffthat they can and do make a difference in the world around them. In fact, we donate 10% of our top line to local and global causes and coordinate days of volunteering to ensure our culture of service is lived fully and openly every day.

Watch Rachel’s story about a camp in Texas for underprivileged youth.

Watch Rob Bethmann’s inspirational story of his journeys to India.

What change will we make together?

Businesses have the opportunity to enhance the lives of people they encounter, from co-workers to customers to communities all around the world. There is no standard for what that looks like in a business, and there is no definition of what it means to a business. Through First Rate’s commitment to do more than just business, we endeavor to talk about how our co-workers, customers, and communities are creating opportunities for people to dream bigger, live fuller, and love deeper. We invite you to participate in this journey with us as we take a few steps every day to combine business with a mission to make a positive impact on the world.

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First Rate Living