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Client Spotlight
TEN-NINE TECH
About Ten-Nine Tech
Ten-Nine Tech, which was founded by Paige Johnson in 2014, celebrated their ten-year anniversary in 2024. The business began with Paige as the only employee but through continued growth, the business now stands at a 30-employee headcount, with upcoming plans for growth in the short term.
At Ten-Nine, new materials are created for new economies, improving the function of cathodes through their proprietary nanoadditive TENIX. The team are focused on creating both sustainable processes and battery materials suitable across all manufacturing lines for all kinds of battery uses.
Explore more about Ten-Nine here.
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“Ultimately, a company is made up of people. It isn’t made of computers. It isn’t made of walls or buildings. It’s made of people. As a CEO, if you find that you don’t actually like people, that’s going to be a barrier in your ability to build an effective workplace.”
A Culture Focused on People
When the team at CSG Talent began initial conversations with Paige, one of the things that stood out was her passion for the culture she has built at Ten-Nine Tech and the elements that make it unique and people centric.
Paige is determined to maintain the strong culture that she has built at Ten Nine Tech even when the company is expanding and is split between two sites. She admits it is something that she is slightly nervous about but is also confident that she will hire a manager that shares the culture and values. She is also promoting internally for some roles because existing employees already have the core values that are crucial to be successful at Ten-Nine Tech.
From the very early stages of Ten-Nine Tech, Paige was keen to implement benefits that she wished she had as a young employer, such as a 4.5 day working week and a week of vacation time between Christmas and New Year. She also offers to provide clothing and food for employees while at work to give them fewer things to worry about in their busy lives, demonstrating how much Paige cares about her staff.
She also set up a HR department when the company had just 10 employees as she wanted to make sure her staff were protected and felt valued, even in the early stages of the business.
Paige and the team are passionate about living through the values of Ten-Nine and for an employee to succeed, they really need to embed these values.
Core Values of Ten-Nine Tech
Paige believes that being curious and willing to adapt when a business is changing is key to ensure both individual and company growth. This has allowed her to facilitate the success of her employees and be the effective and inspiring leader that she is.
Curiosity
Authenticity
Generosity
Remote works really well for us, we learnt that through Covid and even in a scientific field, you can programme from anywhere in the world. We’ve recently hired our first remote worker based in the UK and plans for this to grow in time too.
Driving Sustainability and The Future of Battery Tech
Paige Johnson, CEO and founder of Ten-Nine Tech, joins us on this episode of Conversations with CSG to discuss her career journey to date, the founding of her company and both her passion of sustainability and future of battery technology.
The Highs and Lows of a Start-Up Business
Start up organisations can be high-risk, time-intensive, and require a lot of work to get up and running, it takes a really dedicated and driven mindset to ensure start-ups succeed. Paige has been focused throughout her career and adopted a start-up mentality, she was willing to learn and accepted that she didn’t have all the necessary skills but would either learn or hire those with the relevant skillsets.
When Paige started the business, she decided to only work with the ‘friendly’ elements of the periodic table. “Acceptance of your limitations and a willingness to work within that actually leads you to a better place.”
Hiring Based on Values & Skills
At Ten Nine Technologies, Paige and the team are driven to hire based on their company values – curiosity, authenticity and generosity. Hiring based on skillset is a key strategy for Ten Nine Tech and this is focused on a skills first strategy, like many businesses are keen to adopt to overcome ongoing talent shortages and skills gaps.
As part of the hiring process for new employees, the leadership team have techniques in place to assess skills and attributes most important for the role, and to the organisation – some of which include; attention to detail, precision and focus.
Women in STEM
Paige has spent her academic studies and career as a woman in STEM, having seen steps forward and signs of change, she has also seen and experienced many challenges and barriers as a woman in working in such a male-dominated area.
She is passionate about allowing equal access to opportunities at Ten Nine and ensuring job opportunities not only appeal to, but attract women. They don’t use any quotas when hiring, as method of hiring based on values and qualities has naturally created a diverse workforce. The team look at what qualities a person needs to succeed in a role, not solely based on experience and education, even if that does limit the talent pool.
Without intentionally setting out to hire a set number of women, their hiring process has resulted in achieving around 50/50 diversity and gender balance within the company.
Paige is also passionate about supporting women in the community and has pledge both time and initiative to support those who have experienced challenge, or barriers both in and out of the workplace.
Growth Plans and The Future of Ten-Nine Tech
Ten-Nine Tech are in the process of building their first factory plant after a successful pilot plant the last two years. With this growth and expansion, there will be new team growth required, a very different skillset and work environment to what the team have experienced in central operations so far.
The roles within the factor will be heavily focused on manufacturing, in comparison to the technical roles prevalent in the Tulsa Head Office. Paige has made sure to consider the sustainability of the factory and has plans to transform it to running fully electric over time.
“I’ve really loved being an employer and developing our culture, I’m really excited to see us replicate this in the factory and ensure we tie in our values and existing culture with this new element.” – Paige Johnson, CEO
Find out more about Ten-Nine here.
Careers at Ten-Nine Tech
Ten-Nine Tech continues to experience an exciting period of growth and development, with ongoing opportunities for experienced automation talent to join them on their journey.