12-11-2022 Top Workplaces - Flipbook - Page 30
SMALL COMPANIES
NO.1
TRUST AUTO
Cars, trucks
& family
A collaboration of different personalities
and ideas with shared goals
BY DONNA OWENS
A
s the name suggests, Trust Auto is a
business centered on trust and integrity.
Trust Auto is a used car dealership
— the company prefers the term “pre-owned”
nowadays — located in Sykesville that specializes in commercial and luxury vehicles. The
business was founded in 2010 by Fred Kurbanov
and now has some 50 employees.
“Throughout the years, the company has
changed in many ways, but those two values
have always been the cornerstones of what
Trust really stands for,” said the marketing
manager, who goes by Murat B. “Trust employees, and customers are family. It is built on the
ideas, culture and diversity of every person that
is part of it.”
Nick Zakharyan, the dealership’s director of operations, said Trust uses “360-degree
coaching,” which has helped tremendously in
employee development and business growth.
“Learning daily from each other’s experience, we chose to believe you learn it to earn it,
and you earn it to share it,” he said. “Working
together with your fellow teammates makes
30 | 2022 | TOPWORKPLACES
integration and adoption of the process for each
new employee as easy and understandable as
possible.”
Even as the business has grown, employees
tout its close-knit vibe, noting it still feels like a
family.
“Everyone has a place in the company, but the
owners and managers know it’s our company
as much as theirs,” one employee said in the
employee survey responses for Top Workplaces.
“I enjoy working with my team and the
culture we have,” said another. “We work hard
and achieve a lot. It feels good to accomplish
things and we celebrate.”
Another added: “People genuinely care about
each other personally and work together as a
team. Additionally, the tasks are personally challenging and match my career goals.”
Management will often organize company
parties and even the occasional surprise cookout.
“Everyone usually knows if Fred is cooking something because the aroma starts to be
felt in the air long before anything is finished,”
Zakharyan said, “and you see people coming out
just to ask what Fred is making that day.”
The employees say there’s a true sense of
on-the-job camaraderie.
“It’s a collaboration of different personalities,
everyone with their own dreams, goals, aspirations but, at the same time, a mutual goal that
the whole family has in their minds, in their