During Thursday's inaugural Community Open House, businesses in the Littleton Industrial Park said they're thriving but in significant need of more employees.

Home to 18 businesses - which cumulatively employ more than 1,200 people - the 380-acre industrial park is a North Country success story whose future is dependent on fillingscores of existing and expected job vacancies.

To address what they believe is a universal concern within the industrial park, management at the Littleton Coin Co. came up with the idea of inviting the community inside, notjust to fill immediate openings, but to see what makes their companies tick and great places to work now or in the future.

Joining the company in the Open House were Genfoot America Inc., New England Wire Technologies, Schwan's Sales Enterprises, Secured Network Services and Tender Corp.

"Like the other companies (in the industrial park), we're struggling to find qualified employees," said Carol Stevens, who is the Littleton Coin Co.'s human resources director,"and we wanted to tell our story'"

The Open House let the company do both, she said, and it might also generate some job applications.

Poised on the cusp of its 75th anniversary, which it will celebrate in 2020, the Littleton Coin Co. has 270 employees, nearly all of them full-time, said Stevens. She said theaverage employee at the company, which became 100 percent employee owned on Jan. 1, 2017, has worked there 11.3 years on average, while its longest serving employee has 47 yearson the job.

The company's call center handles 300,000 incoming calls a year, and it is currently down 10 workers, said Stevens, while several more are required elsewhere.

With onsite Pilates and yoga classes and programs about estate planning, the Littleton Coin Co. is dedicated to its employee-owners, said Stevens.

"I'm very proud that employees cross departmental lines frequently," Stevens said, adding that "80 percent of openings are filled internally."

Stevens thinks the industrial park will host open houses more frequently, including next spring to appeal to recent high-school and college graduates.

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