For the fourth year in a row, Worlein Funeral Home won the National Funeral Directors Association’s (NFDA) Pursuit of Excellence Award.

The funeral home has found a measuring stick by which it can make improvements every year.

“It’s something you build on,” Director Paul Worlein said about trying to achieve the award each year. “It makes us work just a little bit harder every year.”

Of the Funeral Homes that belong to the NFDA, only 2 percent receive the award each year. Commitment to becoming better, customer satisfaction, leadership and staff development are just a few criteria Worlein Funeral Home has been working on, so it can continue to receive the excellence distinction, said Mary Kittelson, Worlein’s community service director.

She mentioned funeral homes have changed throughout the years in that they offer more encompassing services to families. So funeral homes can improve by following the award’s criteria and trying to go beyond those guidelines.

Worlein’s staff of five full-timers and more than a dozen part-timers handles nearly 150 funerals in Austin and roughly 25 or more in Blooming Prairie each year. But among that, the staff attends continuing-education classes and seminars to provide new or better services, such as satisfaction surveys or how to become involved with other community services.

Worlein Funeral Home received the 2011 Pursuit of Excellence Award this October and is now working toward achieving the 2012 award.