Last year, PlastiCert expanded its time off policies to include two additional holidays annually. We also added three paid time off days to the hourly benefit package, as well as made two week vacation accrual apply to first year hourly hires as well.
This summer we made the decision to close the plant the short week after July 4th.
If you ask why, it is because people working hard deserve a chance to play hard. With family demands on the rise, and within the hourly pay ranks virtually every family being a two-income family, the time necessary to deal with day-to-day family occurrences should not eat into your vacation time. Additionally, people should also not have to alter their work schedule or use vacation time to choose to be home with family on days around national holidays.
Everyone stepping up and learning multiple skills and operations enabled winning the When Work Works Award for Flexibility both times we applied. We move people around to allow for flexibility, but that variability puts pressure and a little strain on staff to stay on their toes and be comfortable with constant change. An offshoot of dealing with that level of variability is to decompress on occasion, and added PTO and holidays allow our people to do just that.
A positive company culture is established through communication and a “two way street” approach to expectations. The company has expectations of its staff and the staff has expectations of its company.