The Work Reward Relationship
We’re told while growing up that if we work hard, we will be rewarded.
As we get into adulthood, we find out it is not that easy. You can work very hard, but if it is across a wide array of activities, you may not complete any of them. Thus, no finish and no reward.
We learned in time that there is working smarter, working faster, working focused………….
The English writer philosopher John Ruskin said, “The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it”.
Looking at our results from this year’s Plastics Technology Top Shop award analysis, our identified strengths were interesting in the context of work and reward.
One Top Shop strength was our First Pass Quality Yield. Yet another was our customer retention. Hmmmm, may there be a correlation there?
Years ago, we emphasized quality as the driver in how we operated our floor. While we have a Quality “function” we do not have any inspectors or analysts. The Quality function is responsible for our ISO certification and other regulatory issues. For product quality we tasked our floor people to be responsible for their actions and their work. Product quality is their goal, rather than throughput or quantity.
The result, as you might have guessed, is next to zero customer turnover via happy customers that continue to source their molding and value add assembly with us.
Another Top Shop strength was the rate we are at for our shop wages. Further down the list, another strength was our Labor Turnover Rate. Again, are we talking about reaping what we sow?
Immediately after our management buyout, we raised wages because it was the right thing to do. Each year since then we have exceeded the regional average for wage increases. If your coworkers are making your product and your customers are depending on that product, having content coworkers would be key to making good products.
As a result, our turnover was the lowest of all Top Shop awardees and submissions. We wanted to do what was right, rather than buy our people’s contentment (golden handcuffs).
We set ourselves up for success by working toward being who we wanted to be as a company, rather than specific measurable outcomes. That our customers, and our coworkers benefitted from that transformation was a huge bonus, but there is gratification in knowing who you are and continuing to strive to be a better entity.
Does your molder know who they are? Do they strive to be “better”? Better company, better community member, better employer, better supplier? If not, maybe you should give us a call.
The mission of PlastiCert is to service all customers with composite injection molding expertise; in an environment that fosters personal growth, professional challenge, and a recognized responsibility to the community around us.