What are you thinking?

Company survival must always come first!

January is the time of our annual review and pay increases. This year, again, we are using the Year over Year (YOY) stated rate of inflation as the basis for our raises.

There has been some push back.

There have been numerous references as to why that level of increase is not necessary. All the talk of a recession has been pointed out, (yes, we are seeing it in our forecast numbers as well). The fact that we have a very stable workforce, (as noted in our Top Shop Award, YOY FT Turnover is zero). We have established ourselves as an employer of choice, (people are walking in and asking for applications despite not advertising and neighboring employers offering hiring bonuses).

So why are we doing it? Primarily because, that was the rate of inflation, how can we not? Groceries cost more, gas costs more, rent has gone up. It costs our coworkers more to live, so how can we not help them to keep pace with that reality?

The answer to inflation is not just our coworkers learning how to tighten their belt a little (although we hope that is taking place) . The ownness, we feel, is on us as a company to figure out how to operate profitably, while helping our coworkers to move forward rather than regress at our expense.

Continuous improvement is not just about helping the company bottom line. It is about making the whole company be better, which includes those people that make the company what it is today.

Early in my career, I sat in a performance review and was told how I was rated in the different aspects of my job. Those ratings added up to a quotient that determined my pay increase. I took exception to one section, pointing out some accomplishments he had forgotten about. In a second meeting, he had adjusted that section rating it higher, but then referred to another section he had re-assessed, adjusting it downward of course, so that my end number and of course pay increase remained the same. Taking exception to his actions, I pointed out errors in his reassessment as well as another section’s errors. I came back a third time to see that he had adjusted those sections, yet found another area to adjust downward, so that again, my quotient came out the same as it had been originally. He was trying to satisfy a company budget number rather than his most productive engineer. I refused to sign the review. The increase went through as he had budgeted, and I had moved on to a new company within a year.

Paying people what they deserve and are worth is a necessity, and a company’s responsibility to make work. This sentiment is reflected in PlastiCert’s Core Values, something we live for every day.