Our People.
Completely isolating ourselves from the personal issues of our employees causes them to adopt a “them and us” mentality that spills over into their work performance and attitudes. It also works against our ability to build a culture of trust and mutual support. Company owners that adopt this model tend to have high turnover, increased theft, low job satisfaction, and poor productivity.
Owners who become too involved in the private lives of their employees create an unhealthy environment as well. Here, the high value becomes friendship rather than the productivity and the goals of the company. These owners quickly become conflicted in their ability to supervise and fairly appraise the performance of their employees. Companies that get caught up in this scenario find themselves slow to react to market opportunities because the owner/leader is so distracted.
We have adopted several guiding principles designed to demonstrate our personal commitment to our people while maintaining firm boundaries that everyone is expected to respect. Here are some of them:
When an employee or a member of their immediate family is in the hospital, one of the owners visits at least one time
When an employee or a member of their immediate family is having surgery or a baby, one of the owners sits with the employee
When an employee is in an abusive situation and wants out, we facilitate the process in cooperation with our local mental health and police resources
When an employee has an unusual financial need, we provide short-term loans with payments coming out of their next 2-6 paychecks
If an employee wishes to try one of our products, we sell it to them at cost, or if it is under $10.00, we just give it to them
When an employee wants to discuss a private issue, we set a time that day and one of the owners makes themselves available
In our company culture, it is very important that our folks understand that we are here to help them reach their full potential as employees and as people. Many of them never had anyone to model a supportive, tough-love kind of environment. We see that as part of our job as company owners. That’s how they become our people.
We work hard, we play hard and we never forget to care hard.
