SERIES: Salute Your Best Employees!

I have a lot of equipment at my office. Really nice, shiny, top-of-the-line equipment. I also have pipes, solvent, wires, insulation, detergents, supplies, and more. I may have exactly the same assortment of things that you have at your plant.

But there is a major difference: You have a team that takes those machines and supplies and uses them to accomplish great things. Your team brings them to life. With your guidance, those people are able to satisfy the needs of many people. You call me to care for your machines—who cares for your team?

Big Plants—Big Employee Recognition

Some of the larger hotels we deal with have Manager of the Month and Employee of the Month awards. They have big bulletin boards with 8 x 10 glossy photos of the prize winners. Those people are chosen by their peers or by their numerous team members. There might even be 100 people voting on who was the best manager this month. That makes it easy to choose one person because it is not just the big boss picking his favourites.

The big locations also have budgets for caring for their employees. They have staff discounts at other locations, yoga studios, E-Bike rentals, free lunch in the cafeteria. They pay significantly more and, to be frank, most of those people don’t do a full day’s work.

Small plants—Favouritism

Many of our plants are small. They might include the owner and one or two employees. Lots of them are mom and pop stores. Mom does the pressing and Pop does the cleaning. There might be an evening or weekend counter person and maybe a part time presser.

Small plants can be difficult. I know of one cleaner who fired his soon-to-be wife. She was arguing with him in front of his staff and he decided she had to go. Their staff took a lunch break and he fired her. They did eventually get married.

How do you pick an employee of the month in a small plant? Does Mom get it one month and Pop get it the next? Or you might say, “Sorry dear, I picked the counter girl to be the employee of the month.” You might be sleeping on the couch tonight. How do you do piece counts when there are only two pressers and one of them is your wife?

In such a situation, the emphasis has to be on the team. “This is what we need to accomplish and we will work together to get it all done.”

Some plants will order in lunch on an employee’s birthday. Or they may get their birthday off with pay. Understand that pizza lunches aren’t worth much if they aren’t reinforced by care for each individual. People know if they are just “machines” that you rent. When one doesn’t perform, you find a different one. Small plants are extremely personal. Everyone knows what is happening and who is doing the work.

I know of a fellow who was hired to manage a plant. He didn’t have any dry cleaning experience. He came back to the plant after lunch and found his two lady pressers rolling on the floor having a fist fight. I guess those motivational speeches hadn’t worked very well.

When you work with your wife/kid/father you still need to say “please” and “thank you”. They too need to know that you appreciate their efforts. It is easy just to focus/comment on the problems and issues. We need to appreciate the good things too.

Things I have done

There are a few things that I have done when I was managing the plants at Todd’s. Between the two plants we had a staff of about 30 people. Every morning I would walk which ever plant I was at and say good morning to each person. I asked how they were doing and asked about their kids and the dog. After I made my rounds, I’d go back with any special instructions for people.

When I was managing, we worked as a team. If the lady pressing silks was done with her work, she helped with pressing pants or assembly. We started together and finished together. Once a month we would all come to work in scruffy clothes and clean the plant together. Blow the dust off the machines, clean behind the counters and get everything spotless again. When a person has to clean their own work area, they pay more effort into keeping it tidy.

Our Staff

So since most of my staff read my column, I need to say something about them, too. We have a great team. Even though I was recognized by Fabricare Canada last year for my contribution to the industry, that was very much a team effort.

Whether it is explaining to a new customer how to operate a boiler so she can pass her exam to operate her boiler, or kneeling in a puddle behind a washing machine, standing tippy toe on the top of a step ladder—our team does it all so that our customers can succeed.

Our guys work incredibly hard. They lift heavy parts, climb ladders, haul 40 kg detergent pails (it’s easier when you carry two—the load is balanced). It is not unusual for them to do 13,000 steps in a day. If we are changing a machine or working out of town, 14-16 hours is a normal day. And they do it cheerfully, so you can get back to work sooner.

We have work shirts and coveralls with our logo on them. We also have club jackets. We have staff training meetings. They do homework for those training sessions. Because we are investing in them, they are willing to invest in us.

I know that I couldn’t do what we do without our team. You are probably the same. There is only so much you can do by yourself.

It all boils down to what are you thinking? Are your employees those annoying people that you have to put up with? Or are they individual members of your team that you care about?

To each of our guys—past and present—THANK YOU!

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