TINYpulse’s Happiest Manufacturing Company Talks Employee Engagement

Congratulations to Rose City Printing & Packaging, the winner of the 2015 TINYpulse Happiest Company Award and Raising the Bar Award for the Manufacturing industry.

Rose City Printing & Packaging leads their industry as the company with the highest average employee happiness scores, as well as the greatest improvement in scores. President Stephen Lobis offered to share some of the great ways his company boosts employee engagement.

1. Tell us about some of the great things you do in your workplace that keep employees engaged and energized.

• We practice open book management. We share all financial information, company information, plans, etc. with all employees.

• Every employee (all 150) shares in the success of the company with bonuses.

• We encourage employees to make decisions and mistakes.

• We give all employees time away from their functions to strictly work on improving their work area.

•  

  We offer gym memberships, cessation programs, tuition reimbursement, and loans at no interest.

• We BBQ often, send every employee a birthday card with gift card, and pay bonuses for work anniversaries.

• Managers are trained to engage people in decisions. Instead of giving people answers or orders, they ask, "What would you do"?

2. Tell us a little bit about what your company does and why employee engagement is so important to you.

We manufacture folding cartons for the food and beverage industries. We pride ourselves on customer service and lean manufacturing. In order to have happy customers, you must first have happy employees.

3. What tactics do you leverage as a manager to keep your team energized and motivated?

Communication, communication, and more communication. We also have open door policies everywhere and encourage employees to use them. We practice management by walking around. People are being asked daily what they need to make their jobs easier or better.

4. When you think back to your time climbing up the job ranks, what got you really motivated to go the extra mile?

We all spend almost 1/2 of our waking hours (sometimes more than 1/2) at work. When we walk through the front door, we have a choice to either be engaged or not be engaged. We need to constantly ask ourselves whether we really want to choose to be unengaged for 1/2 of our awake time.

5. Can you share with us a mistake you made early on when it came to managing people, and how you learned from it?

Patience has been the biggest learning event for me and our employees. As managers, we always want to move faster than folks are comfortable with. We had to learn to be patient and follow the process. Once people engage, your chances for success climb exponentially.

Thank you to Stephen and Rose City Printing & Packaging for sharing their story! Keep an eye out for more interviews with TINYpulse award winners.

RELATED POSTS:

• How A Company That Hauls Your Stuff Has Happy Employees
• How To Succeed At Employee Engagement: Interview With Handy Networks
• Everything You Really Need To Know About Employee Engagement