Managers discuss what makes an employer a best place to work

Naples, Fla. — Good communication, an open-book policy, and being truthful and sincere are important factors in keeping employees, according to members of a panel from plastics companies that have been named to the list of Best Places to Work.

"When you think about what motivates your employees — why do they show up every day — it's really about what engages them," said Judy Wierman, human resources director of KI Industries Inc. of Berkeley, Ill. "It's really about what motivates, engages them. It's being intentional. It's talking to your people. It's listening. It's communication. It's understanding why they like coming to work and why they stay, and offering more of that."

The Best Places to Work awards, managed by research firm Best Cos. Group of Harrisburg, Pa., uses input from employee satisfaction surveys and management questionnaires. The panel was part of the Plastics News Executive Forum in Naples.

Norm Forest, CEO of Dymotek Corp. of Ellington, Conn., wants to maintain a personal relationship with his 100-plus employees, and that includes sharing business information.

"A great service for companies is to share everything with the folks on your team. By doing that, there's a sense of mutual respect that, quite honestly, it empowers them," Forest said. "It gives them the opportunity to be an owner, and quite frankly, I want to surround myself with owners."

Dymotek won the 2016 Plastics News Processor of the Year Award.

Wierman said KI Industries is a worker-owned company under an employee stock ownership plan. An ESOP allows for great employee communication and feedback, she said.

As a result, the company has instituted flexible work schedules and offers a choice of different levels of benefits, such as a less expensive "employee only" health benefit option.

"Tailor your benefit package to the culture of your organization or the culture that you want to create," Wierman said.

Wendi Jay, human resources manager at Plastic Components Inc., said the custom molder from Germantown, Wis., has made a "concerted effort" over the last year and a half to become more involved in the community, including volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and the Ronald McDonald House.

Now employees are bringing ideas to management. It builds a sense of teamwork, she said.

Jay said PCI also gives two paid community service days a year for employees to do volunteer work of their choice. PCI won the Processor of the Year Award in 2008.

And at the 2015 Executive Forum in Las Vegas, Craig Carrel, president of Team 1 Plastics Inc., met Jay and former PCI CEO Tom Duffey and heard them talk about hiring and management software called Culture Index, a work-related personality test. They were enthusiastic.

So Team 1 Plastics of Albion, Mich., first had everyone at the company take the test, which Carrel said is a list of words about yourself and the job you want.

"We now use it as a key part of our hiring process," Carrel said. "Everyone who comes in has to take it, whether it's an entry-level person to an engineer or a higher-level supervisor. It's really helped us. It's not a silver bullet, but [it] plays to well into really finding that right person for that right now."

And, like Dymotek's Forest, Carrel said Team 1 shares financial information with employees.

To make sure it pays competitive wages, Team 1 also uses information from the Manufacturers Association of Plastics Processors.

Forest said Dymotek last fall started something called TAP, or Technical Aptitude Program. It's a four-week program where plant-floor employees can eventually work up to a technical role. Employees with good attendance take tests in math and mechanical aptitude, then a chosen candidate will shadow people in different positions to try them out.

The panel was moderated by Steve Bieszczat, chief marketing officer of IQMS Inc.