Representatives of several pallet companies participated in a panel discussion about human resources issues at the recent annual meeting of the Western Pallet Association. The discussion was led by Ralph Rupert of Millwood Inc. The panel was comprised of Lina Montes of G.O. Pallets, Cindy Shean of Valley Pallet, Carly Taylor of 48forty Solutions, and Beatrice Vasquez of Oxnard Pallet. The questions and discussion are summarized below.
Ralph Rupert: What are you doing in terms of recruiting talent?
Lina Montes: One of the things we started doing is using local agencies dedicated to helping small businesses. We are using staffing agencies that handle screening and teaching basic job skills so that people are ready to work.
Carly Taylor: We found lately that temp agencies have been pretty great. A lot of times when you run your own ads, people show up who don’t want to work. They’re just out there doing what they feel like they’ve got to do. We hire workers through temp agencies and keep them on temp status for the first 90 days. If we don’t like a temp, and it’s not a good fit, the person can be reassigned without worrying about lawsuits or legal entanglements.
Beatrice Vasquez: We also use local agencies. They know the laws, and they help you recruit people. We actually hired extra people because of COVID and to plan for the possibilities of having sick staff and shortages.
Ralph Rupert: We are broadening our scope and even looking for older people to perform light-duty jobs. These workers are dependable and are looking to supplement their Social Security.
Carly Taylor: If you have prison return to work-parole programs, get out there and get involved in them. A lot of times these people don’t have a lot of other choices, and they show up every day. Frequently, their probation officers are like a job counselor. If you have these programs in your area, I would really encourage you to reach out and take advantage of them.
Ralph Rupert: What are you doing to improve your onboarding process and get new hires integrated quicker?
Carly Taylor: A lot of times before the drug testing is done, we actually hire the person on the spot. We have them there, not working, just watching so that we can keep them involved while we’re waiting for drug testing and other onboarding activities. We’ve also found that there are more people out there who are just kind of putting out feelers versus ready to take a job if it’s offered.
Lina Montes: We may hire people on the spot, but we have them take a physical to be sure. I tell them I want to make sure they’re not going to be physically hurt and that they’re able to do the work.
Cindy Shean: I’m not sure how many of you have issues with the I-9 (employment eligibility verification form), but new employees have to fill out and complete the form I-9 before the end of the shift on their first day work, and then we (the employer) have to certify it within 3 business days of the employee’s first day of employment. So, if we hire a new employee on a Monday, we have to certify their form I-9 on or before Thursday of that week.
Beatrice Vasquez: Right now, people want more money, and they are being very selective. It’s harder to hire because of that. When they can get more money elsewhere and have the opportunity to be more selective, it’s a challenge. You need to offer more. That’s the only way that you can retain them.
Ralph Rupert: What is your rehiring policy? Do you rehire people?
Beatrice Vasquez: It really depends on the individual. We try to keep good record keeping notes because sometimes years go by and you’re trying to remember who that employee is. It’s really important just to refer back to. We usually give people two chances. It’s a case-by-case basis. We keep really good notes about a person’s work history and will go back and review it.
Cindy Shean: We will not rehire problematic employees. The key here is that you must have written notes and you have to document everything. If that’s one thing I’ve learned since I’ve been doing HR, especially when I’m dealing with any sort of litigation or any sort of OSHA matter, the one thing they’ll always tell you is to document, document, document. It is a must because the burden is always on the employer. So you have to take notes and keep them in your files. I know it takes a lot of time to train supervisors to write employees up, but it is something you have to do to protect yourselves. Finally, I will not rehire anybody that has had any sort of issue in the past.
Lina Montes: We won’t rehire people who start fights, but sometimes we do give people a second chance. You have a lot of people who come back.
Carly Taylor: We found that rehiring, most of the time, has a negative impact on other employees. They think, ‘Well, these people are getting a second chance. I can go out and check out where the grass is greener and still come back.’
Ralph Rupert: This has been a crazy year. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do in order to get the number of employees to meet our production needs. It’s difficult. You’re right. If somebody has come back, we look at the old records. We ask their supervisor and other people. Was he a team player? Most of the time, if you bring them back, they quit.
Carly Taylor: We used to be way more lenient, but we found that in this market, we can’t. We need full-time workers who show up every day. We had to be very consistent and get rid of the people who call out one or two days a week. About a year ago we implemented an attendance store. It’s a big box with jackets and sweatshirts and other items, but the way you get them is by having good attendance. That’s been really big for everybody. They get excited. There’s kind of a game between employees to see who can get the most, who gets the new jacket, and so on. It’s a fun way to encourage attendance.
Lina Montes: What we did, especially when everybody was getting sick, we raised the pay for the ones who were always there. We did a lot of incentives because people were taking every other day off or off on Mondays. That’s how we got them to show up. They want to make more money. They’re not even working 40 hours and want to get paid for 50 hours, so we go overtime and encourage them to take it. We try to do a lot of employee recognition, too.
Beatrice Vasquez: I know this is so traditional, but recognizing the employee of the month does work. The reason they’re the employee of the month is they show up every day, and they’re a team person. We have found that works, and we do bonuses at the end of the year that are based in part on their attendance record. Do I have to say that it is a very serious problem Monday morning? My first question to my HR person is, ‘Who showed up today?’ There’s something about Mondays. It’s a matter of keeping encouraging them through their employee performance reviews and their evaluations. Supervisors have to really be on it on a daily basis as well.
Cindy Shean: I don’t know how to cure the Monday morning thing. I wish I knew. I really like the idea of an attendance store for employees though.
Ralph Rupert: The next item on my list of questions is the biggest one: pay scale. Do you do an annual review for pay scale? Is it on the anniversary of their employment or does everyone get their review in January?
Carly Taylor: Our wages over the last two years have gone up anywhere from 5-20%, mainly for the lower level employees. We can’t always pay the most. We’re not the Ferrari dealership, but the one-on-one interaction, making them feel like they’re part of a family and showing we do care, whether it be through barbecues, lunches, going over the benefits, and making them feel like they’re part of something bigger. For us that’s been really, really key.
Ralph Rupert: That’s a real good point. We do a quarterly cookout. We brought in some food just before we left for the Christmas break. Little things like that seem to go a long way to building that family atmosphere.
Lina Montes: That’s what we focus on as well. When we have meetings, I tell them, ‘I see you guys more than my kids. You guys are our other family, our work family.’ We also started having Christmas parties with them. We bring in food at least once a month when we go over safety. We’re trying to increase our pay as well. We raised it for our lower level guys. It’s hard to compete with big corporations, even for truck drivers. We need to get more creative to retain employees.
Ralph Rupert: We increased prices this year because our costs have been going up: lumber, nails, labor. So, our customers know that prices are rising, too.
Beatrice Vasquez: We’re in the business of people…So you want to take care of your people. They will stay. It’s how you treat them. I think communication is key and engaging the workers. You should know them individually by name and treat them with respect. It doesn’t matter who they are or what their pay scale is. We definitely have to pay more these days to retain them, but it’s all about how they feel about working here. We’re trying to change our business, our culture.
Ralph Rupert: I have one employee, next week will be his 48th year anniversary. He started the January after he graduated high school. We are the fourth owner he’s been under, and he’s still there. We really have to recognize these people with longevity. He’s invaluable because he knows so much.
Cindy Shean: We try to celebrate our employees. We look at each other as one big family. We have barbecues and raffles, and we try to celebrate them a lot throughout the year. We also try to engage our employees as much as we can. We tell them that if there’s something that they think is not working, please speak up and let us know. That doesn’t happen very often though. I think they’re a little bit afraid to speak up and do that. But employees just want to be part of the family and recognized for their efforts.
Carly Taylor: We have a master list of employee birthdays. Everybody in our office signs it, and we put in a gift card, like Starbucks. That goes so far. It’s the little things combined with the big things. You can raise wages and raise wages, but if people are not feeling part of a family you’re wasting your money. You need a culture change.
Ralph Rupert: Moving on, benefits are very difficult these days of course. For me, trying to supply health insurance for 30 employees is essentially impossible. We do offer an AFLAC disability insurance plan. So, there are some things we can do, like solidifying vacation time and personal days.
Carly Taylor: One of the biggest things we do is a short term disability plan. That’s something that’s really helped. Also, dental and vision coverage has been huge. And a lot of times you can pass that on. It’s not very expensive, but those are the things that people put off a lot.
Beatrice Vasquez: We have life insurance, at least $10,000 for each employee. That was very reasonable, so it made a lot of sense.
Cindy Shean: We happen to have medical, dental, vision, short term disability, a matching 401k, and life insurance for our employees. It really warms my heart when I look at the 401k report every week and I see how many of our employees have been contributing to their retirement accounts over the years.
Carly Taylor: If you’re a smaller company, you can join a Professional Employer Organization. It makes insurance a lot less expensive.
