Following this article about Meta employees getting fired for abuse of benefits (https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/17/tech/meta-employees-fired-meal-credits-layoffs/index.html), we discussed employee benefits at our team meeting today.
Yes, benefits are important and things like health care, retirement contributions, and even meal allowances are important for the moral of employees and to fairly compensate them for their work. But what about the personal benefits a person receives by working for a company and being immersed in that company's culture all day? If a person works for a company with a toxic work culture, they carry that toxicity with them and, unfortunately, sometimes that spills over into their personal lives, affecting those around them. If a person works for a company with a respectful and encouraging culture, they carry that positivity with them and, hopefully, it will allow them to not only succeed at work but to also succeed in their personal endeavors. When we asked our team what benefits they received by working at Bridgeview, some people said they learned flexibility, patience, and confidence. They learned how to collaborate, how to communicate clearly, and how to celebrate achievements. Some people said they never had a boss that didn't yell so working for Bridgeview taught them that a boss can be a kind servant and not a scary dictator. Some people said they never knew they were capable of doing the work they do (like assembling complicated wire harnesses) but they feel pride at how much they have learned and how well they do their work. A grateful attitude allows us to open our minds to the many blessings we have and all the benefits we receive by being in the work environment we're in. Below: Peter and Kevin (left) and Richard (right) work hard to build various wire harness assemblies. They take pride in their work and welcome opportunities to learn.
0 Comments
We've got a lot of personality here at Bridgeview.
While all of our team members have different personalities that makes for a fun work environment, our company itself also has a personality. We believe it's that personality that sets us apart from other manufacturers. If you visit as many websites as our sales and marketing department does, you start to notice two kinds of companies being presented through their respective websites. One kind of company uses "corporatese", corporate jargon that says an awful lot without really saying anything at all. The personality of these companies seem boring. They're a dime a dozen. The other kind of company we come across has fun pictures of their people hard at work, interesting blurbs about the history of the company, language that lets you know exactly what they make, and, most important of all, you can understand their "why". These companies don't fit into one kind of personality; some are artistic, some are resourceful, some are noble, and some are helpful. In trying to describe who we are, we thought about our personality as a whole. How would we describe Bridgeview as a personality? Words like capable, cooperative, organized, and loyal came to mind. Also faithful, generous, industrious, and optimistic came up. Overall, we're a happy bunch who simply want to be of service. We get excited when small American manufacturers entrust us with their projects and the desire to see them succeed motivates us to work hard. We're not your typical corporation that simply wants to squeeze as many pennies out of their customers as possible. We want everyone to win, including our own team. Below: Ben and Seth (left) and Richard and Peter (right) are a few of the crazy characters that work for Bridgeview. Every team has a set of skills and abilities that, when used collectively, make the team a powerful one. Individually, we can do a lot; people are capable of a great many things. But if you were to ask very successful people how they did it, inevitably they would admit to having a talented team around them who pooled their skills and abilities to accomplish the main goal.
We have a diverse group of people here at Bridgeview but one thing we all have in common is a drive to succeed. We're all willing and ready to learn new skills, admit our mistakes, work long hours, and keep trying until we get it right. We are skilled in crimping, soldering, assembling, and packaging. We've been teaching our production team how to decipher engineering drawings (no matter how strange some of them seem to be), and not one person on our team has ever uttered the phrase, "That's not my job," when asked to do something like sweep the shop or jump in to cover an absent team member. One of the things that makes Bridgeview so special is our team. We tell them, "You ARE Bridgeview," because without them we wouldn't have the capability to support the number of customers we do. We treat our team like family and they give of their skills and abilities freely, just wanting to see Bridgeview succeed. Below: Ben (left) has become really proficient at soldering, a skill he really wanted to develop when he first started working for Bridgeview. Peter (right) is working on circuit boards, something he never attempted before working at Bridgeview. Now, he's an old pro. This week at our team meeting we discussed what makes a great mission statement. We took at look at mission statements from famous companies and discussed whether the mission statements communicated the "why" of the company.
We compared the mission statement of Toyota ("To attract and attain customers with high-valued products and services and the most satisfying ownership experience in America") to that of Ferrari ("To make unique sports cars that represent the finest Italian design and craftmanship, both on the track and on the road"). Which mission statement is specific and which one is more broad? Which one mentions their products? Which one is geared towards consumers and which one is geared towards share holders? There was no right or wrong answer, just perceptions. We all appreciated the to-the-point mission statement of Walmart ("We save people money so they can live better") and we were all a little lost after reading DuPont's mission statement ("To create shareholder and societal value while reducing the environmental footprint along the value chains in which we operate"). A mission statement should be clear and should communicate to everyone the "why" of the company. What's the point of the company? Why does it exists? What does it want to accomplish? What is its mission? Below: Left: Peter gives a thumbs up to signal he's done with his assemblies and they're ready for shipping. Right: Richard likes to display customer stickers on his vice. |
AuthorsChristina and Kevin Hayward Archives
November 2024
Categories |