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more effective and contribute to a trust-centered culture. At PalletOne, this means making new hires based on employee recommendations. When an employee makes a recommendation, that person mostly likely will be hired, provided they pass standard pre-employment screening. "We still hire people who come through our door, but for the most part we give added weight if you were brought here by somebody who works for us," says Wallace. "We give a lot of power to employees by encouraging them to recommend people to us. That helps in a lot of ways." One way it helps is by promoting teamwork and friendship. "You want people standing by you that are going to help," says Wallace. "If there are four people and one of them is weak, that means the whole system is out of whack until they can get the team pulling together." The team is more likely to come together when employees make the recommendation. "They know what it takes, so they're able to measure up a person whether they think the person has what it takes to do the job. They are also committed as a sponsor, meaning they're going to work hard to make sure that person knows the ropes," says Wallace. It also signals to employees that their opinions matter. When they can influence who works with them, a mutual trust develops. Train Your Leaders A culture built on trust doesn't build itself. It takes nurturing and development. Employee engagement is a key to the process, but not every manager is equipped with the necessary skills. palletcentral.com PalletCentral • May-June 2016 29 In manufacturing, a culture that prioritizes safety is critical. To reinforce that culture, there are "sticks." For instance, the threat of reprimands if employees are caught without personal protective equipment. But there are also "carrots." At Commercial Lumber and Pallet Company, one of those incentives is cash. "A few times a year, I'll walk through the plant ... if they've got all of their personal protective equipment on, I'll hand them some cash," says Kathleen Dietrich, vice president and operations manager. "It's a thank you for doing what you're supposed to do. So rather than focus on the negatives, we try to reward the positives." The culture is also reinforced with daily safety checks and constant back-and-forth communication between employees and management. "It has to do with meeting a couple of times a month to talk about safety, to get their input on how we could be better," says Dietrich. "There's also an open-door policy. If you see a hazard, bring it to our attention. Come make us aware of it before we do have an incident." Safety Culture: Sticks and Carrots What matters is that you constantly look for new and effective ways to engage employees. That engagement – whether it's through a blog, sur veys and so on – contributes to a trust- centered culture. — Howe Wallace, CEO, PalletOne iStock.com/Anna Kucherova