Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/921113
18 PalletCentral • November-December 2017 palletcentral.com Debra Berry PRESIDENT Berry Industrial Group Inc. Nyack, New York Finding and keeping good employees is a challenge in any field, but finding new employees that can work well with a team is even harder. A good resource is always your current employees. They know other people and would most likely only recommend someone that would be a good fit. A retention bonus offered to current employees who bring in others who stay for a period of time could help with recruitment. Additional sources to tap are community groups, community colleges, high school vocational programs (work/study), religious affiliations and immigrant centers. Fair compensation is another issue. We tend to look only at volatile wood pallet prices as a factor of estimating and not at the cost of employees themselves. As an industry, we should widen our scope to look at employee compensation and adjust accordingly so it can be a true living wage. However, money is not the only contributing factor when considering job satisfaction. Health care benefits rank at the top of the list; something that is becoming increasingly difficult to provide. Creating a community in the workplace where employees feel valued and integral to the business's success strengthens the foundation of any business. I believe that 5 or 10 years down the road, as the pallet making process becomes more automated, the job will become less laborious, less taxing and therefore more desirable, making it easier to recruit new employees. Chris Lasseter VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES Summerford Pallet Company Ashford, Alabama It's all demographics right now. There are more workers than ever, but there aren't as many of "those jobs" as there are people wanting them. So we have a perfect storm of plenty of labor with few of the jobs that people think they deserve. We don't have a job problem in America, we have a work problem. The choices we must make are simple; you lower your standard for a job and you lower your standard of living accordingly until you can take the next step. Looking 5 to 10 years down the road gets interesting. However, as an eternal optimist and believer in the American people, we'll figure it out. Hunger is always a great motivator. Training is vital, and we must do a better job of helping people succeed. My wife taught for 20 years and I remember her saying that if a kid leaves us and can't read, then we failed him. For years, our LABOR