Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/921113
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • November-December 2017 23 impacting everyone and everything through what we do. The vessel just happens to be a pallet, but it is not "why" we get up every day. I get up to make a difference to a captive audience that reports to work for 40 hours each week. It's an opportunity and a responsibility. By doing that, serving the customer has become easy. The answer is actually simple; start loving people. I guarantee it's the secret sauce in defining your company culture and figuring out where you will be in 5 to 10 years. Cheryl Croft CORPORATE OFFICE MANAGER Atlantic Pallet Exchange Dawson, Georgia Dependent on any unforeseen market changes, we expect our labor requirements to increase in 2018 and remain steady for the next few years. Finding recruits in production, sales, and administrative sectors have not been too much of an issue. With transportation recruits, we offer base pay with mileage, benefits offered, and flexibility with work-life issues. Our region currently has available workforce in entry-level and sales for all industries. The number of companies with a size that mandates having mid-management staff makes finding qualified staff problematic, especially those that may have experience in our industry. Developing partnerships with high schools and colleges that offer vocational/technical classes and certificate programs that support our industry labor requirements would certainly help. As example, in production/entry level, knowledge of woodworking tools would be useful; in production/mid-management, knowledge of production standards and supervision. James Kesting CO-FOUNDER Madison County Products St. Louis, Missouri Labor and the workforce will continue to be a challenge in 2018 and most likely worsen in 5-10 years from now. It is not pay, lack of benefits, but hard work and less desirable working conditions. As Americans, we stress the importance of college and that everyone should have the ability to attend, whether capable or not. Government entitlements are not working either. If it pays more to not work, then why work? Very few people believe in hard work, and in many cases, we are not forcing our kids to have a job. Recruitment gets back to the basics, not everyone is qualified for college. Training in the trades needs to be rediscovered. Secure a job and create your own work ethics to succeed and move up the pay scale. In Missouri, we are developing a logging school to get high school graduates interested in the trade. Entry level labor is the soft jobs that we compete with. We pay the same, but our labor makes bonus and everyone puts in additional overtime. We are in a rural area so good mid-management is hard to find, so there is opportunity for growth and growing within our work force. We are fortunate to have some very good talent that grew up within our ranks and want to live in the area. Finding labor will require immigration to continue in a controlled manner, unless entitlements change. Putting in robotics will help if perfected, but putting people to work is the real key. My Dad always said, "An idle mind is the devils workshop." PC Developing partnerships with high schools and colleges that offer vocational/technical classes and certificate programs that support our industry labor requirements would certainly help.