Jeremy Kerstetter, Assistant Editor12.16.14
The label industry is fiercely competitive. With current US label demand at $15.6 billion and growth expected to hit $19.1 billion by 2017, it has to be – businesses cannot afford to not be competitive. To gain an edge, label companies differentiate in various ways – not only by offering specialized products, but also by how its employees are treated and how they view their company. This is the driving force behind the Printing Industries of America (PIA) "Best Workplace in the Americas" awards program.
The program features two levels: "The Best of the Best" and "Best Workplace."
“In the late 90s, the PIA’s board of directors – being all business leaders themselves, decided 'they were not getting enough credit for all the good things they did as employers,'” explains Jim Kyger, assistant vice president of human relations at PIA. “They wanted to create an HR awards program to highlight the great things the companies were doing.”
Kyger says that each year the competition is stiff. Anywhere from 30 to 50 businesses submit their entries, and of that number, only a handful of small, medium and large businesses win in each size category. This year, 15 companies walked away with the coveted Best of the Best Award, while 13 took home a Best Workplace Award, and a few label companies were among those honored.
One of the Best of the Best winners was Tailored Label Products (TLP), based in Menomonee Falls, WI, USA. “TLP places an extremely high emphasis on these awards and works hard to create a positive environment for all employees,” says Larry Harvey, marketing and communications manager at TLP.
PIA places TLP in the small company category, as it employs approximately 100. It was one of two small companies to receive the Best of the Best award. “This award is incredibly important to us because it validates that our employees think we are doing a good job. The fact that employees feel that things are good says a lot about the company and work environment,” Harvey adds.
Since the competition’s inception in 2000, the Best of the Best program has been held annually in the fall. The HR departments of participating companies are invited to make submissions on behalf of their companies, which the judges at PIA then evaluate and weigh according to their established metrics.
The submissions contain an assortment of elements. They may include the company’s own metrics and supporting documents to sport its entry, i.e., training outlines, incentive programs, newsletters, community involvement options, etc. These submissions do not merely provide a snapshot but rather aim to provide the entire image of that company’s workplace culture.
“The submissions show what the company is actually doing. They are the in-depth answer to what the judges are looking for – the full picture,” explains Kyger, who manages the Best of the Best program.
PIA’s judges, numbering only three this year, are all HR professionals from the printing industry. They assemble for this competition to judge the submissions based on creativity and the extent to which the companies satisfy the eight categories in the metric. Currently, the judging process takes only one day, with each judge taking one of the size categories – small, medium, or large. After evaluating their respective submissions at the end of the day, the judges convene to compare and exchange notes and to announce their top company choices in those size categories.
According to Kyger, the key HR metrics include management practices, work environment, training, recognition and rewards, safety, health and wellness, financial security, and work-life balance. The companies that accumulate the most points from those metrics become the top choices for the award.
Disc Graphics, Inc., employing approximately 200 individuals in Hauppauge, NY, USA, won Best of the Best for its sixth time running, making this its 12th win overall since 2000. Commenting on the honor, Diane Ferrante, HR director at Disc Graphics, states, “All of these awards reflect on an environment where people are allowed to succeed, and this makes us all proud of where we work.”
John Rebecchi, senior vice president of marketing and new business development for Disc Graphics, says, “Innovation and continuous improvement are our focus. We put a very high level of emphasis on engaging our employees in every step of the operation. We are always looking for input.”
Highlighting some of the company’s strengths, Ferrante adds, “We offer a strong and consistent program offering year after year, including opportunities for employees to become cross-trained and take English as a second language.”
Disc Graphics has also recently undergone a dramatic capital expansion, bringing in new technology, according to Rebecchi. He says, “Employees are being trained on the newest technology in the business; this increases their value and allows them to see a greater sustainability. This is highly valuable. Customers want to know that they do business with an ethical and responsible company.”
TLP has also implemented programs that have differentiated it from the pack. Harvey explains that TLP incentivizes health and wellness for its employees by giving them “Fitbit” activity monitors to help them track progress and reach their wellness goals, then rewarding them when they meet those goals.
TLP offers paid tuition and an employee cross-training program it calls the “3x3 Program.” Similarly, the “2 of 10 Program” is another such TLP employee enrichment program offered. It focuses on identifying strengths and further developing those strengths to enable employees to increase their performance. Nicole Richard, HR manager for Tailored Label Products, explains, “Everyone has core strengths. To be as productive and happy as possible, you need to identify your strengths and tap into them because that’s what you’ll be the most successful at and be the happiest doing.”
TLP actively involves its employees in the local community and encourages stewardship. The company offers in-kind donations to employee championed charities and community events and also paid time off for employees who give their time to those charities or events.
Another label company honored this year was La Crosse, WI-based Inland Label, who won the Best Workplace Award for the Large Company & Multi-Plants category with an employee count of approximately 320. In addition to its work with United Way, it also runs a charity event called the “Holiday Jeans Helper.” This charity consists of money voluntarily donated from employee’s paychecks to go toward certain charities within the community or to an individual who may be experiencing a hardship.
Inland Label begins its employee engagement in the new hire orientation, where, according to Miranda Eisermann, training and development manager, the executives come in to introduce themselves and explain the expectations for the new hires and their work. “They basically say, we expect this from you and you should expect the same from us,” she says.
“Inland encourages an open door environment,” explains Eisermann, “People know they can always stop in, even from on the production floor.” The setting serves to encourage an “anyone, at any level, at any time” mentality with the hope that it will spur idea generation; it feeds a program Inland refers to as the “Innovation Funnel.” Here, employees are encouraged to participate by sharing their ideas throughout the month, at the end of which, those who contribute are chosen at random for a prize.
Inland Label quantifies its success through analysis of data such as its solid employee turnover rate (voluntary T/O at 4%; involuntary T/O at 2.11%) and its annually conducted employee surveys.
“Our PIA award, in conjunction with the employee feedback, is a confirmation of our efforts to provide employees with a rewarding environment,” says Eisermann.
All participants, not just those who win, truly benefit from the competition through the feedback they receive on their submissions, provided by the panel of judges at PIA. This feedback shows core areas in their workplace and employee relations that can be improved upon to create an even better environment for those employees.
Mark Glendenning, president and CEO of Inland Label, explains the importance of the competition and its feedback in this way, “With people being our most important asset, being able to benchmark against others in our industry is of real value to us. Anything we can learn and apply as we go through this process, that makes us a better company to work for, is an added bonus.”
Overall, these award-winning label businesses place a high priority on creating a culture that emphasizes employee value and importance, and they strive to be the best at it, accomplishing the objective of the award – to encourage a terrific workplace culture in the label industry by highlighting what employers are doing and who are doing it best.
The program features two levels: "The Best of the Best" and "Best Workplace."
“In the late 90s, the PIA’s board of directors – being all business leaders themselves, decided 'they were not getting enough credit for all the good things they did as employers,'” explains Jim Kyger, assistant vice president of human relations at PIA. “They wanted to create an HR awards program to highlight the great things the companies were doing.”
Kyger says that each year the competition is stiff. Anywhere from 30 to 50 businesses submit their entries, and of that number, only a handful of small, medium and large businesses win in each size category. This year, 15 companies walked away with the coveted Best of the Best Award, while 13 took home a Best Workplace Award, and a few label companies were among those honored.
One of the Best of the Best winners was Tailored Label Products (TLP), based in Menomonee Falls, WI, USA. “TLP places an extremely high emphasis on these awards and works hard to create a positive environment for all employees,” says Larry Harvey, marketing and communications manager at TLP.
PIA places TLP in the small company category, as it employs approximately 100. It was one of two small companies to receive the Best of the Best award. “This award is incredibly important to us because it validates that our employees think we are doing a good job. The fact that employees feel that things are good says a lot about the company and work environment,” Harvey adds.
Since the competition’s inception in 2000, the Best of the Best program has been held annually in the fall. The HR departments of participating companies are invited to make submissions on behalf of their companies, which the judges at PIA then evaluate and weigh according to their established metrics.
The submissions contain an assortment of elements. They may include the company’s own metrics and supporting documents to sport its entry, i.e., training outlines, incentive programs, newsletters, community involvement options, etc. These submissions do not merely provide a snapshot but rather aim to provide the entire image of that company’s workplace culture.
“The submissions show what the company is actually doing. They are the in-depth answer to what the judges are looking for – the full picture,” explains Kyger, who manages the Best of the Best program.
PIA’s judges, numbering only three this year, are all HR professionals from the printing industry. They assemble for this competition to judge the submissions based on creativity and the extent to which the companies satisfy the eight categories in the metric. Currently, the judging process takes only one day, with each judge taking one of the size categories – small, medium, or large. After evaluating their respective submissions at the end of the day, the judges convene to compare and exchange notes and to announce their top company choices in those size categories.
According to Kyger, the key HR metrics include management practices, work environment, training, recognition and rewards, safety, health and wellness, financial security, and work-life balance. The companies that accumulate the most points from those metrics become the top choices for the award.
Disc Graphics, Inc., employing approximately 200 individuals in Hauppauge, NY, USA, won Best of the Best for its sixth time running, making this its 12th win overall since 2000. Commenting on the honor, Diane Ferrante, HR director at Disc Graphics, states, “All of these awards reflect on an environment where people are allowed to succeed, and this makes us all proud of where we work.”
John Rebecchi, senior vice president of marketing and new business development for Disc Graphics, says, “Innovation and continuous improvement are our focus. We put a very high level of emphasis on engaging our employees in every step of the operation. We are always looking for input.”
Highlighting some of the company’s strengths, Ferrante adds, “We offer a strong and consistent program offering year after year, including opportunities for employees to become cross-trained and take English as a second language.”
Disc Graphics has also recently undergone a dramatic capital expansion, bringing in new technology, according to Rebecchi. He says, “Employees are being trained on the newest technology in the business; this increases their value and allows them to see a greater sustainability. This is highly valuable. Customers want to know that they do business with an ethical and responsible company.”
TLP has also implemented programs that have differentiated it from the pack. Harvey explains that TLP incentivizes health and wellness for its employees by giving them “Fitbit” activity monitors to help them track progress and reach their wellness goals, then rewarding them when they meet those goals.
TLP offers paid tuition and an employee cross-training program it calls the “3x3 Program.” Similarly, the “2 of 10 Program” is another such TLP employee enrichment program offered. It focuses on identifying strengths and further developing those strengths to enable employees to increase their performance. Nicole Richard, HR manager for Tailored Label Products, explains, “Everyone has core strengths. To be as productive and happy as possible, you need to identify your strengths and tap into them because that’s what you’ll be the most successful at and be the happiest doing.”
TLP actively involves its employees in the local community and encourages stewardship. The company offers in-kind donations to employee championed charities and community events and also paid time off for employees who give their time to those charities or events.
Another label company honored this year was La Crosse, WI-based Inland Label, who won the Best Workplace Award for the Large Company & Multi-Plants category with an employee count of approximately 320. In addition to its work with United Way, it also runs a charity event called the “Holiday Jeans Helper.” This charity consists of money voluntarily donated from employee’s paychecks to go toward certain charities within the community or to an individual who may be experiencing a hardship.
Inland Label begins its employee engagement in the new hire orientation, where, according to Miranda Eisermann, training and development manager, the executives come in to introduce themselves and explain the expectations for the new hires and their work. “They basically say, we expect this from you and you should expect the same from us,” she says.
“Inland encourages an open door environment,” explains Eisermann, “People know they can always stop in, even from on the production floor.” The setting serves to encourage an “anyone, at any level, at any time” mentality with the hope that it will spur idea generation; it feeds a program Inland refers to as the “Innovation Funnel.” Here, employees are encouraged to participate by sharing their ideas throughout the month, at the end of which, those who contribute are chosen at random for a prize.
Inland Label quantifies its success through analysis of data such as its solid employee turnover rate (voluntary T/O at 4%; involuntary T/O at 2.11%) and its annually conducted employee surveys.
“Our PIA award, in conjunction with the employee feedback, is a confirmation of our efforts to provide employees with a rewarding environment,” says Eisermann.
All participants, not just those who win, truly benefit from the competition through the feedback they receive on their submissions, provided by the panel of judges at PIA. This feedback shows core areas in their workplace and employee relations that can be improved upon to create an even better environment for those employees.
Mark Glendenning, president and CEO of Inland Label, explains the importance of the competition and its feedback in this way, “With people being our most important asset, being able to benchmark against others in our industry is of real value to us. Anything we can learn and apply as we go through this process, that makes us a better company to work for, is an added bonus.”
Overall, these award-winning label businesses place a high priority on creating a culture that emphasizes employee value and importance, and they strive to be the best at it, accomplishing the objective of the award – to encourage a terrific workplace culture in the label industry by highlighting what employers are doing and who are doing it best.