Indiana Manufacturer Overcomes Turnover Issues While Improving Company Culture

Robert Weed was experiencing significant and lengthy turnover issues. The high turnover rates created an increase in costs for recruitment and training of new hires and created a disconnect among employees, as well as poor morale and culture. Long-term employees were tired of seeing the high number of new employees come and go and were getting burned out on frequent onboarding and training.

Purdue MEP, part of the MEP National Network™, conducted several days of focused discovery and skills coaching sessions at the Bristol plant with an emphasis on re-hauling their onboarding process and creating a better company culture. The employee onboarding project included five days of onsite training for 30 people with a curriculum focused on several modules including Effective Employee Onboarding, IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Access), HR for Non-HR Managers, Team Building in Manufacturing, Error Proofing and Problem Solving. Recognizing the company’s investment in the overall well-being and happiness of its employees inspired employees to speak up and help provide process improvement ideas. They are now involved in the changes and improvements in their areas.

Productivity has also increased throughout the plant. At the highest peaks of turnover, Robert Weed saw equipment sitting idle without staff to run it. Now with higher retention rates, employee engagement has increased significantly, and the culture continues to grow in a positive direction. Company-wide, the mindset has shifted to focus on employees as the greatest asset, and the difference in culture, happiness and attitude can be felt throughout Robert Weed as the organization continues toward the goal of becoming an employer of choice.