Conference Curtain-Raiser – Nonacute Laundry Staff Outreach
Jay Juffre, executive VP and chief of staff for ImageFIRST, King of Prussia, PA, will lead an afternoon breakout session on employee engagement for nonacute laundry staff at next month’s 12th Annual TRSA Healthcare Conference & Exchange in Memphis, TN.
As a warmup to his 2 p.m. program on the opening day of TRSA’s Nov. 15-16 Healthcare Conference, Textile Services Weekly posed a series of questions to Juffre, whose presentation is titled “Clean Up Your Act: Boosting Employee Engagement in Laundry Services.” Excerpts of our question-and-answer session follow.
Can you describe an engagement issue that ImageFIRST faced and how you resolved it?
Our growth at ImageFIRST is always a challenge. As we grow, we add locations all over the country and bring new people into the organization. Acquisitions are tricky as well. We always respect the culture of the companies we acquire, but we know the importance of bringing our culture of engagement into the mix needs to happen at some point.
How important is training – job-specific or related issues, such as English-language classes – to engagement?
Onboarding and training are extremely important; too often in our industry, we throw people into a job and then wonder why they turn over or struggle. When you hire someone, you get two things, their past work experience and their past life experience. New team members are only as good as their past employers. Employees’ first day should involve robust orientation. They should be given, at a minimum, the tools and knowledge they need to be successful. New employees should also have a detailed training plan that includes regular check-ins for feedback. Too often we hear about companies loaded with temporary labor or with extremely high turnover. When we scratch the surface, we find a fundamental lack of onboarding.
Which events inspire the most engagement? Yearly picnic/barbecue, work anniversaries, holiday parties, charitable efforts (or others)?
Everything listed here is fine, but no one is staying or going because of a cookout – these should be considered icing on the cake. The events that draw the most engagement are one-on-one conversations, regularly scheduled debriefs, feedback sessions (for example, a coffee chat with the boss), huddles, coaching and development plans. Too often we think that getting everyone breakfast is the key, when just sitting with a small group and talking about what we could do differently to make their jobs better, carries a ton more weight.
Pay/benefit hikes are practically universal in the post-COVID era. Do they boost engagement?
No one is leaving you for an extra buck an hour. In this case, they are leaving because they don’t like the job/their boss. If their pay is going to double, that is a different story. The main thing when it comes to pay, is be competitive, reward hard work and give people the opportunity to advance in both pay and role with the company (if they want to). The main thing to ask is what do we need to pay to get a person who will do their best? For example, there are situations where five people making $20 an hour outperform the eight you are paying to do the same task at minimum wage.
Can team incentives (vs. individual bonuses) for improved throughput and/or safety help boost engagement?
The more people feel they are part of a team, the better. People want to belong; this is the first key. Incentivizing the team for improvement can be a double-edged sword if only a small part of the team is the one getting it done. However, if it is truly a team lift, there is nothing wrong with incentivizing the activity, but only after everyone truly feels a part of the team.
How important is the idea of “cultural intelligence” to keeping employees engaged with the company?
There must always be some deference to where people come from and their cultural backgrounds. But the more important thing is your company’s culture. It means less about where people are from and more about whether they feel comfortable in your environment. Values like respect, honesty and safety are universal and will be embraced universally if they are part of how you do things.