Creating a committed workforce

As the country continues to rebound from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies also have found themselves slowly regaining ground when it comes to hiring, and according to Mike Huycke, vice president of business development for Leadpoint Business Services, a recycling industry and workforce services company based in Phoenix, this is because of a mix of pandemic-related unemployment benefits ending, high inflation rates and the rising cost of living in the United States.

“We’ve seen a pretty significant rebound in our hiring and, in our experience, there are a lot of people wanting to come back to work,” Huycke says. “We are doing a lot of things differently in our recruiting that have significantly helped.”

Huycke says Leadpoint has seen recruitment grow by being more active on job boards and through advertising. The company also has developed an artificial intelligence-enhanced app that allows people to apply for roles at the company with the push of a button.

While it appears hiring rates are increasing, retention remains a constant issue for companies across the U.S. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.2 million people quit their jobs in June.

Twenty-two percent of employees left their jobs in 2021 for career-related reasons, such as opportunities for growth, promotion, achievement or security or to attend school, according to a report by the Work Institute, a Franklin, Tennessee-based organization specializing in employee retention. Issues related to job stress, the availability of resources, training, job characteristics, empowerment or products; work-life balance; and health and family were the next most-cited reasons for leaving a job, with each of these categories selected by 11 percent of respondents.

For some companies in the waste and recycling industry, improving employee retention begins with the hiring and onboarding process.

“The training environment shouldn’t be one-directional. It should be a collaborative environment [between] the company and the employee.” – Mike Huycke, vice president of business development, Leadpoint Business Services

Getting a head start

Recycling Today spoke with Huycke; Patti Hamilton, vice president of brand and culture at Coastal Waste in Pompano Beach, Florida; and Ernesto Valencia, plant manager for Diversified Recycling in East Hazel Crest, Illinois, and all noted how important hiring and training are to operations. The hiring process acts as an introduction to what tasks will be expected of prospective job candidates, and because of the unique and challenging work environment, providing a better understanding of the job before joining the company increases the likelihood that candidates will stay long after they are hired.

“Employees who are well-trained and well-supported are far more likely to stay with our company,” Huycke says. “For employee training at Leadpoint, it really does start at the hiring process.”

The goal is to build employee expectations and give early insight into how the company works, the daily tasks required and the environment they will be working in.

Huycke says Leadpoint gives potential sorters and operators a glimpse into what those roles entail during the interview process. Candidates are given a chance to try their hands at sorting on an actual line as part of the interview.

“By the time they are hired with our company, they have a good perspective on all of that,” he says. “It’s considered part of our interview process, but it is the main component of our training process.”

Meanwhile, Valencia says his company takes potential employees on a tour of the facility before they’re hired. During the tour and interview process, Valencia says candidates can get answers to questions they have, such as what materials are being sorted and what risks are associated with the job.

Early exposure to job-related tasks is vital because Diversified Recycling wants candidates to understand their potential roles before accepting job offers, Valencia adds.

Hamilton echoes this sentiment, noting that beginning employee training during the hiring process builds an understanding of the company’s culture and an appreciation of the employee’s position within the organization.

“We’re very deliberate and very intentional about our hiring,” Hamilton says. “We want to find people that want to be part of a growing team [and] that want to take the business as personally as we all do. We want them to take ownership of the role they play in the business because every single role is extremely important.”

© romaset | stock.adobe.com

Maintaining performance

Once the company has hired a new employee, the next step is formal training. Huycke says this provides another opportunity to ensure personnel stay at Leadpoint for the long run.

Sorters comprise the majority of the company’s workforce. For employees to feel job satisfaction, Huycke says they “need to feel like they’re performing.” That’s why Leadpoint goes over how to identify materials on the sort line and what the different conveyor systems in a material recovery facility (MRF) do.

“This is all designed to make them feel safe, productive and supported so that they can do a good job and feel good,” Huycke says. “We believe this helps with retention.”

Leadpoint also has introduced a new employee mentorship program. The program assigns an experienced co-worker to a new employee to show them the ropes, integrate the new hire into the MRF environment and answer any questions they have. Huycke describes the mentorship program like having a friend at work.

“We have seen that having a mentor who takes time to get to know each new hire helps with retention and job satisfaction,” he says.

Meanwhile at Diversified Recycling, the first week on the job mostly consists of educational training. Valencia says new hires don’t start on the floor but instead take classes on safety. The company focuses on employee engagement and recognizes and rewards employees for following safety training.

Diversified Recycling also regularly buys employees lunches to acknowledge positive and safe actions, periodically rewards employees with $50 gift cards and allows extra time for breaks and to ensure safe workplace practices. By rewarding employees for adhering to safety training, Valencia says it shows them they are appreciated by the company.

In addition, he says Diversified offers opportunities for personal growth. For example, the company offers to pay for English classes for employees for whom English is a second language, so they can speak with their co-workers and not feel isolated when working. While the company doesn’t currently offer a general education diploma (GED) program for employees who did not graduate from high school, Valencia says he would consider it if workers expressed interest.

Photo courtesy of Leadpoint

Differing approach

Valencia and Huycke say safety training goes a long way in improving employee retention. A well-rounded safety program is one of the best things a company can do to help maintain a safe, supportive work environment. A poor safety program can undermine all other training programs because safety is foundational to all of them, Huycke says.

After safety, he says helping sorters understand the prioritization of commodities based on recovery goals and market value is key, as are sorting techniques to improve pick counts and reduce the likelihood of dizziness and the feeling of being overwhelmed.

How long an employee should be trained depends on the role, Huycke says. For sorters, it might be two weeks side by side with a mentor plus daily check-ins by the supervisor. For equipment operators or specialized roles, the training program will be longer. Leadpoint also conducts a 30-day one-on-one interview between the supervisor and the new employee to gauge how the associate feels he or she is doing.

He says companies can tell if they have a successful training program based on employee engagement. Undertrained employees are more likely to disengage and aren’t invested in the job, their employer or the success of the MRF.

“If employees aren’t asking questions or aren’t invested in the training curriculum and environment, they don’t respond as well to the training itself,” Huycke says. “The training environment shouldn’t be one-directional. It should be collaborative between the company and the employee to have the desired outcome,” he adds.

Valencia says a good training program means management communicates with employees and creates a positive, supportive environment.

“You should want to show people that you care,” he says. “So, if you’re showing your employees that [you] were willing to go out of [your] way to help [them] grow as a person, that says a lot about a company.”

The author is the digital editor for the Recycling Today Media Group. He can be reached at akamczyc@gie.net