Employee Experience Improvements
3.31.22
In today’s post, I would like to highlight recent improvements to the employee experience at ICON and speak on things to come. If the pandemic taught us anything, we have learned that individual people are the backbone of the way our society functions, and the manufacturing sector is certainly no exception. Here at ICON, we were fortunate to survive the last two years and come out the other side even better than before. As we look into 2022, and beyond, we are putting concerted effort into appreciating our staff and making ICON a truly wonderful place to work.
In October 2021, we addressed staffing shortage issues by offering referral and sign-on bonuses.
In December 2021, we overhauled our entire system of PTO and introduced many new benefits including Birthday Pay, Paid Parental Leave, Injury Pay, the New Child Bonus, and the Cancer Benefit.
In January 2022, an unfortunate personal tragedy caused us to shake up our management group. Though we will continue to mourn the loss of our former Operations Director Jim Rhodes, I am very excited about our new group of managers and the fresh perspective being brought to all levels of the organization.
In March 2022, we increased the base pay for 75% of hourly positions at ICON.
In March 2022, we sent our first group of employees to off-site technical training to further enrich their careers.
In April 2022, we are improving our corporate communication efforts by publishing the first issue of the ICON Newsletter (creative name pending!).
In April 2022, we will be opening an Employee Lounge, which includes a micro market with snacks, drinks, and fresh food available for purchase. I personally designed the space as somewhere all workers can go to relax and get refreshed.
There are many small gestures and personalized benefits not mentioned here but I trust that these efforts are being felt by the recipients. There are also future projects in the works I cannot yet discuss. I am constantly looking for ways to streamline employee processes and evaluating how the employee experience can be made easier, safer, better. As always, we will continue to provide a place for persons of all backgrounds to have the opportunity to turn a job into a career. We recognize that the manufacturing environment is not glamorous—it’s dirty, can be hot or smelly, and its hard work. As my grandfather, who owned a Tool & Die shop in the 1980s, used to say, “This ain’t no country club!”. But our goal is not to provide fun; our goal is to provide the opportunity to better oneself. So, if you happen to be reading this and you are looking to make a career change—the door is open here at ICON for you to start at the bottom and work your way up.
-Nicole Kleitsch-Killam, Chief Administrative Officer