By Lindsey Munson, editor, Plastics Business
Over the past few years, the manufacturing industry has become abundantly familiar with the word ‘retention,’ and it sits at the top of minds within almost every company. From the executive suite to plant managers on the facility floor, retaining a skilled workforce and protecting the company’s largest investment could mean one of two actions: big savings or a huge hit on the bottom line. Today’s labor market in the plastics industry has its challenges and is highly competitive, and with that comes companies in strong pursuit of meeting the internal markers on retention.
When Plastics Business magazine began researching the topic of retention, it quickly became clear that many plastics companies are building innovative and culturally driven strategic plans. But one company, in particular, stood out for its company mantra, “Lean on Sussex IM.” Sussex IM is a Wisconsin-based contract manufacturer specializing in custom injection molding, automation and value-added assembly for the world’s best brands.
Borrowed Brilliance
Known for its family-oriented culture, Sussex began in 1977 and lives on today through its strong workforce and prominent leadership. Megan Tzanoukakis, president and CEO, shared “We are known for our ability to ‘borrow brilliance’ from our diverse customer base and automate the assembly of complex products in non-competing markets.”
At Sussex IM, its people live by its core values. “These values reflect how we conduct ourselves in the workplace,” said Tzanoukakis, “and how we treat our customers, vendors and the community. They are not just words but are phrases reiterated by our teams every day, and truly how we live our lives.” The core values of Sussex include:
- Work hard, play hard, laugh hard.
- If we can, we will and then some.
- How can I help?
- Own the outcome, and share the credit.
- We’ll figure it out.
- Treat everyone like family.
Sussex’s Five Retention Strategies
With two facilities in Sussex, Wisconsin, and over 45 years of serving diverse markets, Sussex is no stranger to labor shortages and accompanying industry challenges. Through those years, the focus on core values and building employee loyalty has never wavered. Sussex has been a company of exploration and expansion, finding its way by learning a variety of methods and technologies, increasing in square feet and innovative nature, and rebranding (primarily to show its vibrant culture). In light of the company’s growth and advancements, Sussex took an even closer look at its employee base and knew it had to be progressive and tactical in “retaining” the building blocks of its success.
In sharing Sussex’s five notable retention strategies, Tzanoukakis said, “These strategies forge deeper relationships and connections throughout our workforce and honor the loyalty and dedication of our longest-tenured employees.”
Culture: Sussex’s culture is driven by living out its core values. Tzanoukakis said, “We care about employees’ families and respect their lives, inside and outside the workplace. We truly are a family at Sussex IM. We ‘treat employees, like people.’ We have summer barbecues where our leaders cook food for all three shifts, an annual company picnic, team outings, rewards for reaching safety milestones and hold ‘bags’ tournaments! We also have an annual 25-Year Club outing to a Brewers Baseball game.”
Competitive Salaries and Benefit Plans: Sussex offers employees paid family leave and health, dental and vision insurance. There is an onsite nurse available three days a week for employees and their families. This allows employees (and their family members) to save time and money by skipping the urgent care visit.
Ability to Make an Impact: “As a privately owned business, there is very little red tape when it comes to decision-making. There are not several layers of management or a corporate office. If something needs to be done, we do it, as long as there is a good ROI and it fits our budget constraints,” said Tzanoukakis. Employees, if they choose, can wear many hats through the life of a project or to help better the company, whether by suggesting improvements, seeing those suggestions through the implementation stage or then being a part of the solution or project completion. This retention strategy offers employees a well-rounded experience, creates a value-added concept and allows them to work with many departments within the organization.
Investment in People: Sussex sends employees to leadership training, apprenticeship programs, safety seminars, etc. to further their knowledge and grow skillsets. “If we have a good year, we give out discretionary bonuses above and beyond the company’s KPI bonus targets. We believe that one of the best ways to invest back in the business is to invest in our people and appreciate their hard work and dedication,” said Tzanoukakis.
Transparent Communication: “As a leadership team, the goal is to connect with all employees and let them know that we are here to listen. We try to be on the shop floor as much as possible,” said Tzanoukakis, “to be involved in continuous improvement and offer support in every aspect of the business.” Sussex holds quarterly all-employee meetings to share and discuss where the company has been, where it now is and where it plans to go. Employees are informed about Sussex’s KPIs, new programs and company vision. In these meetings, leadership announces the Core Value in Action winner. The winner is a peer-nominated individual who has gone above and beyond during the past quarter and is an example of Sussex’s core values.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Sussex’s retention strategies and daily actions have earned the company a retention rate of 91%. Additionally, about 18 months ago, Sussex implemented an Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), in part due to the retirement of two of its owners, but also to increase communication and collaboration across departments. The EOS includes a weekly cadence of meetings for each department team – to ensure employees are on track with the company’s priorities and their teams’ and that the executive team’s vision is communicated.
Tzanoukakis said, “Truly, we ‘treat employees like people’ and work hard to communicate so that employees are the first to be in the know, understand expectations and have the necessary support to help grow the company.”
The Challenges of Retention (and Employee Retirement)
In an industry monopolized by the eagerness and need to reduce employee turnover, companies also are faced with an aging workforce and looming retirements (Well earned, of course!). “Historically, Sussex has not experienced significant retention challenges. The biggest challenge we have faced in the past few years is retirements,” said Tzanoukakis.
With 32 employees who have retired since 2020, and another 51 employees in its 25-year club, Sussex is leaning into its retention strategies and is laser-focused on recruiting the ‘right employees.’ “Of those employees in our aging workforce, several have been at the company for over 40 years. Our leadership team” said Tzanoukakis, “has been intentional about succession planning for key roles in the organization, as well as cross-training throughout departments. Also, we have looked at several roles and reimagined them, better aligning required skills and abilities with the needs of the organization. Over time, some employees took on duties that were not necessarily in their job descriptions, and these needed to be reallocated.”
In the face of what Tzanoukakis states as a “seasonal nature of the business,” Sussex adopted various ideas to keep business as usual, operations moving, customer satisfaction high and the ability to fill the skills gap. Tzanoukakis said, “At the operator level, we have a portion of temporary associates due to the seasonal nature of our business. During COVID-19, we had a significant increase in business and needed to quickly increase the number of operators. We relied on our strong culture, training programs and other incentives, such as catered lunches, giveaways and weekly attendance bonuses, to increase retention during this time.”
Sussex is aware that it cannot retain every employee, but it is of high importance that jobs are retained and teamwork is prioritized. Tzanoukakis said, “We work best as a team, leaning into our different perspectives to get to the best solutions – especially when needing to fill the employee gaps. We find that employee referrals can bring in the best talent. The company has many extended family members and friends who work at Sussex IM. All employees go through the same interview and hiring process, but – from a retention standpoint – the family connection is important. We know that an employee wouldn’t refer a family member if that person wouldn’t be a good fit for our culture. Additionally, we offer referral bonuses for key positions that are hard to fill.”
Practice What Is Preached
“As a leadership team, we ‘practice what we preach,’” said Tzanoukakis.
Sussex knows that culture is its number-one retention strategy. Tzanoukakis, as president and CEO, has her sights set on continuing to build on the one-of-a-kind culture Sussex has worked to create over the past decades, and her leadership team knows it’s on them to practice what is expected of their employees. “Our doors are open to employees. We strive to create a positive environment where employees enjoy coming to the office. There’s flexibility, when necessary, but no official work-from-home policy. Our people,” said Tzanoukakis, “want to be in the office, they want to collaborate and spend time with each other. We work best as a team, leaning into our different perspectives to get to the best solutions. This is the most efficient way to solve our customers’ problems and deliver a top-notch level of service.”
One of the greatest gifts a leader can possess is recognizing employees who go beyond ‘just getting the job done’ and exemplify the company’s core values. Sussex employees play an important role and each person positively can impact the company, creating a professional (and personal) journey of value, growth and desire to stay put.
For Sussex, retention of its employees starts and ends with its six core values, and – when fully adopted loyalty ensues.It can be as simple as, “treating employees like people,” said Tzanoukakis.
More information: www.sussexim.com
