Healthcare Laundry: Jay Juffre, ImageFIRST, King of Prussia, Pa.
Incentivizing production associates and leadership to increase productivity can be an intriguing way to take results to the next level, but only if it is done strategically.
There is an old adage: Do not throw money at a problem. Simply telling the associates they will get X dollars if we hit X PPOH probably will not cut it. Here are some ways to help guarantee success.
First, measure every employee’s productivity to get a baseline and then begin to monitor it every day. Based on this, establish standards and stretch goals.
Then, be disciplined enough to track and measure results daily. Post them. Talk about them. And work with the employee and teams on ways to get better.
There is nothing better than a supervisor or peer working with the employee to help them improve their results, especially when they know it is tied to a financial incentive.
Second, educate the employee on how PPOH is calculated and how they can help improve it.
This may sound complex and a waste of time. Many people think production employees don’t care. To the contrary. There are examples (e.g., read Great Game of Business) where getting the hourly employees knowledgeable in the numbers paid big dividends.
Post the results prominently vs. goal. Post yesterday’s pounds washed with the operating hours and PPOH, post last week’s, post month-to-date and quarter-to-date. Celebrate the wins and talk with the team on why we missed or are missing.
The third piece of the puzzle is having good training for new employees. As new members join the team, the sooner they can get up to speed and get to standard, the better. If it takes them longer, your PPOH will suffer more than it needs to.
The final piece of the puzzle is staying fully staffed with no temps. There is nothing more demoralizing to a team that has a goal, where A) they do not have enough people to accomplish it, or B) there is a revolving door of temporary workers who have no desire to get there, or worse yet, are not trained to do so even if they did.
If you create the right team atmosphere, and support the incentive the right way, 2024 could be a record year!
Uniforms/Workwear Manufacturing: Scott Delin, Fashion Seal Healthcare, Seminole, Fla.
Hard to believe that 2023 is quickly coming to the end of its life cycle and 2024 is looking us right in the eye. Wow, time flies when you are having fun doesn’t it?
Now that summer is over and the colder days and nights are upon us (at least up here in the Northeast for sure) it is time to put the lawn and patio furniture away and gear up for the cold winter months that lie ahead of us.
It is also time to get the firewood stacked on the deck for many nights of hot chocolate in front of a warm toasty fireplace.
In fact, just this past weekend while looking at the huge pile of firewood delivered and dropped on my driveway, I had to set a goal for moving and stacking the firewood delivered to my house onto my deck.
I immediately realized that being an empty nester right now is not all it is cracked up to be. This void made me think of 2023 and the goals I set to move and stack the wood in a timely manner.
I immediately revisited the methods previously used to accomplish the job of moving and stacking.
While stacking wood, I figured there has to be an easier way to get this tedious task at hand accomplished more efficiently and quicker.
This also made me transgress into goals for 2024. I asked myself, what incentives do I have to increase my productivity for 2024? What can I do differently next year to help myself, my customers and my company achieve the goals set as we enter into 2024?
As laundry owner/operators, we are always looking for ways to increase our PPOH (pounds per operator hour). What benchmarking measurements are we using to set goals?
We need to look at what we are using as benchmarking measurements long and hard. Are the measurements accurate, inflated, realistic or a pipedream? What obstacles are there that make the goals at hand more challenging or hard to achieve?
We need to look at our machinery. Is it old, dated and in need of a tune-up or even a facelift? What about our plant layout? With the addition of new equipment, do we need to revisit the machinery layout of our plant to make the workflow more efficient?
Let us not forget ongoing education. We need to re-educate our staff and ourselves.
With all the new technology that is coming to our market and available to our facilities, it is our responsibility to make sure our staff is given the proper education and tools to not only meet the goals set for 2024 but exceed them as well.
Seminars, in-house training and in some cases off-site training is required for us to be successful.
Times are changing and the way we do business is changing as well. As owner/operators, we need to be willing to change as well.
Be open to new ideas and ways of attacking daily obstacles that lie in our way. Listen to suggestions brought forth by our staff, as they are the ones in the trenches on a daily basis. Remember, it takes just one good idea to increase PPOH.
If one roadblock appears in front of us, we need to step back analyze the situation as a team and bring forth the resolution to move the roadblocks and forge forward.
Improving productivity and our PPOH is going to be key for us to succeed in this competitive workplace. As we continually invest in our staff and our plants, all of the goals set assuming they are realistic should be attainable.
For me, with no more kids in the house to help me move the wood, I had to quickly figure out how to increase my own PPOH and meet the goal of getting everything moved and stacked before my wife returned home from visiting her mother.
Thanks to my trusty wheel barrel and offering to pay two of my neighbor’s kids a nice monetary award, my wood was moved and stacked in record time. Goal met! Now, time for some hot chocolate in front of a nice warm fire.
Happy and healthy 2024 to all of my readers. Stay healthy!
Read Part 1 with advice from hotel/motel/resort laundry, consulting services and textile/uniform rental experts by clicking HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
