Hope Timber believes pallets and people deserve second chances.
While Hope Timber Pallet is known for building, repairing and recycling pallets for many Ohio businesses, they also have made building up people, regardless of background, part of their core business values.
“Quite often, our employees need a second chance or a way to build their lives,” TJ Harvey, Vice President/Director of Operations for Hope Timber Pallet, states. “Because of that, we focus on growth and developing our employees’ skills.”
Working on employee skills has had a positive impact on the customer experience too. The strong core values that exist at Hope Timber, encourage employees to embrace:
- Treating each other positively and respectfully
- Seeking continuous improvement
- Being an active part of the team at Hope Timber
- Providing delivery excellence to Hope Timber customers
Another way Hope Timber is investing in their employees is through recent improvements to the employee break room, outer buildings and other parts of the Hope Timber grounds. A main reason for this is so employees will take pride in themselves, as well as their place of work. While Hope Timber is in the business of building better pallets, TJ again notes “a key purpose of our company is building better lives.”
Respectful Relationships That Strengthen with Time
Depending on their life experience, some employees may not have always been in a work environment that was positive and respectful. TJ adds, “We try to build those qualities for all of our employees so they will know we are on their side.”
Hope Timber is also working with their employees to improve their professionalism and self-awareness in the workplace. In fact, the company has brought in an outside instructor who meets with some of the staff to help them learn those skills. Learning about ways to have healthy conflict may be a first for many people.
The company also has hired a skills coach who helps employees discover resources to help with issues such as housing, or work with them on how to get a loan.
“We know no one is perfect,” TJ says. “So, we just want everyone to get a little better each day!”
Excellent Delivery and Teamwork
Hope Timber prides itself on a high-level product, as well as quality custom builds. They believe their customer experience is second to none.
One of the goals of the company is to make that high-quality focus an aspiration for all of its employees.
The pallet-building team at Hope Timber is now at 125 employees. However, TJ explains, the company has worked at ensuring every team member has a valuable role to play. So, they break the staff down into small teams to allow employees to get closer and bounce problems off of their immediate team.
Hope Timber began their employee-centric efforts roughly five years ago and have noticed turnover has dropped dramatically in that time. TJ notes, “And, in addition to motivating our employees, we have tried to improve ourselves.”
In the end, Hope Timber Pallet is a different kind of company.
“We hire lots of people with varied backgrounds. We see the potential in many types of people.” But the key, TJ says, is the willingness of his family-owned company to improve themselves along with their employees.
And that is a chance everyone should get in life.
If you’re interested in joining the Hope Timber team or learning more about our supportive workplace initiatives for employees, check out our current job opportunities or call 740-344-1788.
