Thompson's Ongoing Commitment to Employee Satisfaction

Our top two priorities are our customers and our employees, and we take our commitment to both very seriously - it's right there in our mission statement: "Our customers and employees constitute our two most valuable assets and we are dedicated to the success of both."

In the midst of the current labor shortage, our employee engagement and retention has become especially important to Thompson. We've taken a close look at our culture and team over the past year, and we've found that, like many companies, we have room for improvement. We have dedicated lots of time and resources into adapting some of our policies and procedures to ensure current employees are set up for success, and attract new team members. While this is an ongoing commitment, here are a few of the key adjustments we've made: 

1. Creation of a new position dedicated solely to employee engagement and growth. The Talent Engagement Specialist position was created to help grow our culture and increase employee engagement. This position is solely dedicated to attracting new talent and growing our current employees. We plan to develop our culture by adding a new onboarding program, doing more activities for/with the employees, providing more training for our managers, succession planning, more career fairs, getting out and visiting the locations, and helping our employees become successful in their career.
2. Creation of Employee Activities Committee. The activities committee was created this spring and has helped with employee engagement by bringing a group of people from each location together to plan fun things! The activities themselves have brought locations together by getting to spend more time together that isn’t always focused on work. We have gotten the opportunity to get to know each other more and have had a lot of fun in the process! A few of our activities include: bowling, ice cream social, bags tournament, taco bar, and upcoming company-wide employee picnic!
3. Total rebuild of the onboarding process. Going to a more formal onboarding process will help increase the engagement of our new employees. On their first day they learn about the company as a whole, learn about our policies and procedures, but most importantly get to spend the day getting to know each other and the leadership team at Thompson Truck and Trailer. New employees spend the first full day here in Cedar Rapids. We cater in lunch and eat with the leadership team, we review benefits, we review our policies, we talk about the Thompson culture, talk about customer service, talk about the growth opportunities, anything and everything that they need to know on day one. This formalized process is a big leap from where we were just a few months ago and will help set new employees up with all the information they need to succeed. 
4. Focus on social skills manager training. We recognize the importance of having strong managers and strive to provide growth opportunities for employees. When there are employees that are looking to grow in the company, we will help coach them to build the skills necessary to lead. Our existing managers will be provided with 1:1 training to go over things like interview skills, communication, crucial conversations, different leadership styles, resolving conflict, diversity/equity/inclusion, employee retention, coaching, accountability, etc. This step is still in development and will be implemented in the coming weeks and months. 
5. Implementation of "Dress For Your Day" dress code. One of the biggest, yet most simple, changes we made was to our dress code. After taking an inventory of other companies in our industry, we changed our non-technician dress code to be more casual, where employees can be accountable for their own work attire. The change has been positive and has empowered the team to dress for the specific responsibilities of their day.  

The process of growing employee engagement and retention is far from "complete" and will continue to be a top priority for all of us here at Thompson. By taking these steps, we are in a better position to attract and retain top employees in the months and years to come!