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Lesson #3: Engage with Your Employees

Article Overview: In 1886, Heinz returned from a trip to Germany. It was an eye-opening journey for more reason than one. Along the way, Heinz had acquired a myriad of different business management ideas that he could not wait to get back to America to begin implementing and experimenting with in his own company. One of those ideas related to the management and treatment of his workers.

Lesson #3: Engage with Your Employees

In 1886, Heinz returned from a trip to Germany. It was an eye-opening journey for more reason than one. Along the way, Heinz had acquired a myriad of different business management ideas that he could not wait to get back to America to begin implementing and experimenting with in his own company. One of those ideas related to the management and treatment of his workers.

In Germany, Heinz had taken particular notice of how companies there managed their workers. He noticed that by and large, they were often treated better and earned more than workers in Heinz’s native state. As a result, Heinz witnessed first-hand the motivating effects of such benefits, and he decided he would return home to try and do the same.

As soon as Heinz returned back to work, he introduced a wave of new social benefits and services for his workers. He believed it would have a positive effect on both the productivity of his workers and, in following, the quality of his products.

Heinz also made sure to keep in close touch with all of his employees. He would show up to work and try to personally encourage his workers and lend his enthusiasm to their efforts. He also gave the head of each department significant responsibility when it came to the personal and professional development of the workers below them.

Heinz believed that a person only developed so much as the people under their charge developed. As such, he made it the mandate of all of his top executives to take a pro-active interest in their employees, and to cultivate a spirit of respect and appreciation throughout his company. He encouraged solidarity amongst his workers no matter what their rank. Indeed, one of Heinz’s proudest accomplishments was in never having been witness to a strike within any of his own factories. He believed that if employers kept in close and sympathetic touch with their workers, any labour disputes that arose could be easily dissolved in the spirit of friendship. His theory proved to be true.

Heinz implemented a system of daily meetings, where younger workers in the company could come forward in an open and honest environment to discuss their work with the heads of departments, voicing any of their concerns or suggestions. He was also one of the first corporate executives to ever establish a yearly convention. Here, all of his branch managers and foremen would meet to discuss anything and everything relating to the company’s operations in a bid to keep improving.

To the outside world, the name Heinz represented quality processed foods. But to workers within the company, the name represented a man who stood up for their rights, who treated them with respect, and who made it his personal mandate to take care of their well-being and development.

Because of Heinz’s human resources management philosophy, his company enjoyed some of the most loyal and productive workers in the industry. His trip to Germany had paid off in more ways than one.

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Article Tags: business management, factories, friendship, germany, heinz, journey, labour disputes, management ideas, mandate, myriad, productivity, professional development, solidarity, spirit, top executives, witness



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