A small investment on the employer’s side of the workforce equation can have a huge payoff in productivity, morale and turnover.
By Pat Hudson

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Considering your MRF’s investment in people from the employee’s point of view can help attract and retain people and improve overall productivity.

It is Q4 and a high season for budgeting. MRF owners and operators are focused on planning for the year ahead amid unprecedented economic and business uncertainty. They are addressing how to make shifts that will create greater efficiencies. Facilities are exploring equipment upgrades and purchases. And, they are working to project consumer behavior and commodity prices for the material they recycle.
The pandemic has complicated all of these decisions. It has also disrupted how employees think about work. Q4 is time for your MRF to think about wages and your investment in your people in this unprecedented climate.

Investing in People During COVID
It is a difficult world for employers today. They are dealing with wage pressure from competitor employers and legislative “living wage” mandates in many communities.

It is also a difficult world for employees. Think about the challenges your MRF employees face—the people in roles like sorter, landfill worker, equipment operator, line lead. Their uncertainty is driven by different pressures than yours. They may be experiencing:

  • Concerns about getting sick, becoming infected by COVID-19 from co-workers, friends and family, strangers and life in general; the subsequent loss of income; and the extraordinary health care costs that could follow;
  • Uncertainty about the future of their job or the job of their spouse or partner;
  • Personal financial pressure from changes to income, spending and healthcare expenses;
  • Schedule juggling because of children or other adults working, learning and living in completely new ways; and,
  • Depression and hopelessness driven by social isolation and fear.
  • Let’s face it: as an MRF owner or operator, you are likely to be insulated from many of the financial and emotional impacts of COVID that younger, entry level employees and their families face.
  • While no smart businessperson can ignore the cost of labor line item in their 2021 budget, there are steps you can take to achieve smart wage management and invest in empathic treatment of your employees.

Create a Meaningful Employee Experience
Smart, empathic MRF owners and managers resist tunnel vision when it comes to wages and tune into the overall experience of their employees … from the employee’s point of view.
Working in an MRF is difficult and hazardous. To attract and retain employees in today’s competitive hiring environment for general labor or unskilled workers, you can:

  1. Pay people a low wage
  2. Require them to adapt to a volatile schedule
  3. Expect them to accept tough environmental conditions

However, you cannot have all three and expect to be successful. You can maybe have one of these conditions (see A Case in Point sidebar).

It Starts with a Conversation
Shifting your operation to one that makes small investments on the employee side starts with a conversation. Gather insights. Sit down with your employees and managers to talk openly and honestly about how you can adjust wages or other factors that improve the employee’s experience. For example:
• Do you need to operate from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. because it is a requirement or because you have always done it that way? Could you be equally effective with a 6 a.m. start time if it was more tolerable for your workforce?
• Can you create predictable schedules for your people so they can plan to be part of their kids’ soccer program, monitor home schooling or manage reliable childcare? If you create predictability, you may be able to exchange that benefit for a slightly lower wage rate.
• What are you doing to practice empathy for the COVID-related changes your hourly wage earners are facing?

Living the Dream
People in all stages and walks of life dream about having a job they can count on—one where they can come home safely and enjoy time with their family and friends. Providing that type of job is not radical. It is smart. It is strategic. It is kind. A small investment on the employer’s side of the workforce equation can have a huge payoff in productivity, morale and turnover. | WA


A Case in Point

At Leadpoint, they support a customer’s bin-tagging program in the upper Midwest. These jobs are outdoors, have shift times starting as early as 4:30 a.m., and require people to stick with the job for eight straight weeks. With this situation and winter approaching, they opted to pay these people $18 per hour, far above the average local wage rate. Leadpoint cannot adjust the schedule or the environment, so they chose to focus on pay. As a result, they have filled every position with no turnover. That decision is an example of how Leadpoint considered the employee’s experience as much as budget and productivity.



Pat Hudson
is a recognized recycling industry expert with more than 30 years of experience in productivity, change management and workforce solutions. As Vice President of Customer Experience for Leadpoint Business Services (Phoenix, AZ), he ties together the company’s sales, marketing, recruiting, service support, and technology teams to ensure that their work puts the company’s stakeholders at the center of all decisions and actions. Pat joined Leadpoint in 2015 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing where he drove the company’s marketing, brand development, and sales operations before moving into his current role in 2020. He is certified in Counselor Sales Process training, Miller-Heiman’s large account management and strategic selling programs, and as a contingent workforce professional through Staffing Industry Analysts. Pat can be reached at (888) 205-1511 or e-mail [email protected].

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