14 Sept 2016
England Logistics Response
9yAfter reading this post, I felt compelled to respond as most of the points expressed are completely false and baseless. I’d like to take a moment to address each of them.
Turnover is not out of control. In fact, if you measure our turnover over the past couple of years, it has been reduced dramatically as we have put measures in place to increase employee welfare. It is amazing how many people forget all of the events that England Logistics puts on in order to increase employee satisfaction. Just to name a few events: Annual Kickoff event, EL Summer Games, EL Dodgeball Tournament, Casino Night, family day at Boondocks, and EL Team Building Challenge. These events come at a cost to the company but I know for a fact that Jason is a champion for these events because he cares about each employee and his/her family.
Regarding the various VP’s that have left the company, some have left on their own, but others have been relieved because of lack of performance. I also know for a fact that all of the individuals that have left the company that were on the executive team still maintain a great relationship with Jason and the rest of the executive team. In fact, just last week, we had lunch with one of these individuals. He mentioned that Jason was influential in helping him land his next opportunity and mentioned how grateful he was for the friendship he had developed. Your assertion that these VP’s couldn’t work with Jason is completely baseless and false. This post also mentions that Jason is hesitant to get rid of underperformers because they are his friends. This is so far from the truth as two of the three recent separations have been because of lack of performance. During my seven years at England Logistics, I’ve had the opportunity to report to five different leaders and I can say without a doubt that Jason holds me the most accountable. It is something that I embrace as it is part of our culture and has helped me grow in my career.
Arriving early is part of our culture as well. We do stress regularly the importance of being in the office at 7 am in order to start the day out right and be able to service our national customers. I’ve seen on numerous occasions when arriving at 7 that Jason is not only in the office, but is often found holding the door open and greeting the employees that are arriving to start their day. He genuinely cares about the employees and has an open door policy. I have personally witnessed, on a number of occasions, employees requesting to schedule time with Jason to discuss items directly. Never has he put them off and denied them of this opportunity. He has an open door policy and is always willing to listen to what his employees have to say.
Leadership is hard. As a manager, I’m sure you understand. It is easy to cast stones at leadership and let others know what you would do if it were your company. In my experience, the single most important factor in job satisfaction is how the employee feels about their leader. If you feel the floor is toxic, as manager I’d encourage you to look inward rather and see what you can do to improve your group’s welfare. We value the opinions of our leadership and all of us have an open door policy. I am going to offer an invitation to you, since you are a current leader, to come and meet with me directly and discuss all of your concerns. True leadership requires hard things from us and I know that we as an executive team are working diligently on the behalf of the employees. I’ve worked for EL for seven years, starting out as a financial analyst. I didn’t get to the position I am in now because I am friends with Jason. I got there by working hard and embracing the core values of England Logistics. By doing so, I developed a close relationship with all of those that I work with, including Jason.
Again, I encourage you to share your concerns with us directly so we can come together on a solution and we can all grow together. We are all on the same team with a common goal. It only makes sense for us to work together like one.
-Justin Smith