Down Economy Doesn't Stop Company's Sense of Camaraderie

Online, March 18, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Throughout the past year many businesses have been put under enormous financial stress resulting in cut benefits and job loss. Anchor Plastics owner Steve Rogers was under the same pressure, but decided that the relationship he has with his employees was too great to take the easy way out and got creative. He kept his small business afloat throughout the economic downturn of 2009 all while keeping employee spirits high.

During 2009 Anchor Plastics' sales volumes was about half of what it was last year, which meant as the President, Steve had some major decisions to make. Instead of taking the easy way out by laying off employees or slashing benefits, Steve cared enough about his staff to work around this obvious answer and allowed everyone to keep their jobs. As a team, the employees of Anchor Plastics took several weeks, even months, of 24-32 hour weeks. Even though no one had enough hours to qualify as full-time, Steve still offered the same benefits. By working together, this allowed everyone to stay employed with the company through the rough patch and see the light at the end of the tunnel coming into 2010.

Also, in previous years, Steve has funded three company events per year for the employees of Anchor Plastics as fun, team building exercises. During 2009 Steve got creative in finding activities that were a little more frugal, but still fun for the staff and all three were kept in tact. At the final end of the year event, Steve showed his appreciation for all of his employees' hard work and collaboration during the hard times by handing out Christmas bonuses, something that the staff assumed would have been cut due to the lag in sales. By doing this, Steve showed his employees that they were working for someone who was appreciative of what they do for him and cared about them beyond the doors of the office building.