28 WESTERN PALLET
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(7 tied to the cost of living and 14 to legislation or ballot initiatives).
- Customers used to focus mainly on lumber fluctuations. But now, wages and labor-related costs are a bigger portion of total pallet input costs. “If you haven't found a way to start having a conversation with your customers about not just the cost for lumber or the cost of recycled pallets, but also the costs of labor and your total cost, you need to be able to start doing that,” Brindley remarked.
- While asking employees for referrals (friends looking for jobs) is the preferred method of new employee recruitment, the use of online job postings has moved up from the #5 position to #2. It flipped with temp services, which dropped to the #5 spot.
- Approaches including employee engagement surveys, formal onboarding programs that extend over a 90 day or longer time period and organizational culture building initiatives can help improve retention.
Seneca Sawmill Training Featured in TV News
EUGENE, Ore. -- WPA-member Seneca Sawmill offers several apprenticeship programs, including electrician, millwright and saw filing. Seneca was featured on a January 27 report on KEZI. The company has a relationship with Lane Community College to help students complete the electrician program. The millwright and saw filing programs, however, do not require formal degrees.