How a Philipsburg company cut hours, not pay during a pandemic, and why it’s working
READ MORE
Business Matters: Path to COVID Recovery
From restaurants to hotels, gyms to theaters, no business has been immune to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. What unites many in Centre County, however, is the resiliency shown in the face of tremendous challenges including shutdowns, fewer customers and financial struggles. Business Matters: Path to COVID Recovery highlights the ways businesses across the county have adapted to pandemic challenges, and what lessons they’ll take into the post-pandemic world.
Expand All
The coronavirus pandemic has served as a massive experiment in working remotely for largely white-collar jobs, giving workers freedom do their jobs from nearly anywhere.
Blue-collar workers haven’t been afforded that opportunity as often, though that didn’t stop one Rush Township production company from implementing a new work environment in the midst of a pandemic.
DiamondBack Covers trimmed one hour off their employees’ eight-hour shifts in the fall, freeing up five hours per week and 260 hours per year. The kicker? Employees’ paychecks didn’t change.
“The thing that is encouraging is — when we ask people what they’re doing with their time — the most common answer isn’t sleeping in or staying up late to watch more TV,” CEO Ben Eltz said. “... The thing that really made this a slam dunk for us is that this made people’s lives better.”
Sales for the company that produces pickup truck bed covers have boomed during the pandemic, leaving DiamondBack executives to consider starting an evening shift to keep up with increasing demand.
The move could’ve forced employees to sacrifice time with their families and their own outdoor pursuits, a potentially counterproductive decision for a company looking to hire people passionate about the outdoors.
The company founded in 2003 began brainstorming solutions in May, and a weeklong trial of the 35-hour week followed in August. It was an immediate success; the change went into effect in November.
“I am able to take my children off in the morning to school, and then I’m home in the evening to be able to have dinner with them as well,” team lead Mandee Corrigan said. “It was the best of both worlds for me.”
Evaluating the feasibility of the new model centered on two main questions: Were their about 100 employees happier? And was it justifiable financially?
The former was measured through a series of surveys, which showed upward of 85% of employees liked the change either as much or more than the previous model.
The change shaved 12.5% of time off employees’ schedules, but Eltz said the goal was to have employees increase their efficiency by about 10%.
The company has no plans to revert to eight-hour shifts, Eltz said. The business employs 103 people, 30 of whom were hired last year. About 10 positions remain unfilled.
“We thought that adding additional capacity and a true second or third shift would make people’s lives worse and it was looking like it was going to be harder to find people,” production manager Kirk David said. “Now, with the 35-hour workweek, we believe that people’s lives are better because they have more time away from work. We’re finding more people that fit who we are and who we want to be.”
The change appears to be a “win-win,” Penn State Abington economics and labor-employment relations professor Lonnie Golden said.
A reduction in hours often means a reduction in income, which can put workers in a bind. But instead, the company is betting the loss in time worked will pay off with better retention rates and employee well-being, Golden said.
“I find this fascinating. They’re picking up on what those of us in academia call ‘making the business case,’ ” Golden said. “It’s in your long-term interest to not overwork your employees and to protect them in a downturn. It looks like they’re trying to do both.”
