In a tight employment market, a gas distribution business has kept turnover among typically transient staff to 5% a year using incentives that keep everyone chasing the same goals.
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General Manager: Debbie Hill
Company: Supagas
Business type: Gas manufacture and distribution
Employees: 140 (125 full-time equivalent)
Turnover: (2004 - 2005) About $45M
Head office: Dandenong, Victoria
Contact details: +61 3 9706 6262
The Supagas Story
How many factory workers, truck drivers or office staff are rewarded with an annual weekend at a luxury resort - with their spouse or partner? That is just one way that the Melbourne-based, bottled-gas distributor Supagas thanks employees who have been with the company for more than two years. In February 2006, employees and their partners went to Peppers Resort in the NSW Blue Mountains for two nights and two of days of eating, drinking and relaxing.
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Key learning points:
- Incentives - To attract and keep staff, be generous and regular with incentives. Make your business the employer of choice in your sector or industry.
- Management - Make opportunities to talk with staff at every level of the business.
- Families - Include staff members’ partners and/or families in some of your internal incentive programs. Building loyalty to the business can begin at home.
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Debbie Hill, General Manager of Supagas, works hard to keep her 140 workers motivated in what are undeniably repetitive jobs. She grew up in the company and has been working at Supagas for 15 years. Her father, Bill Haddrell, started the business in 1972 when he was greasing and oiling forklifts and saw an opportunity to supply them with gas. Bill then branched into supplying industrial gases such as those used for welding. Ten years ago, Supagas built a plant for the manufacture and bottling of industrial gases at Dandenong near Melbourne.
Supagas’s business lines include the Supaswap LPG bottles at service stations, which contributed less than $1 million of its $45 million annual turnover in 2005. The bread and butter of the business is forklift gas-bottle changeovers; gas bottles for industrial heaters and industrial gases provide most of the rest.
The Challenge
Debbie Hill says that finding workers who fit the company culture is hard, but finding ways to motivate them is the greatest challenge. “There’s a whole different mentality involved in being general manager of a firm of accountants to managing a company of truck drivers. There’s not too many uni degrees around here. So we are dealing with semi-skilled people working in a dirty factory environment who have to support their families on $45,000 a year.”
The Solution
Supagas has developed two key methods for motivating staff: rewards and hands-on management. Regular incentives keep staff moving from treat to treat and a low-hierarchy structure keeps senior management involved and accessible. Staff who have been with the company for more than two years are flown to a resort, with their partners, on a Friday afternoon in February for two nights.
They have drinks and a big dinner and some sort of fun activity or game in the afternoon. Then people are free to do as they please. The incentive has been very successful and Debbie says it allows her to sit with drivers and other staff who she can’t see every day.
For every bottle of gas delivered each month, 50¢ per bottle goes into a pool that is distributed among full-time permanent staff. Each eligible staff member receives a bonus payment of $250–300 per month. So everybody has an interest in moving as many gas bottles as possible - and staying on for the monthly payout.
The aim is to keep reminding staff - and their families - that they are valued. The annual Christmas party is for employees and their families. The venue could be a park, with a marquee, lots of food and drink, and a jumping castle and face painting for the children. Managers at the six Supagas depots periodically treat staff by ordering in pizzas or buying drinks on a Friday afternoon.
Debbie Hill believes that practical, hands-on management and motivation have helped Supagas to expand quickly and retain staff in a very competitive employment market. “Staying involved with the people and being a part of their lives is important. I don’t want anybody ever to say, ‘She sits up there in her office and has no idea what we do’. I love what I do and I want some of that to filter through in the culture. We’re not big on the hierarchy around here - we all just have to get in and get the job done.”
The Result
In a semi-skilled industry, which typically has a transient workforce, Supagas has a low staff turnover of less than 5% per year. The company has been growing at 12-15% annually for the past five years.