The Importance of DCS’ Culture in Hiring and Retention

While Designed Conveyor System’s (DCS) leadership works to expand our team to support business growth, they’ve also emphasized continued nurturing of a strong, positive culture. As a part of the team tasked with employee hiring and retention, I can say with authority that culture is an important piece of DCS’ success.

Culture has been defined by research company Gallup as “how we do things around here.” At DCS, we make that clear through our five core values:

• Be Reliable: If we commit, we are going to do it.
• Be Learning Oriented: We are always improving.
• Be Bold: We are not afraid to speak up, then fully commit.
• Be Easy to Work With: We are helpful and low-hassle.
• Be a Problem-Solver: Our first response is “Let’s figure it out.”

While at first blush those may appear to be customer-focused—and that is certainly true—we also embody those core values in our relationships with colleagues. Everyone at DCS fully embraces each of those characteristics.

Not only does that enable us to accomplish our mission, “Delivering the best customer and employee experience in the industry,” but also it has helped us attract new talent and ensure long-term satisfaction among our people. Both are key contributors to the strength of our business.

The Business Benefits of a Positive Culture

Multiple research studies have shown that businesses with a positive culture perform better. For example, Gallup found that when at least 80% of an organization’s employees feel that their contributions are valued their productivity increases. So much so, that a company will both improve profits and successfully grow their workforce.

Additionally, according to the Pew Research Center, 57% of employees quit because they feel disrespected on the job. A positive culture that fosters a highly collaborative, supportive environment is one that employees are far less likely to leave.

While DCS leadership appreciates the business benefits of a positive culture, that’s not why we work so hard to create it. Rather, at DCS, we truly believe in The Platinum Rule: Treat others the way they want to be treated. Everyone is respected and valued here.

At DCS, nobody is afraid that asking for someone else’s help on a project or input on an idea will make them appear less competent. Likewise, when sharing constructive feedback, it comes from a place of compassion and to reinforce a growth mindset, not to tear someone down. I’m not saying we’re perfect—we’re all human here after all—but I genuinely feel incredibly lucky to work for this organization. That’s a shared sentiment among my colleagues as well.

Finding the Right Fit Sustains Culture

Because we take our culture so seriously, we are very selective about who we bring into the fold. Prospective employees pass through an extremely thorough hiring process. It includes an initial phone interview, a DiSC® assessment, a skills and abilities interview, and a “culture add” interview—all before a final interview.

While it may feel arduous to some, we believe it’s important for both the candidate and our team to ensure the right fit on both sides. We obviously want to add talent to our team, but it’s important that we add the right person. Likewise, we want a potential employee to gain true insight into how DCS works. That’s why we ensure they speak with different team members during each interview.

In my opinion, the “culture add” interview is the key component of our hiring process. Our goal is to find team members who are not only a good fit, but also can add to or enhance our culture. This interview is conversational, not transactional. It also gives a candidate the opportunity to interview DCS employees about their experience here, our culture, and more. If the candidate decides our approach isn’t for them, we understand. Most of the time, however, this process yields the optimal addition to our company.

Why Employees Stay at DCS

Beyond creating a positive, collaborative, and supportive culture, DCS employees enjoy a high degree of autonomy. There’s no micromanaging here. Instead, leadership trusts that employees will prioritize and structure their workload as they see fit. That, in turn, fosters a sense of ownership over projects, time management, and work-life balance that our employees truly appreciate. That appreciation correlates to stellar employee engagement and an exceptionally high retention rate.

We also recognize that opportunities for learning, growth, and improvement are important pieces of employee satisfaction. As a learning-oriented company, DCS launched a new career path initiative in 2022. This program supports and invests in employees as they discover and identify opportunities for professional growth. We’re excited to see the directions our employees choose to follow in their development.

Surveying our employees is also a critical component of ensuring a positive culture. Through informal conversations initiated by leadership, open door practices, and real-time pulse surveys we continually solicit feedback from our team. The purpose is not to pat ourselves on the back, but rather to look for new ways to get even better. Instead, we routinely review our pulse survey data to identify trends and report those insights to our colleagues. For example, as we’ve experienced tremendous growth, we’ve taken the input of our employees about the need to develop more formalized processes between departments to improve efficiency.

Finally, our leadership team is very intentional about formulating a resource plan and hiring responsibly. As the supply chain industry has slowed down over the past few months, we have been able to keep all our employees busy. Thanks to our intentional hiring, we have not had to resort to staff cuts, keeping our operations running smoothly and our customers well served.

We Always Want What’s Best for Our People

I don’t want to create the perception that we never lose people at DCS. Employees do occasionally move on to take other opportunities to advance or work in fields outside ours. At our core, we always want our employees to do what’s best for them, their careers, and their families.

Notably, in exit interviews departing staffers emphasize the difficulty they had in deciding to leave our culture and their colleagues. In fact, we’ve even had employees come back after a period of time away. When they do, they often cite our unique culture as one of the biggest draws to return to the DCS team—and we’re always excited to welcome them back.

Ultimately, I can’t understate the importance of DCS’ culture in hiring and retention. We truly embrace our employees as the foundation of our success, and they make our business one of the best in the field. I am grateful to be a part of it.

Want to learn more about our culture and how you can be a part of it? Connect with me through DCS.

Author: Ruth Ann Rooker, Culture and Engagement Manager, ruthann@designedconveyor.com