“I was excited to get on here.” That is a phrase that many of our veteran workforce at Eminence Speaker have uttered. For much of the history of Eminence Speaker, this has been a tough place to gain employment because the turnover rate had been so low. Once you were in, you stayed in and did everything you could to maintain your employment.
Jane Holbrook is one of those people who are genuinely appreciative of what she has. She is a very dependable worker and her quality of work speaks for itself. She has been married for almost 30 years with 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Her Supervisor, Sharon Daugherty, has this to say about Jane:
“Jane is one of my most dependable and dedicated employees that we have. All I have to do is tell her what we need and she gives 100 % in getting it done, with the quality we expect. I don’t have to stand over her or double check her work because she wants her work to be the best it can be, and that’s just one of the reasons why I like having Jane on my team.”
Jane is a very valuable asset to the Eminence Speaker family and is a great employee for us to shine a spotlight on for this month. I sat down with Jane to talk with her about her time here at Eminence:
JM: So, Jane, how long have you worked here at Eminence?
JH: It will be 20 years this month. It took me 2 years to get on full time but I’ve always wanted to work here.
JM: Why is that?
JH: Eminence was always talked about as a good place to work. I went and talked with Bob Gault and told him that I wanted to work and retire from here. He said that people either retire from Eminence or are working here when they die. So, I was hired in to work on dayshift.
JM: I will ask you about working in a moment, but where did you work prior to Eminence?
JH: I worked at Lake Jericho Veneer. We were working about 26 hours of overtime each week when I came to work here at Eminence.
JM: What job responsibilities do you have here at Eminence?
JH: I work in the compression driver department making the domes, blanks, and caps. I work at the heat stage machine, dome former, and dome stomper. I also will tie off coils as they come from the ovens. Those are the primary job functions but I have also filled in on the coil line and final lines when needed.
JM: What do you think is the key to doing a job well?
JH: I think you have to take ownership in your job. You need to do a good job because you want to do a good job. We do not send our components to anyone if we wouldn’t buy it ourselves.
JM: How were things here at the plant when you first started?
JH: My first supervisor here was really tough on us, but profit sharing was really good back then. If you did your job and don’t cause trouble, the company will take care of you. We are like a big family. We will have disagreements but you’ve got to get over that.
JM: And what are your thoughts about things here today?
JH: I feel safe here. I wouldn’t give up working here for anything. I don’t like to miss. Sharon is a great supervisor. She helps you get through things that you never thought you’d get through.
JM: What would you tell the younger generation just coming into our workforce?
JH: I would tell them that this is a good place to work. You need to listen, watch, learn, and grow with the company and they will take care of you. Don’t buy into the negative comments of some people.
JM: Thanks for your time, Jane.
Written by Josh Martin, Eminence’s Technology Sales Manager