Profit shared with employee in Sunrise Farms DC Foods   

   

         Frank  Dec. 21, 2010, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

   

DC Foods, located in 35 Northland Rd, Waterloo Ontario, is a federally inspected food processor specializing in the custom processing of Par-Fried Batter Breaded quick-freezing products. It was found  by Mr. Don Kilimnik and Mr. Rob Curik in 1991, and was acquired  by Vancouver based Sunrise Farms on November 27, 2010.

The idea of profit-sharing with employee was initiated by the founder of DC Foods.

At the start, they took 5% of profit as dividend equally to all employees quarterly with the simple purpose of employee can share the fruit of they hard made. 

Later, due to staff’s absenteeism seriously affected normal production, then the distribution of profit-sharing linked to the attendance of employees.

As a foods processing Company, in DC Foods, the most jobs are standing with both hands and eyes busy in a minus temperature environment. Working condition is not very good, but humanized management is good.

In nowadays hard life, perhaps, some times, some people might forgotten to celebrate own birthday. However, in DC Foods, you need not to worry about it. Ms. Monica will face you to sing happy birthday to you when your birthday. You may imagine the feeling when Monica is singing facing to you if you are not working there. Would you not be moved? Perhaps it is the happiest birthday in your life besides your mother’s celebrating for you.

In their employee’s team, there are lame, dumb, and even deaf. Every one works happy. Employer’s seeing is, is employee doing the best rather than how much could be contributed. Of course they would assign the job according to the ability of individual employees.

     There is about 10% to 35% of total payment being paid as bonus based on the basic payment, which is floating with the profit quarterly. This kind of payment makes the employee produce the feeling as a partner to share the profit with the owner together to cheer them working harder with full heart.

     They have an automatic packaging machine that is same model with the one that was using in another company. In that Company, the success rate of packaging was 80% – 85%, there was 15% – 20% of packaging defect boxes being shredded into the trash by the operators. However, in DC foods, the packaging machine has been carefully improved. Their method is extremely simple, only with some Plexiglas cemented on the specific area of the machine to make it functions properly. Thus, the success rate of packaging increased substantially. Even if occasionally produces some packing defect boxes, the operators would fix them manually, so that there is no any box is wasted. This is the positive effect of their smart profit-shared bonus policy. If the production cost is reduced, the profit will be increased, and the bonus will certainly be increased, too. Humanized management make the employees feel in working for their own. Although, the foods processing is not a high profit industry, the payment could not be very high. However, DC      Foods is making up the shortfall with making the employees comfortable psychologically.
     Traditional management is mostly to maximize the profit with minimizing the cost in payment, not to mention to let the employees sharing the profit. Now it is outdated. Running a business is like sailing a boat against the water current, it is easily to be forced going backward, which can be only avoided by more people paddling with concerted efforts. Profit-shared payment could make every employee doing their best in paddling to ensure a business boat to keep going forward, especially in nowadays hot market competing environment. The higher payment could be compensated from improved productivity by attracting and preserving smart and skilled employees and the long term steady development of the business.

     The profit-sharing payment does not mean that eat all profit without preserving the fund for long term development of the enterprises. It only reforms the rigid payment style that paid annually or hourly regardless the company’s profit to make employees and employers shared their fate together. The operation may be as that takes a portion from the basic payment to be paid as bonus in floating with profit. The whole payment should be up or down with enterprise’s operating performance that determined by every employee’s work performance.

     The profit-sharing payment is facing all the members of the enterprise rather than only facing top managers usually. It may play a leverage effect in promoting employees to exert their potential, which is different with the financial leverage because of only good no hazardous.

     Employer should encourage the employee to joint working in development of products and markets with the profit–associated award, such as 20% to 50% of the first year’s profit from a new product or a new market. In information exploded today, the development of new products and new markets is not a matter limited in Company’s technicians and salesperson, every employee has the potential. There would some smart people be attracted in with their new products or potential ideas from outside the enterprise. There would be more products to be developed and more market to be opened from more people willingly to share the headache that is certainly belong to the employer. Doing business is to put up a performance stage for dancing and appreciating with smart people.

     In fact, I once worked in DC Foods only 2 weeks from a job agency in 5 years ago, at that time, Ms. Monica was not work there yet. When I heard her story recently, I was tearful. As a personnel manager, her humanized manner is significant. We might have learnt that France Telecom employees committed suicide, Foxconn employees suicide by stepping down from high building. Their suicide is not just the end of their own life; the impact for their family members is fatal. For their colleagues and all of us also is substantial psychological harm. Maybe some people might say that those suicides are depressed. However, we should seriously reflect on that, why are more and more people being depressed in today’s society, a society is being believed as highly civilized. I think, it must be there some thing is not civilized yet.

     Tragic reality has presented us with a serious question: What is the purpose to run enterprises? Yes, it is for making profit, but the ultimate goal is to make people live better. If an enterprise can not make employees comfortable, then what is the significance of the enterprise’s existence? The most of human social activities are aimed at a better life with a beautiful hope. Why do we use unbeautiful manner to manage the beautiful activities? We need to call for humanized management. We need more Ms. Monica.

     Good Ms. Monica enlightens me to expand the vision to the broader scope beyond the enterprise management.

     French finance minister Mrs Lagarde said that, “most women in power, on the other hand, were less ruled by their libido and thus able to make more cool-headed judgments.” I think her comment is reasonable. Compared with the man, woman is more patient and humane due to their maternal instinct. Ms. Monica is a vivid example. Here, there are other examples.

     Dave, the supervisor of the day shift. As a production-line’s Supervisor，in all aspects of his work are great. Here, I just want to talk about one thing that he did, but, unrelated his duties. We work in a food processing plant that need to frozen foods with Nitrogen. The door of freezers can not help but have nitrogen leaking. Dave has been using the wet paper to seal the door to block the Nitrogen leaking every day for many years. I appreciate Dave initiatively considering lowering the production cost with practical practice and insisting for many years. His deed is rare and great. I heartily treat him as a good friend.

     Paul, the supervisor of evening shift. The position as supervisor is to work by watching and instructing generally. However, Paul is to work as general operator that is busy all shift, once find some operator’ operation is wrong; he will make demonstration rather than instruction orally.  Once some operator can not come to work, he would replace the post to work as a general operator. The rare and great is that he has been insisting doing so for many years.  I heartily treat him as a good friend, too.