Page 17 - 2019 Delegate Assembly Conference
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mission but reducing service count, programs Durkee advised Goodwill leaders poised to
and job training centers. experience minimum wage impacts to begin talking
to and planning with their board now. “Also, stop
He started by cutting mission spending by signing bad leases and raise your prices.”
$1 million, reducing programming and
eliminating administrative positions. In year Questions from Attendees:
two, he further reduced mission spending
by $2.5 million, closed nearly half of his job Q: How did you address wage compression from
training and education centers and eliminated other employees at $15/hour?
26 staff positions. “When resources become A: Durkee – We looked at every single position in
available, we’ll start growing again,” he said. the company. It was accepted pretty well.
Among Campbell’s lessons learned: Q: What do you think of annual merit pay during
• Commit to planning, not only for what’s performance reviews if you’re paying minimum
happening but for what could happen. wage by law?
• Compile all the tools and use them. A: Durkee – We’re starting people at $12.50/hour.
• Put all the right people on the bus and don’t If the legislation doesn’t get you, then the
compromise. labor market will. Everyone within a dollar of
• Reaffirm your core values, then do what the minimum wage gets the minimum on the
date it’s enacted. Everyone above that gets an
you do. increase on their anniversary date.
• Focus on what you do well and do more of
that. Q: Did you do anything differently from a morale
• Solve the real problem. standpoint when you did significant cuts?
• Lead from a perspective of strength. A: Campbell – We built a substantial
• Commit fierce conversations in your communication plan. Communication is
everything. Once employees understood what
organization. was going on, it went better. They felt like they
• Assess, evaluate, assess, evaluate. were included, they felt they had a place in the
• Be patient and ask for help. organization and, most importantly, they felt that
connection to the mission and the work we do.
Improving the Productivity of the Workplace
Q: What was the increase in retail that brought so
When California passed a minimum wage hike much pushback from the customers?
three years ago that will eventually climb to
$15/hour, Durkee and his board committed to A: Campbell – We tried to be strategic about price
one principle: they would not use a strategy increases. People noticed, and they told us a
that would not work. Instead, they looked at bit; they did reviews. We responded but it was
four points of sale (stores, an outlet, salvage clear and there was a critical mass that was
and ecommerce), studied the Financial Ratios developing.
Task Force white paper and decided to invest
in their Goodwill. With $25 million in net assets,
the Goodwill built a new material handling
facility, which placed all of the organization's Watch, Read, Learn | Curated Resources
equipment in one building; renovated stores 1. Watch the full session video.
and sold an old warehouse in Santa Clara.
2. View the full presentation.
“Not only is it a better expression of our 3. Visit the Minimum Wage MyGoodwill site to
mission, but it’s a fundamentally more access additional resources.
productive place to work,” Durkee said. 15
