Page 24 - HW May 2022

glues, sealants & adhesives
People remain a priority in these uncertain times
All of our commentators acknowledge how difficult the past
couple of years have been on their people, both professionally and personally, and finding additional resources has become ever harder as businesses try to grow.
“We’re coming off a couple of years of real uncertainty,” states Soudal’s Melanie Reid,“and it’s affected our people in a number of ways, both at home and at work.
“It has probably weighed on some more than others but we never underestimated the impact on everyone, and I’d like to think that we’ve worked consistently with our people to make sure they’re okay: to check in, reassure and give them space when they need space, and to motivate and keep them going.
“It’s taken a lot of time and effort but is paying off by keeping our team engaged and motivated and connected to the business at times when it’s been very challenging.”
Plus, adds Paul O’Reilly at Bostik, the “new variables” that have emerged in 2022 – the tragic war in Ukraine and recent Chinese lockdowns – have done nothing to ease supply chain and shipping problems.
“And we just don’t know how bad things are going to be,” says Paul.“Our people working in supply chain have incredibly difficult
jobs trying to work out lead times and get containers onto ships and through to their destination.”
Tony Smith gets to the point when he says that the market is “an absolute shambles from a supply point of view” and in some areas deteriorating further.
“But we’re managing well under the circumstances,” says Tony. “Our logistics personnel are working desperately hard to keep the blood pumping through the supply chain and I’ve never seen our operations guys work so hard to keep all our customers happy.”
In respect of these pressures, SIKA has been “very mindful” of its team’s mental health, on top of which the team has “done a great job of looking after one another. It’s been really hard on people working from home and especially tough on salespeople who thrive on contact with people.”
While accepting that we’re in for more of the same, Melanie Reid remains optimistic in her outlook:“We’re getting used to this new normal with Covid, productivity in the industry has lifted again with more people back on-site, and we’ve all become very agile and much more capable of accepting change on a daily basis.
“But it is a constant watch-out to continue looking after our people.”
22 NZHJ | MAY 2022 MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz