We Hear You

The Peoria facility recently did an internal employee survey, getting feedback from employees in the Wire Mill, Rod Mill, Mid Mill and Steelmaking. Four key themes were surveyed:

• What do you like most about working at LIBERTY Steel?

• What do you like least about working at LIBERTY Steel?

• What is LIBERTY Steel doing to help make us successful?

• What single part of LIBERTY Steel needs the most help?

Employees shared that they like pay and benefits, job security, work environment/coworkers, and learning opportunities. However, work environment and conditions, management issues, compensation and workload, as well as employee relations and new hires need some work. Seasoned employees ranked work-life balance high, while less senior employees expressed frustration with scheduling and overtime.

Generally employees gave the facility high marks on efforts around safety improvements, maintenance and equipment upgrades, training and development, employee engagement and input, as well as operational efficiency and changes. But they expressed that maintenance and equipment issues, management and communication, workforce challenges, infrastructure and facilities, and operational efficiency and productivity need work.

ELT members were invited to a Teams meeting on April 30^th to discuss these findings, as well as learn about the plans to address these concerns. They learned about the A3s currently in place, as well as future projects to make working at LIBERTY better.

“I’ve asked all ELT members, managers and supervisors to share these findings and the action plans with their teams,” COO Pieter Vanderwesthuizen said. “It’s important for our employees to know that not only did we hear them, but we are acting on their feedback and working to be an employer of choice. Many items aren’t things that we can fix right away, but we are taking active steps toward solutions.”

Employees are encouraged to ask their supervisors and other leaders about the work being done to address their concerns and to participate in A3s being put in place to fix these issues.

“It will take all of us to make these improvements, and to keep them going for the long term,” Pieter said.