Our Production Staff: Mighty, Wonderful

Working with your hands and strength is so different from working at a desk. We have great respect for both kinds of skills and make it a priority to encourage friendly, collegial relationships between our office folks and our warehouse staff.

Celebrations, parties, skits, and even business meetings, take place together. At Savvy Rest and in this world we are all equal, or at least that’s our view. Every person wants and deserves opportunities to develop both personally and professionally. On an ongoing basis, we train and teach each other. (Laura got a lesson in forklift driving the other day!) Our production team is characterized by patience, expertise, good humor, and courteous, professional customer service. We’ve lost track of the number of compliments they’ve received.

We can provide excellent customer service only because our production people take pride and care, knowing that when they are preparing an order, they are offering someone the opportunity for deeper rest and comfort. They could take a cavalier attitude, but they know that what they make is going into the most intimate area of a home. This brings meaning to the workplace every single day, and we take every opportunity to acknowledge that.

It’s a wonderful litmus test for us. Are we treating customers, vendors, and all our fellow employees with dignity and respect? We can say “yes” unequivocally to that question.

Last summer, Mohan Andrews from Cocolatex, our main latex supplier in India, led a training about the latex manufacturing process. We were able to show him any minor imperfections in latex we had received, and he taught us how each variation came about, as well as gave us even more detailed information about the latex manufacturing process.

A few weeks ago Savvy Rest staff members got together to run a four-mile race to support the University of Virginia hospital. Nine of us completed the race, and regardless of experience level, everyone had a good time. Many of those who didn’t run and some spouses and children showed up to cheer us on. It felt good to bond together outside the workaday routine.

Last night we had a festive dinner to celebrate one another and our achievements in 2008. Perhaps most fitting to the season, Damien became father to 8-pound baby boy last week. Damien is a smart and thoughtful athletic coach. It will be very cool to see how long it will take the baby to dunk a basketball like his daddy.

It’s going to be a great season.