Award-winning Mexican factory offers employees more than just a job
On a recent day off from her assembly plant job [in Tijuanan], Antonia Morena put on her prettiest blouse and returned to her factory, her fiance at her side.
There, the couple took part in a mass wedding.
The factory took care of red tape around the marriage certificate and put on a splashy ceremony for Morena and her fiance, and 30 other couples.
It’s the sort of thing the Plantronics assembly plant does on a routine basis, earning it earlier this year the U.S. State Department’s corporate excellence award, one of three worldwide, and the loyalty of its 2,300-member work force.
A special company
Plantronics, headquartered in Santa Cruz, Calif., designs and assembles headsets for use by air traffic controllers, police and fire dispatchers, and retail clients. It’s had operations in Tijuana for four decades.
Just 400 yards from the U.S. border, its air-conditioned factory floor has natural light filtering in through the louvered roof. Employees, during breaks, congregate around pingpong and foosball tables. A dance troupe, opera singers, a mime and mariachis have also regaled workers.
“It’s really no wonder that the company has been named the best place to work in Mexico three years in a row,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in January at a ceremony honoring the three companies that won the State Department’s corporate excellence award. He was referring to the judgment of the Great Place to Work Institute in San Francisco.
To be sure, hundreds of employees at the plant receive little more than the minimum wage of $400 a month – equivalent to other nearby factories – but promotion possibilities are ample, and morale high. For some, it’s the gymnasium, and help in reaching a high school or college diploma. For others, it’s the on-floor health clinic with two attending physicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment