Forrest Marbutt – Where we work is where we all spend the majority of our time. So it stands to reason that you might as well have fun doing it. At FSI, we work hard to get our customers’ orders out on time and correct most every time (99.98% order accuracy in 2022). We take very seriously the responsibility our clients have entrusted in us to outsource their pick/pack/ship and kit packing our way, so that they can continue to do what they do best and growing their business. We do our best to give our clients the service that they deserve, so that fulfillment is one less thing they have to worry about. We make sure that our clients never have a reason to look elsewhere for their fulfilment needs.
While we do our best to take care of our clients, we also know that we have to take care of the employees too. We work on building a culture from top to bottom where every employee recognizes the importance of doing a great job as if they were the clients doing their own fulfillment. In order for the employees to want to do a great job for our clients, they have to be taken care of, which includes making it a fun place to work. We’re constantly seeking feedback from our employees asking the question ‘what would it take for FSI to be the best and last place you’ve ever worked?’ Here are a few examples of what we’ve been up to lately to help make FSI the place that employees want to be or that clients want to do business with:
Out of our 130+ employees, FSI awards 5 of them as our “Employees of the Month”. That entitles them to a special designated parking spot, public recognition, AND a free car wash from a local mobile car wash service (don’t forget the bragging rights). We get a great group rate since we’re having lots of cars washed at once, and all the other employees have the opportunity to join in and pay for their cars to be washed while they’re here.
FSI has been open for 27 years, and we have several employees who have been with us for over 20 years. Just last year, our very first employee that we hired retired after having worked here for 26 years. While we would love for all of our employees to retire from here, we understand that life is not the simple, and people do make changes that is best for their families. We’ve had many employees leave and then come back having realized that the grass wasn’t quite as green on the other side as they had hoped. When someone leaves, we don’t burn bridges, and we celebrate what time we did get to have together. A great example of that was with our receptionist, Rhonda, who had been with FSI for many years, and needed to make a change for health reasons. The outpouring of love demonstrated for her is indicative of the family atmosphere we have here at FSI, and we wish her nothing but the best going forward, and especially good health.
We didn’t break any records, but we did have a “blast” together at a recent skeet shooting event held by our local chamber of commerce at Foxhall Resort. The food was great, and the company was even better.
FSI holds quarterly company meeting where we all get together and go over the state of the company. And of course we have to eat while we’re doing it. Sometimes it’s a potluck meal, and other times FSI is providing all the food. This meeting can include where we are with incentive programs, award our continuous improvement idea winners, employee recognition, direction of the company, announcements, etc. We try to make it fun and change it up a little sometimes. Our meeting in the fall doubled as a chili cook-off and tailgate party. There were a lot of great chili entries that made it hard to determine whose was the best. Employees donned their favorite team gear, and we had a sports themed playlist to go with it featuring many of our employees’ college fight songs or whatever song their pro teams are known for. There was a lot of interest in the Georgia songs, but for some reason the Alabama fans didn’t appreciate Tennessee’s Rocky Top getting played (multiple times). We also brought in some extra fun with an axe throwing trailer from American Axes (https://american-axes.com/). It was a great time, and I would highly recommend axe throwing for any occasion.
Every November on Veterans Day, we take time to recognize FSI’s veterans complete with a patriotic themed playlist playing throughout the day.
With this year’s end of the year Christmas party, we had a catered meal, played some games, announced some new company incentives, revealed our winners on a T-shirt design contest, and had an Ugly Christmas Sweater/Outfit contest. Our employees are getting good at this, so I knew I needed to step up my ugly game.
Our monthly employee order accuracy incentive was met each month of the year. When that happens, we hang up a banner in the warehouse celebrating the event just like a sports championship banner.
Our employees spoke, and FSI listened. We recently announced new and improved vending machine options, which now include refrigerated and healthier choices. It’s proving to be a big hit so far, and we’ll probably be expanding the cold machines soon.
When FSI was 10 years old, we took some clients on a fishing trip to West Point Lake in LaGrange. We had a great time, and from then on, we continued doing it for 17 consecutive years up until that little event at the beginning of 2020 that shut the whole world down. We’ve had good intentions of getting it back up and running since then, but life got a little busy. After taking way too long, we finally resurrected the trip this year. We stayed in some lakeside cabins the night before at Highland Pines Resort & Marina (https://highlandmarina.com/), grilled out and cooked more food than we could handle, played some cornhole, then get up early in the morning and tried our best to catch lots of fish. We add to the fun with some friendly competition between each boat, as well as, individual biggest and most fish. There’s even trophies, including a perpetual team trophy, the FSI Cup, that gets passed around by the winning team each year.
I would highly recommend Todd Pursley’s Guide Service (http://westpointguideservice.com/). Todd has taken care of us for years, and he knows how to make sure it’s a great outing for clients and employees.
National Employee Appreciation Day was created in 1995, and it falls on the first Friday of each March. FSI’s employees are one of our greatest assets, and we couldn’t be successful without them. Our way of showing gratitude to our employees this year was by providing hot fresh doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. They were a huge hit, so much so that we were worried that we bought too many and would be taking a few dozen home that evening. But I suppose when they’re hot and fresh from Krispy Kreme like that, it’s easy to eat several at a time, and there wasn’t a single doughnut leftover.
That’s about all the fun we’ve been up to lately. Stay tuned for updates on our fun in the future. If you’ve got any ideas to pass along for some fun corporate events, send them our way. We’re always looking for new ways to have fun together.
I had said earlier that I don’t like to brag about the fun we have. But in words of the great Johnny Cash, “on second thought, I DO like to brag” that FSI is a fun place to work and do business with. Send your business our way, and you can join in on the fun too!
Fulfillment Strategies International (FSI) focuses on helping companies, from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 corporations, get their products to the individual consumers, retail locations, or team members by specializing in inventory management, order fulfillment, subscription box management, and kitting for e-Commerce. FSI can be reached at 678-391-5980 or email info@fsi3pl.com.
