In September 2011, AGM Container Controls (AGM) will celebrate 41 years in business – no small feat for a small business. One key to the family-run company’s success seems to be the manufacturer’s conscientious investment in employee development and engagement, which has resulted in higher-than-average retention rates, and a cross-trained management team that has grown right along with the company.
AGM’s long-term management team say the keys to the company’s continued success include adaptability, a willingness to diversify, and the courage to take calculated risks and try new opportunities. The same can be said of several long-term AGM employees who have worked with AGM for 29 years or more.
Jim McCorry, AGM’s Director of Business Development, celebrated his 30th anniversary with the company in July. McCorry started out as a shipping clerk, then worked his way up to his current position by serving as AGM’s Production Supervisor, Purchasing Manager and Sales Manager along the way. He now sits on AGM’s Board of Directors.
“I started at AGM when I was 22 and have literally grown up with the company,” said McCorry.
“You aren’t just a number, and everyone knows your name,” said AGM’s Contracts Manager JoAnne Quirion. Quirion has been with AGM for 29 years and has worked in the sales, marketing and contract departments during her time with the company.
Employees are supported through education assistance plans, on-the-job training, internal promotions, competitive pay, and even a layoff avoidance plan.
With flexibility and careful planning, AGM has proactively avoided layoffs for the past 20 years. Stewart and AGM’s management team developed a 13-step plan for avoiding employee layoffs. They successfully executed the annually reviewed plan in late 2009 and early 2010 during the economic downturn, and were able to avoid terminating any employees. This meant they had the staff they needed when sales rebounded.
AGM’s Operations Manager, Jerry Stump, has been working at AGM for 38 years, who started with the company right out of high school at the age of 17. Stump said AGM’s education program, which was developed nearly 40 years ago and continues to this day, enables employees like him to attend night school and be reimbursed for the cost of school depending on their grades. “This plan helped me to hold numerous positions through my years of employment, which shows their willingness to promote from within,” said Stump.
The accomplishments of AGM’s employees and the success of the business appear to be finely intertwined. Because AGM invests in its employees, employees stay, learn and grow with the company, in turn investing in the company and becoming even more committed to contributing to its long-term success.
“In order to be a successful company for over 40 years, AGM has continually adapted to whatever the current situation is at that time… such as the current economic downturn,” said Stump. “To be a successful company, you need to have the right people doing the right job. I feel AGM does an excellent job of picking the right people.”
