Plastics News Talks with Derrill Rice about Best Places to Work Recognition

Over the years, Plastic Components, Inc. has placed even greater emphasis on employee engagement, development, and recognition. So much so that the company has earned the Plastics News Best Places to Work award for six consecutive years.

In 2019, PCI once again achieved this prestigious honor, and our commitment remains focused on continued growth, outstanding engineered solutions, and creating a workplace where employees are both challenged and rewarded.

When employees at injection molder Plastic Components Inc. go above and beyond their normal responsibilities, the company rewards them right away.

Bonuses can range from $100-$500, with “probably the largest one I’ve signed off on being $1,000,” said CEO Derrill Rice.

For example, eight team members were willing to work overtime on weekends when needed.

“They just did it and never complained,” he said.

Even though employees received overtime pay, they also got a $250 thank-you token of appreciation.

An employee who had been working for over a year on a major multimillion-dollar project was given a $1,000 recognition.

With 82 employees at its Germantown, Wisconsin, facility, PCI ranks No. 11 on the 2019 Best Places to Work list. The company has appeared on the list every year since 2014.

PCI recently introduced its service awards program for work anniversaries, and employees can choose a gift from a catalog. The employee is recognized during one of the quarterly town hall meetings.

Another recognition award handed out is the Most Disgusting Refrigerator Award.

“People bring their food in, hopefully eat it or take it home at the end of the day, but there are always some team members who tend to forget they brought food or didn’t eat it. … There is a special recognition for those who maybe create an unhealthy situation in our refrigerator,” Rice said.

What’s the prize? “It’s just a Hall of Shame and a lot of attention,” Rice said, laughing.

Rice said he has always been committed to continuous learning and personal development, and the leadership team takes part in a quarterly book club. The book they’re currently reading is “The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships and a Stronger Bottom Line” by David Horsager, who was a speaker at the last Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors conference.

“I don’t give anyone a test or anything, but we just have an open discussion about what we’ve learned and how it can help us be a more effective organization,” Rice said.

For employee career development and job opportunities, PCI recently completed its first year with a performance appraisal process in place. Training happened at the end of 2017, and the process was rolled out in 2018. At the start of the year, the company sets its overall goals. Then, each department defines their department goals, followed by individual goals.

“Every one of our team members has their own document outlining their performance goals for the year,” Rice said.

Goals can include anything from in-house training like RJG to developing leadership abilities.

“What was exciting was when we rolled this out, we didn’t realize just how much interest there would be throughout the company so we definitely went over our training budget for 2018,” he said. “We didn’t hold anyone back; it was just more successful than I expected. That’ll definitely continue in 2019.”

At the end of 2018, Rice said, the incentive compensation plan was tied to both the company’s overall objectives and individual performance, as well as the annual merit increase.

The company acquired Syracuse Plastics of North Carolina Inc. The deal was announced March 5. Terms were not disclosed.

Rice said PCI’s future plans are “to keep growing, continue providing excellent engineered solutions for our customers, and keep building an environment where people are challenged, where people learn, where people are rewarded, and where people have fun at the same time.”