NGK Ceramics USA, Inc.

Todd Alexander - Director of Administration

Challenge

At our North American production facility, there are 750 employees whom we need to be working at their full potential so our company can reach its productivity goals. We have below average turnover, but with a production workforce, it is critical that our employees are not distracted by personal issues or workplace conflicts. At the same time, we want to find an effective way to improve employee morale and make them feel like an important part of our organization.

Solution

We have used MYgroup as our EAP provider for several years, and in that time they have provided a responsive, professional level of counseling to our employees. Support is only a phone call away, and our people appreciate the confidentiality of the counseling and the fact that it is a free benefit of working at NGK. We are able to keep the EAP services top-of-mind at our company thanks to the informational materials MYgroup provides, as well as their robust online presence.

Employee engagement surveys are another area of MYgroup’s expertise, and we recently began a company-wide survey process to better understand internal opinion around the current leadership, company goals, and any potential sources of frustration for our workers.

Results

Employees seem to really value the fact that their job comes with free confidential counseling, and our EAP serves as a good recruiting and retention tool. We have finished with our first round of employee engagement surveys, and now Dr. Young and our company president are leading meetings with all employees (30+ meetings across all four shifts) to review the findings, benchmark opinions, and then prioritize action items.