EVANSTON, Ill. — By focusing on the cultural values of their growing foreign-born Latino workforce, drycleaning plants and laundries can boost productivity, lower per-unit costs and better meet ever-stiffer customer demands.
Most drycleaners have tried to motivate their workers for better productivity—with varying degrees of success. Those with mainly Mexican or Spanish-speaking workers find “gainsharing” gives them more productive employees and a greater competitive advantage. Why? Latin cultural traditions meld closely with gainsharing values.
WHAT IS GAINSHARING?
Gainsharing is a group pay-for-performance program. Worker performance is quantified and given a dollar value. When workers top a threshold pre-set by management, they can earn a bonus. Employees receive half the value of their better performance, and the company, the other half.
