Anthony Maglica, the owner and founder of the company that makes the famous Maglite flashlight, describes the employees in his company as his family. “He feels responsible for every one of his employees — how they’re going to pay their mortgages and how they’re going to pay for their kids to go to college. And it seems that’s what drives him” (article on NPR.org).
He believes business should be a win-win venture for the company and its employees. By keeping all of the company’s production in the United States, he ensures job security for his workers. His employees don’t worry that the company may suddenly outsource overseas.
“Tony will be the first one to tell you that had this been a publicly owned company, they would have fired him,” Hawthorn, a Maglite employee, says. “They would have thought he was nuts. Maybe he is for continuing to do [production] in this country when it’s so difficult. But there’s a lot of us in this company that are very thankful that he did.”
How Maglite Maintains High Employee Engagement
Maglica is 79 years old and still comes to work early in the morning for a full day of long hours. Motivated by his obligation to his employees, Maglica works to improve business operations, always striving to build personal relationships with his workers on the factory floor.
Magilica exemplifies an important question that we ask on all employee engagement surveys: “This organization cares about me as a person.” We find that organizations with high scores on this question typically have highly engaged and committed employees who are willing to put forth their best effort to help the company succeed.
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