In the midst of a crippling labor shortage affecting businesses across the country, Connor Sports Flooring, a Gerflor company with a hardwood mill in Amasa, Mich., was able to grow its employee base from 113 to 151 and add 10 temporary employees in under four months after collaborating with nonprofit talent enhancement organization InvestUP. The hardwood flooring manufacturer also saw a 48 percent boost in sales during the first quarter of 2018 and increased production by 15 percent, according to InvestUP.
InvestUP, founded in October 2017, was created by business and education leaders in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to provide talent enhancement, business advancement and business attraction initiatives in the area, it says.
InvestUP developed a team of experienced experts to consult with Connor Sports about recruiting new employees and to create a new strategy for the company, which included investing in training programs and offering incentives based on operational performance.
“Driven by InvestUP, community leaders and government resources worked hard to help us solve our biggest business problem,” Gerflor CEO Loïc Cheynet said in a statement. “They accomplished a lot in a very short amount of time.”
The company plans to continue to expand its workforce and maintain its partnership with InvestUP.
Related:
The Next Generation: The Labor Shortage and How Companies Flourish
