Landon,
Without giving specific recommendations to you for your particular situation, which is unique to you, your company, your processes, and your expected performance from your employees, I will say that finding the "right" and "qualified" people to put into specific areas in a small craft brewery can be daunting. In my 28 years in the industry, I have come across several situations in which doing that specifically was quite hard. We (craft brewers) as a whole tend to promote individuals, and/or delegate certain new responsibilities to those who have been with the company longer, or are higher up on the ladder, without ever really looking at the facts as to whether or not that is the "right" person for the job. I have found that no matter how long someone has been in the business, or how great and reliable of an employee that person is, there are unique differences in all employees to how well they pay attention to what you call the "little things". It is the difference between someone's ability to observe, process, and execute the necessary tasks for each specific role. Some people have a better ability to do those things than others. Just because someone is phenomenal in the brewhouse with following recipes, SOP's, and so forth, doesn't necessarily mean they will be great at watching a can filler from de-pall to end of line, and keeping their eyes and ears open from one end to the other. In the world of smaller craft breweries, we are very reliant on our employee's ability to multitask and perform a multitude of different duties across the production, cellaring, and packaging platforms. Some people just have that ability naturally. Other people will be able to pick those things up with training and repeatability, but others will just never quite be that person you really need in that role. This sounds to me like you are maybe in that scenario with someone who is a fine employee, but just can't quite take it to the next level of responsibility and shine in multiple roles.
This is always a tough decision to make, but I can tell you that the people who can do all those things you need are out there, and unfortunately if we don't put the right people in the right places, the company you represent will suffer, by allowing the wrong people to stay in the wrong roles amongst production and packaging staff. When our bosses/ownership wants us to be as efficient and productive as possible, sometimes we need to make that hard decision to let someone go to bring in someone more suited for all the tasks required of them, not just most of the tasks. Again, this is a very hard decision to make, but business is business, and usually the person who is great at one thing but not at another will actually find more happiness elsewhere when they are utilized for their strengths instead of putting them into roles, they will never quite fit into.
(As a side note, I have been in the industry for more than 28 years and have been the hiring manager at several different breweries for more than 1/2 of that time. I have found myself in the same position as you on several occasions and have also had to make the hard decision to let several people go for very similar reasons throughout my career. It is never fun, but if you don't or can't do that, then you may also not be living up to your expectations by ownership.)
Again, your role and your business are unique, and I don't want to assume that my perspective on your problem is accurate, but hopefully it is at least somewhat helpful, and you can use the information for your own purposes.
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Brett Kintzer
Brewmaster
Swashbuckler Brewing Co.
Reinholds PA
(484) 755-0265
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2023 11:41
From: Landon Swanson
Subject: Employee compliance suggestions for quality, security and safety
I know that this is the technical forum but I am having a hard time finding worthwhile suggestions from production level managers on how to help production employees pay attention to detail in their daily work. I have created in-depth SOP's with associated checklists based on each SOP, re-written the employee handbook, and scolded (firm but fair obviously) my production staff. We are struggling to find ways to make sure that the little things aren't forgotten while still not feeling micromanaged or a lack of independence. We are small so production staff wear many hats throughout the week. Any suggestions that have worked for you all would be wonderful. Also sorry for hi-jacking a tech forum.
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Landon Swanson
Head Brewer
Pueblo Vida Brewing
Tucson AZ
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