One of those weeks at Bigelow Tea

It is funny (not sure that is the right word), but in this seat that I occupy you get to see so many different issues that arise for all 330 employees that we have in our company.  One of the most important roles I think I play is to ensure we have an underlying fairness that applies across all areas and all employees.

What gets challenging is when you are working with a “group of employees” that feel they have been wronged.  It is so important to listen to their concerns, understand their position but then look back over the past years and all the other employees and make sure you are not agreeing to do something that would really not be fair for all the other employees that faced similar issues in the previous years.

I pride myself on being extremely sensitive to our people, especially those that work on the production floor.  And when I have to stand firm on an issue that they don’t agree with, it really pains me.  Believe me, I work hard to explain my position from all sides so that they can follow my thought process and philosophy, but there are times when they just want to have me “fix” their issue.

It is such a fine line with doing what is right for the long term and making everyone “happy” today.  Obviously I cannot satisfy everyone all the time, that is absurd.  But I do not “disappoint” people without much thought.  It is tough to stand firm but I do what I think is the right thing to do for the greater good.  But getting everyone to understand  and to also think that way can be a real challenge.  This week was one of those weeks…..

Cindi Bigelow