Working at Doran & Ward Printing Company in Burlington, IA: 2 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in Burlington, IA Area

"Not a very employee friendly environment."

What do you like about working at Doran & Ward Printing Company?

"Showing employees how to improve their performance, learning the science of printing, achieving changes in shorter time periods than industry experts stated they could be done, seeing the tangible changes that were implemented and the direct impact to the company financials. Exceeding customer expectations and working with suppliers to implement innovations which improved our competitive reputation."

What don't you like about working at Doran & Ward Printing Company?

"Inconsistency from the owner in how HR issues were handled. Disagreement with ownership on the importance of a managed maintenance function and need to invest in preventive maintenance. Failure of owner to listen to evaluations of potential hires, development of internal candidates and inability to vacate positions which were not performing to business requirements. Refusal of owner to implement employee recognition programs which would drive employee engagement and further innovation. Unwillingness of owner to invest in technology which would have allowed us to apply lean principals to administrative functions and scale the business without additional cost as well as improve the customer experience which would have driven more new business to the firm. Owner tried to address HR issues and made employee commitments without my involvement which negated a chain of command and resulted in disputes that undermined the credibility of the management team. Owner had no commitment to strategy planning or vision for the company. Purely reactive in a business that was challenging to manage when everything was well planned."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"I left a lengthy discussion of recommendations. They have since had consistent turnover, exodus of key management team members, layoffs and substantially diminished business results."