The Garden Company is founded on the belief that dealing with each other on a basis of mutual trust, fairness, and respect leads to a healthy, creative working environment. In such an environment, we can work effectively in teams to produce superior products, thereby enhancing the company's reputation among our clients and within the industry.
We assume that you are here because:
- You enjoy the type of work you have been hired to do.
- You take pride in working hard and doing a good job.
- You want to contribute to the growth and success of The Garden Company so that you in turn can grow and be successful.
That's why we are here, too. We value enthusiasm, efficiency, and dedication, as well as high productivity, a commitment to quality, an interest in personal and professional growth, and a "can do" attitude.
We also value and respect our clients, because without them we wouldn't exist. If a project becomes stressful or annoying, we will complete it to the best of our ability, learn from the experience, and do it differently next time. We will not bad-mouth the client and use them as an excuse to deliver a low-quality job that will do us more harm than good in the long run.
CUSTOMER RELATIONS
This is you:
This is you in relation to The Garden Company:
This is you and The Garden Company in relation to a customer:
When the customer hires The Garden Company to do a project, we assign you to work on the project but retain overall responsibility for the job. As a result, you bring to the job far more expertise and many more resources than you would as an individual. You are The Garden Company's representative and need to bear in mind the following:
- Never tell a customer that you don't know the answer to a question or that you don't know how to do something. Customers hire us to provide solutions. Even if YOU don't know, someone at The Garden Company does. The correct response is "Let me get back to you on that." or "I'm not sure but I'll find out and let you know." Then ask us for support and make sure you promptly get back to the client with an answer.
- Never agree to do something that is outside the scope of the project without first checking with us. The correct response to such a request is "I'd be happy to do that if it's okay with my manager. Do you want to check with her or shall I?" You need to be especially sensitive if someone other than the person paying the bill is making the request.
- In a customer-vendor relationship, the control should always appear to rest with the customer, even if in fact you end up assuming a lot of it. It is important to remember who is paying the bill for our services. The customer may be perfectly happy with the job you do and yet not want to send future work The Garden Company's way if he or she feels "upstaged" by you. With project work, our job is to do quality work on time and on budget, but it is also to make the customer look good and feel good, so that The Garden Company will be the first company he or she thinks of for new projects.
- Sometimes the project you are asked to work on will be poorly thought-out or will involve substandard tools or materials, but it is not appropriate to indicate that you would do things differently or that you could have produced better materials. For example: Inappropriate: "On other projects like this, we've always done it this way." The underlying message is that the customer doesn't know what he or she is doing. Appropriate: "Is there a reason why you want it done this way rather than that way?" This approach conveys confidence that the customer knows what he or she is doing in this particular case and assures the customer that you will do the project the way he or she wants it. But it also opens up the possibility of discussions about a different way of doing things. It says "I'm missing some information here and that's why this process isn't clear to me," rather than "I know and you don't." Inappropriate: "This material really needs a lot of work." The message is judgmental, and being judgmental is always counterproductive. It is especially important to avoid this kind of statement if you don't know who produced the materials or who worked on them last. Appropriate: "We're all working under time constraints here, so we'll just have to do the best we can given the project deadlines." This approach assumes that there is a reason why the material is not as good as it should be.
- You need to keep in mind that what you are being asked to work on may be only a small part of the customer's total workload. It is not appropriate to convey the impression that you think you know the customer's business better than he or she does or could do the customer's job better than he or she can, especially to the customer but also to anyone else. For example, in the "old days," some of us made a sport out of doing a "documentation bash" every time a new product came out, without having any idea of the conditions under which the documentation had to be written and produced. Now that we know what user ed departments are up against, we're a lot less critical of their product because we're a lot less sure that we could do a better job under the same circumstances.
In summary, good customer relations are built on respect. We want to avoid the situation where we do one project for a customer, do a good job, and then are left wondering why we were never asked to do anything else.
YOUR PAY
You are paid a specific rate for each hour you work for the company. Hourly rates vary and are based on a combination of factors such as:
- Length of time with the company.
- Overall experience and skill level.
- Ability to assume a variety of roles on a variety of projects.
- Ability to inspire confidence in clients.
Hourly rates are strictly confidential and not an appropriate topic of conversation with other employees.
Recording Your Time
Hourly employees are paid for the time recorded in the Timecard, which is tracked by management for client billing and payroll purposes. Record your time to the nearest (quarter) hour. Short breaks (10 minutes per four hours worked, in accordance with Washington State law) may be included in the time you record, but longer breaks should be excluded. For example, a 10-minute stroll around the building can be included in your recorded time, but a half-hour lunch break would be considered on your own time, and should not be recorded.
With this honor system, you can decide how to use your time to meet both your personal needs and the needs of the company. Please do not include personal phone calls, e-mails, and net surfing in the hours you record in the Timecard. You are welcome to use the The Garden Company facilities and equipment before and after work and during your lunch hour. Personal long distance phone calls and faxes should be tracked and paid for by you, not by The Garden Company.
For more information on personal use of The Garden Company time and resources, please refer to the Policies and Procedures.
Payroll Periods
We have two payroll periods each month: For the period worked from the 1st to the 15th of the month, payday will be on the 20th of that month. For the period worked from the 16th to the last day of the month, payday will be on the 5th of the next month. If the scheduled payday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, payday will be on the preceding Friday.
You will be provided with a pay stub with complete information about your income for the pay period and the year-to-date.
Performance/Salary Reviews
Reviews are conducted in January. Your team manager will give you feedback about how you are doing, areas for improvement, etc., and your hourly rate will be adjusted as your skills grow and your contribution to the company increases. This is an opportunity for feedback to and from your team manager regarding your work performance, goals, skills, etc. Please feel free to chat informally with any members of the management team between reviews.
YOUR BENEFITS
Medical and Dental Insurance
The Garden Company pays 100% of employee medical and dental insurance premiums for employees who regularly work at least 30 hours per week. Insurance for dependents is available, but must be paid for by the employee (this can be deducted from your check).
Time Off
For full information on sick leave, holidays, vacation, and other time off, refer to the
Policies and Procedures.