Walking the MRF Beat
It’s pretty offensive if the onsite manager doesn’t know the first name of everyone who works for them and a little bit about them. That’s the first piece of advice Jeffrey got when he started his job at Leadpoint’s Spokane site. It turned out to be excellent guidance.
“The more we are able to invest in people, the happier they are, the harder they work, and the longer they stay,” Jeffrey said. He knows working in a MRF can be extremely difficult. “Can I change the job? No, but I can definitely change the culture, take the time to get to know my employees as people, help and praise them when they need it, and humanize the position.”
Since day one, he has cultivated an open-door environment and worked hard to remain approachable.
That management style takes a high degree of emotional intelligence, a skill Jeffrey built in his 10 years as a police officer. When the challenges of a law enforcement career became too much, he hung up his badge and started looking for a change. That’s when he found Leadpoint.
“I put my law enforcement skills to use every day,” he says. “We talk through issues and more than once I’ve had to de-escalate situations like I used to do on the beat. I joke that I’m not only an onsite manager. I’m a guidance counselor, financial advisor and marriage counselor.
“I enjoy the fact that we are a second chance employer that strives to get people actively and gainfully employed and back into the workforce,” he said. “Seeing people succeed and helping them get promoted, those are the things that make you feel good when you go home at the end of the day.”