10 Reasons to Work at UMC
HR Generalist Linnea Reilly has been recruiting and hiring some of the best and brightest to UMC for years. But, she says, she never has to sell it. She just has to talk about it. She’s not a salesperson, but she says jobs at UMC are easy to sell. After all, when you’re passionate about something, it’s easy to talk about. Here are her top 10 reasons you should work for UMC.
Our Culture Can’t Be Beat
At UMC, we have a low turnover rate with an average tenure exceeding 9 years. Our employees work hard, grow within their roles, mentor, and train. New employees don’t just get one day of orientation—our new employee training curriculum spans 90 days followed by ongoing training opportunities. Our culture rewards engagement: the more engaged you are, the more we want to share with you. If you’re willing to learn, we’re eager to teach you- organization-wide.
It all stems from the things we do. We are very transparent- from regular performance feedback to where the company stands financially. We listen to employee ideas, and we recognize that shaping the future of our company together is engaging and rewarding for everyone.
Guaranteed the Cleanest Shop Floor You’ve Ever Seen
Nine times out of 10, when someone walks through our doors and gets a tour on the shop floor, they comment on how immaculate our space is. Our machinists on the shop floor take so much pride in their work and are excited to show it off. One visit to UMC can destroy all negative perceptions of what manufacturing work is like. Our facility is flooded with natural light, and was designed so every employee would have a line of site to a window. And soon we will have even more space to impress.
We’re a State-of-the-Art Facility
And we’re expanding! Our new campus will double our current manufacturing capacity, and we’re incorporating feedback from our employees as we design the space. We conducted surveys and held an open forum for all employees to give feedback on what’s currently working, what isn’t working, and futuristic dreams of the new space. We’re brainstorming ideas that challenge the status quo, incorporate automation, represent a factory of the future, and allow our employees to grow and shine.
We Believe in Opportunities
Whatever your role or aspiration, we value providing opportunities for growth. For example, if you join UMC as a youth apprentice, your career path may lead you through our four levels of machinists. From there you may take engineering classes and become an application engineer, or take leadership classes and start a role as a supervisor. We work with you to find growth opportunities that align with your personal goals.
I joined UMC as a recruiter, and have since expanded my role and became a Human Resources Generalist. I continue to add more functions to my position and am able to grow within my role. We’re fortunate to have training and development specialists on staff to find opportunities for our employees and help make sure the right people are doing the right things. If you want something more, we have those opportunities. And if we don’t offer them currently, we welcome feedback from employees about new things they want to pursue.
We Conduct Regular Job Reviews
Your performance as an employee is not a mystery at UMC. After starting employment, every new employee receives a 90-day review. Every fall, all employees receive an annual performance review. Every spring, every employee goes through our wage review process. This means all employees sit down at least two times a year and receive direct feedback about their performance in a one-on-one discussion with their supervisor.
You’ll also see open door policies from our supervisors across the board: employees are encouraged to speak up and express concerns, ideas, wins, or anything on their mind.
We Offer Truly Competitive Wages
We participate in multiple wage surveys in the Minneapolis area to ensure we are staying competitive in the market. Every two years we re-evaluate our pay structure to make sure we are current and competitive. Pay increases are tied to merit- if you want to come in and work hard, you’ll reap the benefits!
We Provide A Competitive Benefits Package
- All employees start with 3 weeks of paid time off, above industry average
- Multiple healthcare plans to choose from, with a company contribution toward premiums
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Excellent dental and vision insurance options
- Profit-sharing plan based on quarterly earnings- and if you elect to contribute your profit sharing into your 401(k), UMC will add a 50 percent match!
- 72 hours of holiday pay for full-time employees
- Competitive offerings for bereavement, jury duty leave, and more
The Ultra Way: Our Employee Appreciation Program
We love to encourage our people to nominate others for doing a great job, on the job. Employees recognize other employees for demonstrating our core values. They are entered into a drawing and win prizes such as a reserved front row parking space, gift cards, or UMC swag. These types of programs have faded at companies over the years- but we believe in the goodwill and morale boosts they promote. It’s all part of our friendly culture.
Do you demonstrate curiosity, versatility, integrity, grit, and the drive to go beyond? If you do, UMC is the right place for you.
We’re a Community
We continue to grow and influence the manufacturing industry, but we keep the events that make us a community and not a conglomerate. For instance, we:
- Have an annual family picnic with spouses and children of employees
- Throw an annual Christmas party and display a 20 foot Christmas tree in the shop
- Participate in community outings, such as food drives, meal delivery, and planting trees for the city of Monticello
- Have open-forum quarterly meetings where we discuss financials, goals, and current events
- Host the Grainger Shoemobile, where each eligible employee can purchase safety shoes on site and receive reimbursement up to $150
- Host blood drives where we pay our employees to donate blood on company time
- Provide an on-site workout facility
- Sponsor multiple UMC sporting leagues to promote team building and physical activity
- Coordinate appreciation luncheons and dinners. Recently, we had a record month for our throughput hours and catered in lunch for all employees
We Start in the Schools
The workforce begins with local education. We love to give tours to tech school students, help out with career skills classes, assist engineering students with classwork, share information with career skills class, and give presentations, not to mention we donate equipment to local schools, too. And we go even younger than that—our Youth Skills Training class is a six-week program that brings 16- and 17-year-olds in to learn about manufacturing.
All of this creates a great pipeline for us, and we love the genuine interaction with our local community.