Jym Garbett, of West Des Moines, a semitrailer driver for PDI (Perishable Distrbutors of Iowa), stands next to a truck at the company’s Ankeny location. Garbett has worked for PDI for12 years. PDI was named one of the top workplaces in Iowa. BILL NEIBERGALL/THE REGISTER
No.1
Perishable Distributors of Iowa Large Company Category
Caring for customers and each other By DONNELLE ELLER deller@dmreg.com
Y
ou could call Brent McKenzie the Stretch Armstrong of warehouse worker scheduling. He bends over backward to accommodate a quickly added DMACC class, family celebration or summertime wish to leave in the early afternoon. McKenzie knows taking care of his workers means they’ll go the extra mile for him, when meat, ice cream and other grocery items are flying from the Ankeny company’s refrigerated shelves. McKenzie’s attitude permeates Perishable Distributors of 6
Iowa: take care of each other and take care of your customers. It’s a big reason PDI, a fastgrowing warehouse business in Ankeny that primarily serves Hy-Vee stores, was named a top Iowa workplace. Leigh Walters, who leads PDI’s human resources department, says the company’s approach reflects Hy-Vee, the company it spun from in 1982. Hy-Vee has built an eight-state, 230-store business with $6.4 billion in sales based on a “friendly smile in every aisle.” “PDI is unique because of its people,” says Kevin Gass, senior vice president of transportation. “It’s not just what we do, but
how we do it.” You hear that when driver Jym Garbett talks about making sure products are exactly where each store department wants them, not only on his route but in stores where he’s filling in. “Hopefully, they don’t even know the other guy’s not been there,” he says. You hear it when leaders talk about choosing to spend decades at the company and how they’ve worked their way up the ranks: inventory selectors become managers; drivers can become executives. “They take an interest in the success of employees,” says McKenzie, who started with as a high school senior and has
become director of operations. About half his nearly 270 warehouse staff is parttime, often college students. Inventory pickers, for example, get intense training. They’re paired with mentors and have bimonthly meetings with team leaders. “It’s not just about going over numbers, but really getting to know people one-on-one,” says McKenzie. PDI posts all its employment opportunities internally a couple of weeks before advertising outside the company. Employees like getting an early shot at a job. Jay Chapman started as a part-time selector and moved up to customer service rep.
IOWA’S TOP WORKPLACES
2011