Who run the world? Girls!
Beyoncé made it into a catchy song. We all sing it with ease, don't we? But she touches a sensitive point. Gender equality is a hot issue these days. A battle that started over 100 years ago.
Back to storiesn March 8, 1908, the first women's strike took place in New York. It was the very beginning of women's emancipation and the fight against inequality. On March 8, 1917, another strike broke out, this time in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. Not long after, March 8 was proclaimed 'International Women's Day'. Nowadays, themes such as care and labour, discrimination, racism, economic independence and empowerment are discussed.
Empowerment
At our farms we empower everyone. We make no distinction between men or women. But we do take pride in the fact that more than 50% of the employees are women. In addition, we see a turnover of only 2% in our staff. We do a lot to keep them happy. To start with, we call them 'value adders'. Everyone adds value, and is of value.
”Look after your people and they will look after your customers. Your people are always number one.
Kaizen
The Kaizen management system, in which we work 'bottom up' instead of 'top down', gives a great sense of responsibility and ownership. 'Trust' is an important element of Kaizen. It allows us to see our people grow. We stimulate growth within the organisation. In this way, someone who enters Marginpar unskilled can grow into a management position. Like our Teresa. Teresa is now Assistant Production Manager, but started out in the flower world as a 'value adder' in the field. In the video below she talks about the flower farm and how she pursues her dream to climb the corporate ladder. A story about flowers, about Kaizen and about empowerment:
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