Sep 29, 2014
Anonymous employee
TAMKO Response
11yI was pleased to learn that Glass Door provides an opportunity for employers to respond to posts. Although it is not our routine practice to respond to a post by someone who purports to be a former employee, we believe a response is appropriate in this instance based on the unfair comments and nature of the post – particularly since this appears to be a repeat posting of his same complaints from over a year ago.
TAMKO is proud of its Six Sigma program. TAMKO’s program has been recognized by others outside the company, including our training company, as one of the best Six Sigma deployments known around the country. We are highly selective in choosing candidates for the position of Black Belt. In fact, offers are made to less than 10% of the candidates interviewed for the position of Black Belt---less than 7% in 2014. Our typical Black Belts are highly trained, highly educated and highly driven people. Candidate are told up front that our Six Sigma program is “up or out”---meaning you are either successful or you fail and leave the company, since we do not offer other positions to those who are not successful as a Black Belt. This type of program attracts those who want a challenge and are confident in their ability to meet that challenge. Unfortunately, even though we have a robust interview and assessment process, we have had a few (less than a hand full over the 12 year life of the program) who have failed. Based on the comments within this post, I assume the author is one of the few who did not succeed as a Black Belt at TAMKO.
TAMKO is a company based on certain Core Values, the first of which is honesty/integrity. Those who know the company and its employees understand this to be true and find the application of these principles in play every day. We do not “blow smoke,” nor do we coddle employees. As a member of “senior management,” “They lie to your face then stab you in the back” comment is just not true. We go to incredible lengths to model the Core Value of honesty/integrity, and all candidates understand our zero tolerance policy across all levels of the company for breaches of honesty and integrity. Generalized assertions to the contrary are simply misguided.
The only other comment I will specifically address is the assertion that candidates are “lured” with promises of cushy management positions after 1-2 years of "paying dues" in the Black Belt role. The candidates I am privileged to interview for Six Sigma Black Belt roles are almost without exception incredibly smart, competent and knowledgeable leaders. For the author to suggest that these people can be “lured” into joining any company is unrealistic. The role of a Black Belt at TAMKO is very demanding. The Black Belts are among the most highly regarded employees at each of our facilities---and the Black Belts know that expectation.
If you want a rewarding career where merit is recognized over time of service, where competence is demanded, where peers work together to make the company better, where functional teamwork is the norm, where trust is the foundation of what we do, where honesty is truly a core value and where the culture is one of “we are all in this together,” then this may be the place for you. If you can’t handle constructive criticism, then this is not the place for you.
One final point is worth making. A recent company survey was sent to all company employees as part of a regular feedback initiative. Over 87% of the employee population responded to the anonymous survey. The survey asks employees to rank many aspects of the company using a scale of 1-10. In response to the survey comment, “I am proud to work to work at TAMKO” the overall mean response was 8.69 with 10 being the highest. We are told by the independent survey companies that an 87% response rate is extraordinarily high and 8s and 9s on this type of question are extraordinarily difficult to obtain. The employees responding to this survey convey a more accurate and balanced view of our company.