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NFI Industries

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ADDRESS2 Cooper St. Camden, NJ 08102

NFI Industries

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ADDRESS2 Cooper St. Camden, NJ 08102

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NFI is a fully-integrated North American supply chain solutions provider headquartered in Camden, New Jersey. Privately held by the Brown family since 1932, the company generates more than $3.9 billion in annual revenue and employs over 16,800...Read More

e-Interview

In conversation with Newsweek, Kristine Maciolek Small, VP, Diversity and Inclusion, answered the following questions:

1. Can you provide an overview of your company's workplace culture and values, and how they contribute to a positive work environment?

NFI, privately held by the Brown family since 1932, owes its enduring success to a steadfast commitment to its culture and values. Our customer-centric culture is people-led, technology-enabled, and harnesses the expertise of our growing network of logistics professionals. NFI's values place an emphasis on family, integrity, safety, customers, teamwork, and social responsibility. These values drive us to envision ways to positively impact our partners, as well as the communities we serve, by collaborating to scale technology and create ecosystems needed to support zero-emission operations.

2. How does your company promote diversity and inclusion within the workplace? Are there any specific initiatives or programs in place?

NFI has developed a robust diversity strategy comprising five key focus areas: Representation, Advancement, Inclusive Culture, Leadership Commitment, and Sustainability & Accountability. We have a dedicated, full-time diversity team actively driving initiatives aligned with each of these focus areas. Additionally, our Executive Diversity Council plays a pivotal role in providing sponsorship and valuable guidance for these initiatives.

3. Are there any professional development and growth opportunities available to employees? How does your company support career advancement?

NFI offers professional development to all employees across every stage of the employee lifecycle. We have mature programs focused on developing College Interns prior to full-time employment, robust onboarding and orientation programs, Management Trainee Programs focused on early career development, Targeted Skills Development delivered with both self-paced and live sessions, and Leadership Development Training which every manager in the organization is expected to attend. Additionally, NFI has targeted nomination based programs focused on developing high potentials for Field Operations Leadership Roles, Future Sr. Executive Roles, BIPOC Leadership Development Cohorts, and Women in Leadership Development Cohorts. Finally, all employees are given the opportunity to have Individual Development Plans focused on their personal career growth.

4. What measures does your company take to support employee mental health and well-being?

We offer a holistic well-being program that encompasses 30 unique benefit offerings across Health, Financial, and Work/Life Well-Being.

SupportLinc, our Employee Assistance Program provides confidential, professional referrals and up to five sessions of face-to-face counseling for a wide variety of concerns, such as:

Discounts on gym memberships through HUSK.

Access to LifeMart, which offers discounts:

Access to legal and financial consultations

Access to identity theft recovery support

Eldercare, school, and community resources locator tools

Receive referrals for child care or elder care, adoption, pet care, home repair, education, housing needs, and more.

Our newest Employee Resource Group called EVOLVE is also focused on mental, physical, and financial well-being.

5. How does your company ensure transparency and open communication between management and employees, fostering a sense of trust and belonging?

NFI values open feedback and communication between leadership and all employees. We enabled an ongoing feedback culture via a survey platform which captures employee sentiment and provides them an opportunity to offer open feedback on Day 7, 14, and 30 while in the new hire development stage, and then ongoing every 90 days throughout their employment. In partnership with HR, leadership leverages this feedback to drive employee engagement initiatives to continue to build a trusting and engaging culture. Additionally, managers are expected to build a culture of open feedback through inclusive leadership and management practices. Robust training is provided to equip managers to do so.

6. What steps does your company take to ensure equal opportunities for employees of different backgrounds, including gender, ethnicity, and age?

To bolster our commitment to the Representation Focus Area within our Diversity Strategy, NFI takes pride in two significant pipeline programs.

Firstly, NFI has forged a meaningful partnership with the Hiring Our Heroes Fellowship, an exemplary workforce development program designed to place highly skilled transitioning service members with employers for a 12-week fellowship. Since the inception of this initiative, NFI has hosted 58 Hiring our Heroes fellows and extended full-time offers to 50 of them.

Secondly, NFI is equally enthusiastic about its disability hiring pipeline, made possible through partnerships with two distinct non-profit organizations. This initiative focuses on integrating differently-abled individuals into temporary or part-time positions, with the ultimate goal of securing full-time employment within our company

In alignment with the Advancement Focus Area of our Diversity Strategy, NFI invests in the professional growth of our Women and BIPOC employees. We have maintained a longstanding partnership with the Women in Leadership Conference hosted by Linkage. The conference serves as a transformative experience for our high-performing women, resulting in enhanced retention and advancement among participants.

Furthermore, we are currently piloting two similar programs this winter, tailored specifically for our high-performing BIPOC (Black Indigenous and People of Color) individuals. We anticipate that these initiatives will yield similar positive outcomes in terms of both retention and advancement.

7. How does your company encourage and support employee engagement and empowerment?

We firmly believe that fostering employee engagement and empowerment hinges on cultivating a culture of inclusion. At NFI, we view inclusion as a shared responsibility for everyone. We actively integrate inclusion into our personal leadership styles by championing our eight Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), all of which were established within this past year. We also engage in ongoing learning through a customized learning tapestry, and we communicate our diversity strategy and initiatives across the workforce.

ERGs: Last year, we provided our employees with guidelines and steps to create ERGs. We were delighted to witness an enthusiastic response, resulting in the formation and approval of 8 ERGs in less than a year. Each ERG submits its application to the Executive Diversity Council for approval, is paired with an Executive Sponsor, participates in monthly ERG Roundtables, and engages in annual planning and reporting. We're proud to have over 650 employees actively participating in these ERGs.

Learning Tapestry: We have dedicated significant efforts to offer learning opportunities on various topics tailored to different audiences within our company. While we recognize that creating an inclusive culture cannot be achieved through mere compliance training, we consider learning to be a vital catalyst for advancing inclusion. We have delivered meaningful learning experiences to our HR team, the Executive Diversity Council, and all senior management. Additionally, we have provided customized training at town halls and meetings throughout the year. Elements of inclusive leadership are also integrated into our internal development program, known as the Learning Experience.

Communications: Our work with ERGs, the Executive Diversity Council, and our broader community is communicated and shared internally and externally. This transparent approach serves to enhance cultural learning and further embeds inclusion within our organization.

8. Can you provide examples of employee-driven initiatives or employee resource groups that exist within your company to support specific communities or causes?

NFI has eight Employee Resource Groups that exist within the company and support community initiatives. See below for a few examples:

❖ The Black Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD) donated over 325 backpacks along with other school supplies to underprivileged students in 5 NFI locations.

❖ The Women's Initiative Network (WIN) hosted students from Girls Inc. for a career exploration day, exposing these young girls to careers in the logistics industry.

❖ The Veteran Engagement Team (VET) partners with NFI's Hiring our Heroes fellowship program to mentor the transitioning military fellows.

9. What types of employee benefits and perks does your company offer? How do these contribute to overall job satisfaction?

The peace of mind that comes with a successful annual preventive visit and a $960 wellness incentive, being able to spend time with loved ones during life's best milestones, or knowing the company will support employees during times of hardship are just some of the reasons why our employees love working at NFI.

We offer a $960 annual wellness incentive for employees who complete their annual preventive visit.

To ensure employees can successfully reach their retirement goals, we offer a 4% company match in our 401(k).

We offer company-paid maternity leave (8 weeks), parental leave (4 weeks), and military leave (6 weeks).

We have an employee discount program where employees can receive discounts on everything from a Disney vacation to new appliances.

Our NFI Cares program is designed to foster the culture of caring at NFI by supporting employees when they need it most. NFI Cares allows employees to apply for a financial grant when facing financial distress or hardship due to a catastrophic event.

10. How does your company encourage teamwork, collaboration, and effective communication among employees?

NFI has identified Communication and Collaboration as one its 6 core competencies for how our employees are expected to interact with each other. Additionally, Teamwork is one of our 6 Core Values. It is embedded into our culture that working together as a team is how we are most successful. We have built cross-divisional and cross-functional teams to take on business challenges and deliver training and development focused on the skill of working collaboratively and practicing effective communication methods.

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