Our work furniture team at Trio Line in Poland recently organized internal biodiversity actions with their building management company. Due to a planned sustainability building certification, Trio Line had a visit from an ecologist who recommended implementing sustainable practices.
The team’s efforts have already started to bear fruit. They helped to plant 10 trees around the building and ivy to cover the entryway’s acoustic wall, enhancing the property’s aesthetics and contributing to a healthier environment. Additionally, Trio Line found other solutions for biodiversity, including birdhouses and hotels for insects.
Thank you to Trio Line for your commitment to sustainability and your care for our planet!
Today, we celebrate and remember Juneteenth, which marks the day in 1865 that federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to ensure that all enslaved African American people be freed, ending slavery in the United States.
Recognizing Juneteenth and our American history is a commemoration and an opportunity for learning and growth. It exemplifies our values of putting people first, doing great work together, doing the right thing, and taking ownership and raising the bar. It invites us to delve deeper into our shared history to understand the struggles and triumphs that have shaped our nation.
History of Juneteenth
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, declaring enslaved people in Confederate states “forever free.” However, its impact didn’t reach Texas until nearly two years later, after General Robert E. Lee surrendered and the Confederate army lost the Civil War. General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3 declaring, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
Formerly enslaved people in Texas organized the first Jubilee Day on June 19, 1866. Jubilee Day began a tradition that would spread nationwide, with Juneteenth celebrations becoming more widespread and significant over time. In 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday, recognizing its importance in American history.
While June is Safety Month, prioritizing safety and caring for one another is a daily goal at L&P. Our teams make safety a habit, staying up to date on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations and looking for ways to enhance safety around their facilities.
Recently, our Hanes Companies, Flooring Products, Home Furniture, and Work Furniture businesses came together for an OSHA 30-hour certification class. Many of our colleagues in environmental health and safety (EHS), HR, supervisor, maintenance, and production roles shared best practices and networked with one another to help advance safety across L&P. The event was sponsored by Flooring Products and hosted by Hanes Companies.
“We spent the week educating our partners on OSHA regulations and how SafeGuard – our L&P safety program – can be used to not only comply with OSHA but also drive us towards making safety a habit,” shared Tim Williams, EHS Manager. “We were fortunate to spend the last day of the class on the shop floor, applying what we learned by identifying opportunities for improvement.”
At L&P, we’re on a journey to make meaningful change in our company through inclusion, diversity, and equity (ID&E), and we’re excited for you to meet our ID&E Director – James Millsap (Millsap)!
Millsap
What brought you to L&P?
I’ve been an ID&E practitioner for many years, and I was in the manufacturing space before my time with Leggett & Platt. However, a desire to grow my career brought me to L&P, and I have received a very warm welcome.
Tell us about your role as ID&E Director. What are you looking forward to, and why is ID&E important to you?
Overall, I look at ID&E as a pretty big contributing factor to employee engagement and the employee experience. I want to work with everyone at L&P to create a company where we can all thrive, and I’m looking forward to helping our company continue this journey and decide what’s the next right move for us.
I am relentlessly optimistic about aiming for a top-tier employee experience for all. I believe we can do this when we live out our values – when we work together to take ownership and raise the bar for what’s possible.
What’s something interesting about you?
I can quote Disney’s Aladdin almost word for word.
Leggett & Platt is committed to employee safety and well-being. Part of that commitment is preparing our team members to act in emergencies. L&P has been on an ongoing mission to equip each facility with an AED machine and train our team members to use the devices.
Since the inception of our global initiative in 2023, we have made progress in equipping each of our facilities with AED devices. At the start, we had 56 AED machines across our branches worldwide. Today, this number has grown to 175, which is a testament to our collective commitment to safety.
The success of this initiative is thanks to our operations, which recognized the importance of AEDs. In emergency situations, the first few minutes are critical. For every minute defibrillation is delayed, the chance of survival reduces by approximately 10 percent. Having an AED and knowing how to use it can mean the difference between life and death. Statistics show that if AEDs are used alongside Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), the probability of survival increases to 75 percent.
“This global initiative aims to protect our employees and train our partners to use these devices anywhere, which could fundamentally save lives, including in our local communities,” says William Wright, Manager, EHS Europe.
Dave Bumpus, Senior Director of EHS, agrees: “This initiative is representative of our values—to put people first, do great work together, do the right thing, take ownership, and raise the bar.”
AED and CPR/Safety Training
Our employees have been working hard to learn how to use AEDs safely and effectively and administer CPR. We want to share pictures from our teams globally.
L&P Brasil
Guadalajara, Mexico
Precision Hydraulic Cylinders (PHC), India
Shanghai, China
LPGS, China
L&P Jiaxing
Chieng Yeng, China
Pacoma Ningbo, China
Corporate Headquarters, US
We are so proud of our teams for putting people first!
Belonging is more than a feeling – it’s a space we create between us. It’s knowing that we’re welcome at L&P and there’s a place for more than our skills. There’s room for who we are.
As many of our colleagues and communities around the world celebrate and lift up the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month, we join them by reaffirming that you belong here. We commit to strengthening workplaces that create space for everyone, including members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Supporting The Trevor Project
Pride Month is also a time to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. At L&P, we made a monetary contribution to The Trevor Project – the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth. Because they are often stigmatized in society, LGBTQ+ youth have an increased risk of dying by suicide when compared to their peers.
Learning More During PrideMonth
If you’d like to learn more about LGBTQ+ history, experiences, and supporting LGBTQ+ colleagues, check out the following resources:
Pride by Google Arts & Culture: Learn about Pride marches throughout the years, the Stonewall Uprising, LGBTQ+ artists, and more.
At L&P, safety – both physical and psychological – is a top priority.
We’re committed to creating safe workplaces, and we’re very proud of our teams around the world for putting people first. They prioritize safety, care for one another, and create an inclusive environment of mutual respect, empathy, and belonging.
This month on L&P social, we’re excited to share content and stories related to safety and belonging with you!
Throughout May, we’re sharing tips for promoting wellbeing. This week, we’re spotlighting financial wellbeing with Lance Gooder, Senior Financial Analyst at L&P!
Lance joined L&P 11 years ago as an intern in the Internal Audit Department, working various roles there for four years before transitioning to the Treasury Department. We asked him to share about his role and some tips for staying financially healthy.
What do you do as a Senior Financial Analyst?
Lance
My primary responsibilities revolve around:
cash flow and consolidated financial statement forecasting
analyzing balance sheet currency exposures and developing a mitigation plan for the exposure risk
completing regular reviews of treasury-related company metrics and providing executive/board-level reporting on those metrics
calculating intercompany lending terms/rates
I also provide a supporting role in many back-office treasury functions, such as vendor approvals, payment set-up/approvals, derivative and currency trade settlements, and various bank account admin functions. I help with any ad-hoc projects or initiatives in the department with a specific focus on working capital or financial data analysis.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
With the size of our department, I have the opportunity to work on a variety of treasury-related tasks. In most large corporations, treasury personnel get pigeonholed into one or two related functions. The benefit of working for a company of L&P’s size is that I get to dabble in a little bit of everything – from something as complex as currency derivatives to as simple as approving payments.
While my role provides a general cadence, there’s always unique and challenging experiences. I had a passion for math, finance, and accounting early on, and a little bit of a creative side as well. I’m lucky in that I’ve found a career that calls for the right balance of “science” and “art” for me.
Do you have some favorite financial tips to share with our colleagues?
I can think of a couple:
First, don’t underestimate the power of compounding or time value of money. This can apply both on the savings and debt side. It doesn’t require an astronomical return to generate a large amount of wealth over time. A lot of people are looking for a quick way to double or triple an investment, and the reality is that there are very few of those opportunities out there. Don’t let that discourage you though, because a steady cadence of contributions with just a slightly positive return will morph into a meaningful amount that will surprise you over time. Similarly on the debt side, regular usage of interest earning debt with little payment toward a principal balance can quickly turn into a difficult obstacle to overcome.
The second is one that I think is important for living a full life: think of money as the tool, not the goal. Set objectives for yourself or your business, and then figure out how to come up with capital needed to accomplish it. Whether it’s buying a house, expanding a new product line, paying for an education, or buying a toaster, determine what you want to accomplish and then identify how much you need to get there. If you’re constantly looking to just grow your cash balance, you’ll never have enough, and you’ll miss a lot of enjoyment along the way.
Do you have any advice for staying financially healthy throughout different life stages?
This may sound cliché, but the first and biggest step is just setting up and maintaining a budget. Understand what your inflows and outflows are and operate within them.
For those who are a little more advanced, don’t be afraid of debt or leverage – understand it. Leverage can be a useful tool for accomplishing your objectives, but it is critical to understand the risk and potential return of what you’re spending that leverage on.
We appreciate Lance for sharing his personal tips for staying financially healthy. We encourage everyone to do their own research and consult a trusted financial advisor when making financial decisions.
This month, we’ve been sharing content related to promoting wellbeing. One way to promote emotional wellbeing is to raise awareness of imposter syndrome in our work lives.
Imposter syndrome occurs when an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments despite genuine success. Many people who experience imposter syndrome feel like fakes or phonies and that their achievements are based on good fortune or timing instead of their own effort and hard work.
Imposter Syndrome can significantly impact how we perceive our work, self-worth, and social interactions with colleagues and peers. A study found that 75% of female executives surveyed reported experiencing imposter syndrome. 53% of female professionals between the ages of 25-34 are currently experiencing imposter syndrome. And it affects not only our work lives but also our personal lives and relationships. 70% of adults will experience feelings of imposter syndrome at some point in their lifetime.
We can overcome imposter syndrome by understanding its prevalence, cultivating compassion for ourselves and others, and sharing our experiences to raise awareness.
Here are a few ways you can address imposter syndrome:
Acknowledge it: Many successful people struggle with imposter syndrome. You are not alone. Recognizing and sharing your feelings with others helps normalize it.
Challenge Negative Thoughts: When you start to experience self-doubt, ask yourself whether these thoughts are valid. Are they rooted in evidence?
Practice Compassion: Be kind to yourself. Everyone has setbacks, but it doesn’t define you.
View Criticism as an Opportunity for Growth: Many people who experience imposter syndrome are perfectionists. Understand perfection is unattainable, and when you receive feedback, it’s an opportunity for growth and improvement.
Track Achievements and Celebrate Progress: Keep a record of praise and accomplishments. When you are experiencing self-doubt, reflect on these achievements and praise. Reward yourself whenever you combat those feelings of self-doubt and realize that progress proves your hard work.
