Dallas—The unique corporate culture of Mohawk’s Dal-Tile division is driving continued care and support for fellow Texas teammates in the wake of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation in Houston and the surrounding areas.
“The Mohawk Dal-Tile division is headquartered in Dallas, so our fellow teammates affected by Hurricane Harvey are right in our backyard,” said John Turner, Jr., president of Dal-Tile. “This proximity, our company’s deep Texas roots and the prevailing Dal-Tile corporate culture have helped drive continued care for fellow colleagues. Hurricane Harvey impacted a large number of our Dal-Tile Texas teammates and we have all been very focused on helping them get completely back up on their feet.”
Following Hurricane Harvey, Dal-Tile created a Care Team at the division’s corporate headquarters in Dallas. The company’s first goal was to make contact with employees living in the affected areas.
“Our Care Team manned the phones continuously and within the first 24 hours, we knew that all 123 Dal-Tile teammates in the areas affected by Harvey were physically unharmed,” Turner explained. “Although the material losses were truly grave in many cases, we were so heartened to know that, most importantly, everyone was safe and stable.”
After the disaster, the company instantaneously forwarded funds to every employee who was affected. In addition, Dal-Tile employees nationwide as well as employees of parent company Mohawk Industries joined together to provide further financial support to teammates affected by all of the recent hurricanes. Employees generously contributed to a Go Fund Me page established specifically for affected colleagues. Together, employees raised $70,000 for their teammates in need. Parent company Mohawk Industries then essentially triple-matched the money raised by employees for their fellow teammates, bringing the grand total of money available to help employees affected by all of the recent hurricanes to $300,000.
The Mohawk Dal-Tile division’s Care Team has been tracking with each affected family on an ongoing basis so the company can continue helping in the ways that are most needed. Last week, several Care Team members made a round of personal visits to the Dal-Tile team members in Houston who suffered the greatest monetary losses from Hurricane Harvey, ranging from literally losing everything to losing cars or incurring substantial damage to homes. The purpose of last week’s visit was to present additional money to these team members, giving them much needed additional help while they are trying to put their families’ lives back together.
“Our visit to distribute additional funds to the employee families with the greatest needs was met with hugs, tears of gratitude, and descriptions of how the money will help ease the burden of trying to move forward amidst circumstances of loss that can feel so daunting,” said Tena Boyd, HR support services manager for Dal-Tile. “This type of moment is why I have worked at Dal-Tile for 39 years. It brought my heart so much joy and pride to have our Dal-Tile team helping those of ‘us’ who are down right now. That’s just who we are as a team. We take care of each other.”
Early on, the Mohawk Dal-Tile division’s Care Team in Dallas spoke at length with each affected employee to assess in detail their family’s specific needs. The Care Team created customized “Help Lists” for each family. These lists included items such as food, clothing, baby essentials, toiletries, bedding, bath items, cleaning products and pet supplies.
Armed with the lists, the Care Team launched a “Personalized Donation Drive” among employees at the Mohawk Dal-Tile division’s Dallas headquarters. The families’ lists were posted in a central location in the campus’ main building and employees signed up to purchase items on the lists. Some employees donated item-by-item and others adopted an entire family. The Care Team then personally trucked these items down to one of Dal-Tile’s main Houston facilities shortly after Hurricane Harvey hit.
“In addition to helping from a material stand-point, we wanted the arrival of these donated items to be one more reminder for our Texas teammates of the concern that we have for them,” said Mike Carroll, regional human resources manager for Dal-Tile.
Teammates from Dal-Tile’s nationwide network of plants and distribution centers also held donation drives, resulting in over 20 pallets of supplies being shipped down to one of Dal-Tile’s centrally-located Houston facilities. Teammates from across the country showered Houston-area employees with clothes, bedding, toiletries, paper goods, cleaning supplies, bottled water, non-perishable food items and more.
“Although rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey won’t happen overnight, we are making sure that our employees affected by this natural disaster know that Mohawk, Dal-Tile, and their teammates nationwide are thinking of them and have their back,” concluded Turner.