PLANTING OUR ROOTS: 1899-1969
“You can capture the essence of culture, but it’s not what you say,” says Sonoco CEO Howard Coker. “It’s what you do and how you treat people—how you act.”
People talk a lot about culture these days. At Sonoco, we believe that it’s essential to creating a healthy workforce that engages with the community. With 22,000 employees across more than 30 countries, the idea of one culture unifying our global workforce may sound impossible, but we take great pride in how our diverse perspectives work together. Each team member strengthens the care that we provide our customers and our communities.
Howard himself is a perfect example of how our worldwide workplace unites across more than 300 operations. In the 1990s, Howard accepted a new position that took him from his role as factory manager in Ohio to the same role in Singapore. Howard’s time in Southeast Asia, he says, “opened my eyes that there was a lot more out there.”
However, our Sonoco operations in Singapore felt similar to the culture Howard knew growing up in South Carolina. “People are people wherever you go,” he says. Though the workplaces were on opposite sides of the world, they shared the same “handshake culture.”
How do we nurture that across our whole workforce? One way is through lively internal communication. Through the decades, Sonoco newsletters have shared stories that help us get to know each other better with every issue. In 1989, when we built a factory in Taiwan, “Sonoco News” highlighted how the facility’s construction and opening ceremony incorporated elements of Chinese culture, including firecrackers and the use of feng shui to foster balance and harmony. The following year, the May issue of “Sonoco People” featured a profile of an employee in Virginia who moonlighted as a coach for young amateur boxers.
Handshake culture means seeing your coworkers eye to eye and understanding their traditions.
“You can walk into a Sonoco facility literally anywhere on the globe, and you can feel that it's a Sonoco facility,” says Elizabeth Rhue, Vice President of Global Environmental, Sustainability and Technical Services. For her, the secret sauce is “that feeling of care and respect for one another, that family environment and feel of the people who work there.”
While we can’t always shake hands in person, our shared values of respect, teamwork, service and clear communication unite Sonoco teammates in every part of the world—no matter where we call home.