Manufacturing HR Shifts, Safety, and the Weight of Plant Life with Terry Cook & Stacey Wenczel

Manufacturing is one of those environments that exposes every gap in your HR infrastructure fast. When you're covering three shifts, managing safety committees, handling workers' comp, and trying to get information to people who don't have a company email address, "strategic HR" starts to feel like a luxury. This episode, Terry Cook and Stacey Wenczel join Pete to talk about what it actually looks like to do HR in a plant environment — the strain, the workarounds, and the risks that quietly accumulate when no one's watching. The conversation covers a lot of ground: how shift supervisors end up doing de facto HR work on overnight shifts and why that creates its own resentment and risk; why safety committees work best when someone who doesn't work in an area is the one walking through it; and how accommodation requests in physically demanding roles force a more honest conversation about essential job functions than most HR professionals are used to having. Terry also demystifies donning and doffing — the question of whether the time employees spend putting on and taking off protective equipment is compensable — and why the location of your time clock matters more than you'd think. The episode closes with a discussion of safety training cadence, repeat workers' comp incidents, and what it takes to build a culture where employees trust HR enough to actually come to them. Terry and Stacey also share details on AIM's Supervisor Essentials training series, with upcoming sessions available this spring. Links & Resources Find the Perfect Training Resource in our updated 2026 Training Catalog! AIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours. AIM HR Solutions Supervisor Essentials Training Upcoming public sessions available in April — virtual format, open enrollment AIM HR Solutions Training Catalog AIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

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Manufacturing HR Shifts, Safety, and the Weight of Plant Life with Terry Cook & Stacey Wenczel is an episode from Hello Live: Continuing Education for Speech & Language Professionals by TruStory FM.

This episode is 31:28 long.

This episode was published on Mar 17, 2026.

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