Thou Shalt Not Back Roll

At their national sales meeting in Orlando last month, Sherwin-Williams CEO Heidi Petz instructed hourly employees attending the event not to clock in before breakfast. Further, she required they clock out after each session and back in when they start the next. each day walking the show for eight to ten hours. 

But Heidi only had to pay them for six.

The practice left managers short the requisite hours to fulfill their weekly obligation to Sherwin, forcing them back into their stores to work the weekend after returning from the event. Or spend PTO to make up those "lost" hours, which if not wage theft seemed petty af. So, I created a poll on LinkedIn to see if you'd agree, which it turns out you did 9:1.

Despite the fact that the poll's demographic was heavily biased towards Sherwin-Williams employees, which made up more than half of the more than 7,000 people who viewed the poll. Explaining why a CEO would need a no-booing policy at a national sales meeting, and why they would need to monitor the subreddit for Sherwin-Williams employees. In the month since moderators began censoring any content which paints the supreme leader in a bad light, visits to the page are down more than 25%. Heidi's attempt to rug-pull dissent before it can take hold. 

Perhaps unaware that it doesn’t work that way?   

Screenshot taken before the post was deleted, creator's name withheld. The flowers are from me.

Earlier this week, I released the second episode of a new podcast series I’m piloting titled Mark Lipton LIVE.  As the name suggests, episodes are recorded live and are followed by a no-rules Q & A, with this week’s episode providing the most energetic post-pod Q & A of the series.  The first episodes have each been consumed more than a thousand times in their first weeks, flattery enough to compel another episode.  So I’ll be live again on Thursday, March 5^th at 7 PM eastern, this time talking layoffs.

And who’s hiring, because that’s still going on. 

Layoffs continue to be a problem for our industry, with Lowe’s being the latest to trade people for profits, laying off 600 corporate and support staff just two weeks ago.  With other layoffs announced that brings the total number laid off among the companies I follow to more than 3,000.  And I’m expecting more to come, for both paint and the US economy at large.  After that detailing and some prognostication (Monty that means I’ll be guessing the future), I’ll open the floor to a no-rules Q & A, where you can participate by dropping something interesting in the chat.  Like the Pittsburgh employee who shared that half of the company’s stores in Texas are unprofitable, which does not make it a fact, but it’s still something someone told us.   

Thou Shalt Not Back Roll

Last week I was offered an engagement as an expert witness, which if it comes to pass would be the second of my career.  And while I’m generally a fan of collaboration to resolve conflict, based on how much fun it was the last time I hope the parties don't settle.

If they can’t it will come down to the facts: Was the right coatings system for that substrate and usage specified?  And was that spec followed during application?  Which will require I dust off my NACE certification and inspect the area in question, perhaps even needing a Tooke Gauge or some other tool to measure dry film thickness. 

Be still my heart. 

Coatings Inspectors are the Army Corps of Engineers of paint, identifying the problem and providing solutions quickly so that critical work can go on.  My career’s best side hustle, NACE certification put me on ladders, scaffolding, scissor and boom lifts, noting thickness, temperature and details relevant to every paint job.  To ensure fealty to Paint’s holy scripture, the specifications all coating applications must conform to.

THE only religion that I practice.