This is Kelly Forbis and I am interviewing Elise Reynolds, Namifiers’ Employee of the Year.

What does the Employee of the Year award mean to you personally?
It was nice to be recognized and to feel like the effort I put in had not gone unnoticed and to know that I was appreciated.

What’s your motivation?
To do a good job.  I’m one of those people that wants to do her job and do it well.
What are your hobbies?
I like to read.  I like to bake.  I run but I don’t know if I consider that a hobby because it is not my favorite thing in the world.

Now just a couple of questions about the business:
What is your primary job at Namifiers?
I am a graphic designer so I take all the artwork that the customers send in and set up a mock-up or a proof of the product that they are ordering.  I create proofs of items such as lanyards, banners, nametags, nameplates, and badge reels.  Customers can see what their product is going to look like before it is produced.  We adjust the proof according to their request and follow this process until we have their approval for a product that is just right.  When I first started, I came on as the full color printer.  I printed the full color nametags.  Since then, I have moved to graphics.  I also help out shipping, processing, and anywhere they need help.

Has being awarded Employee of the Year affected your work and if so, how?
As far as the quality of the effort that I put in, I don’t feel like I work any harder because I’m employee of the year but I don’t feel like I slack off, either.  So, I think that has stayed about the same.  It has created a little bit of difficulty balancing priorities and stuff.  There’s expectations there that maybe weren’t there before but you get on with life, you know.

In your view, what does it take to earn such an award?
I don’t know who the employee of the year was before, so I don’t have anyone to compare with.  I just have my own experience. A lot of it was just being willing to do what was asked and doing what was needed.  When we first moved to this building, our graphics designer had some health problems and could no longer do graphics.  I was the only other person who had any experience doing it and my total experience was probably less than a week.  But I was it.  So it was just kind of, ok, it’s got to be done and I’m the one to do it.  So, earning the award just took stepping up and doing what needed to be done.  There was a bit of sacrifice: staying late if an order needed to go out and making sure things got taken care of.  Just going the extra mile.

Is there such thing as an average day at Namifiers and if so, what is it like?
The average day at Namifiers involves a lot of orders going out easily and a few that require some extra work.  That is the average day.

What are the most challenging parts of your job?
Probably balancing everything; keeping graphics caught up and making sure I’m available to help other people when they need it.  The whole balance thing is always tricky.  It is also a challenge to keep focused on the big picture when you get an order that requires extra work.  It’s really easy just to focus on that and just think, “I had one order that was difficult” instead of focusing on the 50 or 75 orders that go just fine.  That’s something I’m always trying to work on.  “It’s ok, it’s just one order, forget about it, let it go.”

What orders are more difficult to process?
Sometimes I don’t have all the information I need for an order.  A customer may send a file for the artwork that I can’t open so I can’t work with it.  That’s what usually holds it up in graphics.  Company wide, there are different things.  For example, a customer may move up the due date on an order so that everybody has to scramble to get it out.  We thought we had a week and now we only have an hour to process it.  So, it can be anything really but for graphics it’s a lot of the art and communication with the customer.

Is there a process in place to correct problem orders efficiently so the customer can still get the order on time?
Yes.  We know that customers need their orders by a certain day and we’re aware of the deadlines they give us.  If there is a problem with an order, we do everything we can.  We work together to get what we need from each other and get the order out on time.  I’ve learned a lot about working with electronic artwork files.  I have learned to come up with new ideas and new ways to get things to happen when I need them to.  There’s a lot we can do to get orders out on time, even if there is a problem.

What are the best parts of your job?
I really enjoy the people I work with, which is always a plus at a job.  My favorite thing is that I know how to do so much that I can just pick and choose what area I want to work in.  If I get tired of creating proofs, I can go ship.  I can go process, I can engrave, I can print, I can do banners if I want to.  I enjoy the variety available to me. I don’t have to just sit there and do one thing over and over.  I like that about my job.