JBM Packaging

Father’s Day is next week, and we’re getting ready with dad jokes!

Here are a few groaners that all have to do with a subject near and dear to our hearts: packaging!

💍 I knew a man who proposed with a ring inside an envelope. He wanted to seal the deal.

🪟 I forgot my wife's birthday, and all I could find to give her was glassine paper. She saw right through that.

🫘 Why do seeds never get lonely? They're always in packs.

✉️ My boss told me to think outside the box, so I filled my cubicle with envelopes instead.

💰 The embezzler at the plastic bag factory was difficult to catch. He didn't leave a paper trail.

📦 I was working on a joke about kitting, but it never came together.

📨 I thought my joke about shipping was hilarious, but no one laughed because I messed up the delivery.

🫧 Why did the little bubble wrap go to school? He wanted to get better at pop quizzes.

✈️ Did you hear about the performance artist who tried to stow away on a FedEx plane? He wanted to express himself.

🍬 I found some candy canes from last year that were still in their original packaging. I opened one, and sure enough, it was in mint condition.

Got a favorite dad joke? Share in the comments!

🌱 It’s , and the green-thumbed team members at JBM Packaging have been hard at work—both at their home gardens and at the garden out front at JBM Headquarters! A bumper crop of strawberries required an impromptu harvest by the Garden Committee, and coworkers reaped the delicious rewards! 🍓 🍓 🍓

Here are the most popular veggies to grow in a home garden, according to the National Gardening Association. Which are you growing this summer?
🍅 Tomatoes
🥒 Cucumbers
🫑 Sweet peppers
🫘 Beans
🥕 Carrots
🍆 Summer squash
🧅 Onions
🌶️ Hot peppers
🥬 Lettuce
🫛 Peas

🌊 On , we’re reflecting upon the pale blue dot we call home. 🌎

The world is so vast, and the ocean so enormous, that it can be difficult to imagine that a single action by a single human can make a difference. Perhaps you’ve felt that way on occasion. Perhaps there have been times when, say, a plastic wrapper got caught in a gust of wind and blew away from you, and you didn’t chase after it, figuring it probably didn’t matter.

But perhaps, on other occasions, you’ve come across trash blowing across a beach. Perhaps you’ve seen plastic bags and bottles floating in waterways and wondered who could possibly have been so thoughtless.

We’ve all been both people—the ones who think our actions don’t matter, and the ones who are affected by others’ actions and know they do, in fact, matter.

The ocean is the place where all the little choices you think don’t matter—forgetting to pick up trash, using disposable bags instead of reusable ones, picking plastic over a compostable material—come together. According to Ocean Conservancy, more than a garbage truck’s worth of plastic waste enters the ocean every minute. And because plastic can take a century or more to break down completely, the amount of plastic waste in the ocean just grows. It tangles and chokes animals, and it gradually breaks down into micro- and nano-plastics that make their way into nearly all living things.

That sounds bleak, doesn’t it? But in fact what it means is that our actions can have an impact: on those around us, and on the entire world. If every piece of errant trash can make a difference for the worse, then eliminating that waste can have an equally positive effect.

This World Ocean Day, we hope you’ll reflect on how you can take action to protect the blue in our blue dot—from swapping out single-use plastic products for reusable and sustainable substitutes, to advocating for more sustainable practices at your workplace.

The ocean is vast, it’s true. But it also connects us.

🎉 We're so proud of JBM team member Lindsey Watzek! 🎉

Lindsey was interviewed by FOX19 WXIX about her 5-year journey with the JBM Packaging Fair Chance program. Her interview emphasizes that Fair Chance is about more than just hiring; support for an individual's needs, both at work and in other parts of their life, is the key to unlocking the win-win for businesses and employees that Fair Chance programming offers.

At JBM, that support takes the form of:
🎓 A structured 12-month period of goal-setting and accountability (our Better Lives Program)
🍎 Access to resources as diverse as daily fresh fruit in the workplace and personalized life coaching
🆘 Partnerships with community organizations that can provide assistance with necessities such as housing and transportation
🥳 A company culture that recognizes and meets the unique needs of this community (e.g., celebrating recovery and mental health)

Fair Chance doesn't look the same at every organization, but if you're interested in trying it, we're always happy to discuss what has worked for us! Check out the interview with Lindsey below, and get in touch with us today!

https://okt.to/OrqFTv

One important way JBM works to help create Better Lives is by developing better leaders!

Last month, the first 10 team members to complete our new Better Leaders Program were recognized at a graduation ceremony and breakfast. The event was a reminder that hard work can take you to great places!

The Better Leaders Program is a six-month course developed in partnership with the University of Cincinnati College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies. Participants studied leadership skills like time management, delegation, and mentoring, all with the goal of improving their ability to lead themselves, their teams, and the organization.

As with most of our initiatives, the curriculum in the Better Leaders Program ties back to our company values:
💪 Grit
💡 Innovation
🗣️ Ownership
🤝 Collaboration
🌱 Growth Mindset
🌎 Passion for a Better World

Congratulations to all the new Better Leaders graduates!

💚💚💚 To honor in May, JBM team members were “Seen in Green” at a recent company update meeting! 💚💚💚

Dozens of team members sported green to show their support for mental health awareness, and two lucky winners at each shift got to spin our prize wheel! Thanks to everyone who participated!

On a sunny Saturday earlier this month, JBM continued its celebration of with a ceremony honoring team members striving for Better Lives.

Twelve team members were honored as graduates of the Better Lives Program. This year-long course combines structured coaching with resources to help newly hired Fair Chance team members set and achieve their goals.

In the six years since the program began, participants have accomplished amazing things! Their goals have included saving money, reconnecting with family and regaining custody of children, earning promotions at work, maintaining sobriety, and other achievements that have helped these team members walk a new path after incarceration. JBM is proud to be part of that journey.

Congratulations to all the graduates working hard to build Better Lives every day!

Last year during , JBM announced a unique expansion of our Fair Chance hiring program that took the program inside the prison walls.

In partnership with the Ohio Department of Corrections and Ohio Penal Industries, we brought equipment into the London Correctional Institution and set up a small manufacturing shop.

Program participants could train using the same machines used at JBM headquarters, gain valuable skills, earn a competitive wage that would be banked for them until their release from prison, and place themselves on a glide path to eventual employment with JBM.

In return for this investment, JBM would receive a highly trained and motivated team member who’s ready to get to work on Day One.

A year later, we have this update:

🤝 We have welcomed our first London trainee to full-time employment with JBM, with three more team members on track to join us by the end of the year.

📨 Our London shop has produced over 1 million envelopes.

💰 Those involved in the program have earned at least $55,000.

We’re more committed than ever to serving this community and helping all our team members build Better Lives for themselves!

If you want to know more about the London program, head to our blog to read the initial announcement and watch a video overview: https://okt.to/oWsZqg

This is a special one for JBM Packaging, because our team is celebrating 10 years of Fair Chance hiring practices!

In 2016, faced with an upcoming wave of too many retirements and too few new hires, JBM CEO Marcus Sheanshang turned to an untapped source of manufacturing talent: individuals with criminal records. What began as a pure business decision to develop an employment pipeline evolved into a robust program that has shaped the organization’s purpose and team culture.

Today, nearly 50% of JBM team members are Fair Chance hires, and our program supports these individuals with day-to-day challenges in work and in life, all with the help of more than 30 partner organizations. Click through the image gallery to see more "by the numbers" impact from this program.

We’ll be celebrating our Fair Chance team members all month with interviews, shout-outs, and reports from our Better Lives and Better Leaders graduation ceremony. You can learn more about Fair Chance on our website: https://okt.to/lm0qyi

And, as always, if you’re interested in discussing how a Fair Chance program could help your business, get in touch!