COLCHESTER, Vt. (WCAX) – A crew of women in Colchester are giving a new face to the state’s manufacturing industry.
Traci Thomas of Vermont Nut Free Chocolates spent years working in retail and missing out on family milestones.
“I used to have weekends and two kids in school and playing sports. I was missing a lot of their activities,” said Thomas.
But at Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, where she boxes up goodies, Thomas can balance work and family.
“Whenever I’ve needed something for my family the answer has never been no. It’s a really good feeling because I never had that until I came here,” she said.
Thomas works alongside a crew of almost entirely women – 33 of the company’s 38 employees.
“We laugh, like have a good time. We’ve all become friends,” she said.
From their start in 1998, Vermont Nut Free Chocolates founder Mark Elvidge and his wife Gail worked to attract women to the manufacturing line.
“I’ve got one family that works for us except my mom, two daughters, a son, and the son’s girlfriend, so it’s just really a lot of referrals and a lot of people find it a good place to work,” said Elvidge.
Elvidge says the secret ingredient is family-friendly policies that allow flexibility outside of work.
Those came in handy for Darla Lawyer, who recently had to babysit her granddaughter last minute.
“Mark was like come in an hour early, you can lose an hour. However you want to do it to help her, we’re here to help you help her,” said Lawyer.
While Lawyer has found a supportive niche in manufacturing, many women don’t.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women make up less than a third of the nation’s manufacturers.
“I think that if any company wants to be attracting workers in today’s environment, you have to be flexible. There’s really not probably a company more flexible than that,” said Elvidge.
Thomas’ message for manufacturing companies that won’t adapt:
“Missing out on probably some of the best employees that they could have at their factoring plant. I think women, mothers, you know we’re focused and we get done what we need to get done when we need to get it done,” she said.
Thomas says it’s all hands on deck this summer, preparing for all of your chocolate needs this Halloween.