According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average tenure of an employee at a company as of January 2020 is 4.1 years. At Dion, we’d estimate our average is closer to ten or fifteen years, but a few people have been part of our team for much longer. Elaine Young, our Quality Assurance Supervisor and Safety Officer is one of the employees who has been with the company longest: an incredible thirty-five years!

Elaine began her career at Dion in the same way many of us were prompted to get jobs: when she was nineteen years old and living at home, her dad told her it was time to find work. She says, “he circled the ad in the newspaper (people still looked for jobs in the newspaper in 1986) and sent me on my way. I started in Shipping, and spent years numbering ski tickets, making plates, and scheduling before landing in our newly created Quality department 15 years ago. In the early years there weren’t many of us here and we all had to pitch in, so I’ve also taken out trash, painted walls, shredded ski tickets, mowed the lawn, shelved stock, and built shelves.”

These days, Elaine’s responsibilities here include resolving internal and external quality issues (root cause and corrective/preventive action); managing the Quality Assurance (QA) logs (Complaints, RMAs, NCMs); creating, implementing, and monitoring QA and Safety practices and policies; and approving production runs. Given her vast experience in many Dion departments, people often bring her issues that aren’t necessarily a QA or a Safety issue, but she always tries to help them even if that means just finding the right person for them to talk to.

Elaine’s favorite part of her job is the variety. She says “my tasks are so varied and each day brings new challenges. I like problem solving and I enjoy working with my coworkers.” Elaine has many choices when it comes to proud moments in her thirty-five years at Dion, but when we asked her about her proudest, she responded: “As of late I’ve been proud of how we’ve responded to the pandemic. As an essential business, we’ve been very lucky that we were never required to shut down and employees have felt safe coming to work because of our disinfecting and PPE protocols. Management and employees have come together to makes this a safe space for all of us. I’m also proud of not only the longevity of my time here, but that we have so many other long-term employees, it speaks well of the company and our experience here.”

When Elaine is not in the office, she is a bit of a homebody who values a simple life. She likes to read, color, garden, and hang out with her dog. Check out these 5 fun facts about Elaine that we love: 

1.      She still reads actual books, no e-readers for her!

2.      She loves spotting wildlife and is always on the lookout when she’s out driving or walking.

3.      Her dog Rue is her favorite person.                       

4.      Mount Desert Island in Maine is her happy place (fingers crossed she can go there in 2021).

5.      She has 6 individual tattoos and a half sleeve. She wants more. 

Elaine’s dedication to Dion says a lot about her. Her personal philosophy centers around contentment. Elaine leads “a quiet, simple life. Age and the pandemic have only reinforced my desire to not be around a lot of drama and to be happy with a quiet life. You can waste your whole life always striving, always moving, always wanting, and fail to appreciate what you already have in the moment.” She gives the following advice to others in her profession: “think it through, be flexible, be cognizant, listen to others.” We can attest that Elaine lives by her own words of advice!