Behind the Seams Episode 4 Recap
What’s it really like to work at George Courey Inc., a 115+ year North American textile supplier serving healthcare textiles, hospitality linens, and institutional laundry? In this episode, our hosts sit down with Mela, Director of People & Culture, for a candid look at how we build a culture of belonging, safety, and continuous improvement and why that matters for customers and employees alike.
Our Culture, Defined by Our People (and Built to Last)
After COVID, we brought long-tenured team members together with new hires to articulate the values that already guided our daily decisions. The result is a living set of behaviors that drive performance in a demanding, service-led industry:
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Teamwork
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Pride
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Integrity
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Doing Work Better Every Day
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Courage
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Diversity
These values anchor how we recruit, onboard, manage, and serve customers across healthcare and hospitality markets. They also shape the “Sunday-night feeling” Mela champions: we want employees excited to bring ideas on Monday because their ideas matter.
Belonging, Safety, Voice: The Employee Experience
We aim for a workplace where people feel safe to speak up, learn, and make mistakes. Managers are trained and coached to listen and escalate feedback so we can act quickly. That open channel helps us respond to industry shifts (think tariffs, supply chain changes) while keeping teams aligned and informed.
Why it matters to customers: Psychological safety fuels problem-solving. When teams feel safe to raise issues early, we deliver reliable quality, faster resolutions, and consistent service across the supply chain.
Hybrid Work in Montreal, Remote Across North America
We tested different models and landed on a hybrid schedule (Tue–Thu in office) to strengthen collaboration, culture, and speed of execution while keeping Mon/Fri for deep work. We also embrace remote teammates across Canada and the U.S., ensuring they’re included in town halls, meetings, and even social activities.
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Quarterly town halls with the CEO for transparency on growth, market dynamics, and priorities.
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Inclusion rituals for remote staff (shared challenges, photos, team groups) to keep everyone connected.
Recruiting the Right Way: Impact, Autonomy, and Balance
Our employer value proposition is simple:
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Meaningful impact: Your ideas shape how we serve health systems, long-term care, hotels, and laundries across North America.
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Autonomy with support: We train managers to empower decision-making at the edge (close to customers and operations).
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Work-life balance: We plan roles and workloads so people can bring their best—and still have a life outside work.
Training That Sticks: Onboarding, Cross-Training, and Real-World Learning
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Structured onboarding: Company story, product knowledge (from reusable surgical textiles to hotel bedding programs), systems, and teams.
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On-the-job learning: Shadowing, back-up roles during vacations, and cross-training to build resilience and career mobility.
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Manager enablement: Practical coaching so leaders can reinforce values and share context during change.
Result: Teams that understand the why behind our quality standards—delivering durable, laundry-ready textiles that perform cycle after cycle.
AI in HR: More Time for People, Less Time on Busywork
We view AI as a tool to eliminate repetitive tasks (document prep, basic drafting, scheduling), not to replace human connection. That means more time for 1:1s, coaching, and feedback, and faster turnaround on initiatives that help customers—like better documentation for healthcare laundry SOPs or faster responses to hospitality brand standards.
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AI must support our values never replace relationships.
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We communicate changes clearly so employees understand the what and why.
Culture Isn’t Static—We Review, Measure, and Improve
We treat culture like a product: tested, iterated, and improved. As we scale in the U.S. and Canada, we revisit values and practices to ensure they still fit our strategy and our teams. If not, we refine them openly.
What customers feel: a partner that adapts with the market while maintaining quality, service, and speed.
Why Culture Powers Better Customer Outcomes
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Higher reliability: Engaged teams = fewer defects, tighter QC, and better OTIF (on-time, in-full).
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Faster problem-solving: Clear communication lines reduce downtime in institutional laundry and distribution.
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Sustainable performance: Empowered people deliver the consistent, industrial-laundry-durable textiles you rely on whether that’s MRI-safe patient gowns, bed bug mattress encasements, microfiber mops/cloths, or T300 hotel sheeting.
Join Us
If you’re passionate about healthcare textiles, hospitality linens, and building solutions that scale, we’d love to meet you.
Check out the full episodes of our podcast Behind The Seams!
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJxm9u_cwN0bnsq5thf2tO2RFf5p4tsly&si=_xSXEypSgwKa2jBU
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/51WS4qet7nu2p5zYOTTa2V?si=fFGlmoxDSgaViXcxNtzCyw
Stay tuned for upcoming episodes, where we’ll dive deeper into the world of institutional textiles, hospitality linens, healthcare laundry solutions, and the people who keep this industry moving forward.
