Our Community
After working in the industrialized world of Coca-Cola, entering the world of coffee cultivation in Guatemala was a shocking experience. Issues that were part of everyday life in the industry seemed to be inexistent in coffee farming. Employee wages and benefits did not reach the minimum enforced by law. The health of employees and their families was precarious. The level of education of most of the entire labor force was extremely low. The level of confidence and trust from the employees towards their employer was inexistent. We were amazed of how little interaction most of these people had ever had with their employers.
The first step we took in the process of rebuilding was earning the trust of these people. We committed ourselves to make everyone believe in us. We could not implement our industrial framework, if we did not possess the commitment of the human resource. We began with the introduction of basic necessities. Health and educational programs were implemented both for employees and their respective families, wages and benefits were brought up to the minimum enforced by law, and housing infrastructure was improved.
After the introduction of education, health programs, housing infrastructure, potable water, electricity and training programs; building credibility became our main concern. In order to achieve long term sustainability, we had to prove to everyone who worked at Finca El Faro that long term prosperity was in fact possible. Employees had to believe that we were for real. They had to understand that there was no hidden agenda. Bottom line, all we wanted was a healthy, educated, satisfied, and motivated staff with which we could produce a superb product. We wanted to produce one of the world's best coffee, while providing long term prosperity to all of those involved in the process.
Once we had managed to build a strong community, we were capable of implementing the necessary processes, systems, discipline and efficiency necessary in order to produce superb quality coffee beans.