While many workers are trying to escape this region, workers in one factory are still punching the clock despite the constant danger,
Call it the ultimate test of corporate management. Delta Galil Industries, which makes clothing for big-name brands, refusing to stop production even when Hezbollah rockets explode within half a mile.
Tzafrir Tzadik is the production manager here, helping to oversee 15,000 workers, most of whom are still on the job. Sewing, dying and packaging clothes for companies like Nike and Victoria’s Secret. When a rocket is incoming, a siren wails and every worker knows to drop what they’re doing and run to the bomb shelter.
They don’t teach this at Harvard Business School, but then Delta has already survived Israel’s rocky history. Growing to be one of the country’s biggest private employers. A symbol, some say, of Israel’s economic resilience. So, when customers like Wal-Mart or Target want to know if Delta’s shipments will be in time, it’s up to manager Esti Carmeli to answer the phone.
“We have to start talking to our customer to relax them, talk about the deliveries, and to relax that everything is going on”, said Carmeli.
Some companies in Israel have been criticized for laying off workers who do leave their jobs and travel to safer parts of the country. But Delta insists that it constantly monitors the safety of operating in a war zone.
“If all day, lets say, bombs would fall here, I’m sure we would close. We are not playing with people’s lives . . .We are afraid. We are human. But we get used to it. I’m sure if you were here for three days, you would get used to it”, said Tzafrir.
For those who work in these conditions, the motives can be money, but also faith. A belief they’re safe, no matter the threat.
The intersection of business, religion and a war.
