Culture at Gorilla Glue

Traba: Welcome, Beth. To start, what should people know about Gorilla Glue’s approach to people and culture?

Beth Giglio: Our foundation is simple: we work alongside people we care about. That is not a tagline. It is a standard. It shows up in how our leaders operate, how accessible we are, and how seriously we take listening and following-through.

Change management in manufacturing

Change is constant in manufacturing. The difference between organizations that build momentum and those that create friction often comes down to how change is introduced and sustained.

Traba: How do you frame innovation so it excites people instead of raising concerns, especially for long-tenured employees?

Tracey Gampfer: First, we have built an expectation around growth and change. Years ago, we met with every employee to help shape our core values, and “embrace knowledge, growth, and change” became part of who we are. That said, not everyone loves change naturally. My go-to advice is: give it 12 months. Try the new process, the new team, the new manager, and if after 12 months it is still not for you, you can say you genuinely tried.

Lindsey House: We try to position change as growth and continuous improvement, not disruption. Practically, that means involving the people closest to the work early. We bring in vocal, thoughtful operators, training coordinators, and team leads to stress-test the new process or policy, tell us what we are missing, and help us land the right message for the broader team.

Beth Giglio: I am biased toward the discipline of change management. I start with who are the stakeholders, how do we engage them to co-create the design, and what are the risks we need to anticipate. We use leadership forums and advisory groups to pressure-test initiatives before launch, so the implementation is grounded in reality, not theory.

Keeping the human in Human Resources

As technology and AI accelerate across the supply chain, HR’s role is moving closer to the center of business strategy, particularly in environments where change is felt most directly by frontline teams.

Traba: With AI and technology evolving quickly, how do you balance adopting innovation while keeping the human in human resources?

Beth Giglio: We might still be early in our AI journey but our orientation is clear. HR needs to be in front of the business, not behind it. If we adopt early, we can understand the implications, anticipate fear, and set the human principles we want to protect as we implement new tools. Our bias is not to treat people as disposable. If automation or AI shifts roles, the first question is how do we upskill, redeploy, and create opportunity, especially for people who helped build this company.

Tracey Gampfer: Gorilla has been growing for a long time. Even when we have introduced automation, it has not been about reducing people. It has been about moving talent to where we need them as the company expands. If you do not like change, this probably will not feel like the right environment because growth creates change.

Measuring culture

Culture only matters if it can be understood, measured, and acted on.

Traba: How do you measure cultural health in a tangible, data-driven way?

Tracey Gampfer: We rely heavily on the Top Workplaces survey. We have been a Top Workplace for 15 years in a row, and that gives us a long track record of data. We can measure engagement, empowerment, psychological safety, respect, inclusion, and eNPS, and we can slice it by department, supervisor, position, and shift. It helps us prioritize where to dig in.

Beth Giglio: The survey is important, but what matters more is rigor on the listening and action side. We read the verbatims, we talk about the results, and people see that we respond. We also use ongoing listening through leader Q&As, standard exit interviews, and follow-ups when we see a trend. Listening is a muscle, and consistency in follow up is what builds trust.

Protecting institutional knowledge while welcoming new thinking

Manufacturing organizations often carry decades of operational knowledge. That depth is a strength, but it also requires intentional systems to ensure it is preserved and shared.

Traba: How do you build a culture that respects institutional knowledge and welcomes new ways of thinking?

Tracey Gampfer: We have put a lot of focus into documenting institutional knowledge, especially in areas where people just know what to do. Sometimes there is fear. If I document it, you will not need me. We work through that with trust and clarity. Documenting is not about replacing you. It is about protecting the business and preparing for retirement, growth, or unexpected transitions. We also use talent reviews to identify where we are at risk and make sure knowledge gets transferred.

Beth Giglio: We also reinforce this from day one. In new hire orientation, we are explicit. We hire people to add to the organization. You were selected because you bring something valuable. The goal is not to walk in and declare everything is broken, but to build on what works and contribute what is next.

Lindsey House: And we are not afraid to say it directly. We did not hire you because things are broken. We hired you because we want you to enhance what we have built.

Developing the next generation of manufacturing leaders

With retirements accelerating and a younger workforce entering manufacturing, leadership development has become both more urgent and more complex.

Traba: How are you developing the next generation of manufacturing leaders amid retirements and a younger workforce entering the space?

Lindsey House: We have taken a multi-pronged approach. One part is building the operational foundation. Learning the business deeply, creating better support across shifts, and getting closer to the plant’s day-to-day reality. Then we started doing more structured talent identification and development in the hourly population, not just office roles. We map high performers and high potentials, build development plans, and raise expectations for supervisors. It is not enough to run the line. They need to develop people.

We also partner with community organizations for skill development, including digital literacy, Excel, and interviewing practice, because leadership readiness often requires capabilities people did not have the chance to build earlier in their careers.

Finally, we have become more disciplined about one critical reality. The best operator is not automatically the best leader. We still promote from within, but we are more intentional about preparing people before placing them into leadership roles.

Lightning round

Traba: When you are hiring or promoting leaders, what cultural or behavioral markers tell you someone will succeed at Gorilla?

Beth Giglio: Low ego.

Tracey Gampfer: Friendly.

Beth Giglio: If someone comes in with a ‘me orientation’, trying to prove themselves or show how they know better, they will not do well here. That is not who we are.

Traba: What is the biggest shift you have seen in the CHRO role over the last five years?

Beth Giglio: The importance of the CHRO has moved up and down. COVID pulled HR to the center of the table, then some organizations tried to push it aside, and now AI is putting it back at the center again. What has not changed is the expectation. CHROs have to be business and data-driven while staying human centered.

Traba: One piece of advice for an HR leader modernizing culture in a legacy manufacturing firm?

Lindsey House: Be able to talk to people at every level without talking above them and bring real empathy. Approachability matters. If people cannot even say good morning to the team, it is not going to work in a plant culture like ours.

Beth Giglio: My brand is putting the human back in human resources. Regardless of COVID, AI, or anything else, what is most appropriate for humans should come first.

Closing perspective

Traba: If you had to summarize Gorilla Glue’s people advantage in one line, what would it be?

Beth Giglio: We build the business by working alongside people we care about, and we treat listening, trust, and leadership behavior as seriously as any operational metric.

The Top CHRO Voice Spotlight series exists to surface leadership perspectives like these, not as theory, but as practice. By elevating leaders who treat people strategy as core to operations, the series reflects how the most durable brands are built and sustained.