Undercover Boss Ronald Croatti of UniFirst

Undercover Boss Ronald Croatti of UniFirst Gets the Hippie Look

It's always a challenge to disguise the Undercover Bosses so they'll look believable going from the boardroom to the backroom and not be recognized by their employees. The costume crew did an especially good job working on Ronald Croatti, president and CEO of UniFirst, one of the nation's largest producers of work wear and uniforms. They transformed the sixtysomething executive into an aging hippie, complete with mustache and big, bushy hair.

"I was disguised as a mid-60's hippie, and it was so hot in some places the glue wouldn't hold and my mustache kept coming off," Croatti laughs. "I had to make an excuse of going to get a drink of water to fix it."

But a droopy disguise wasn't his only physical challenge -- Croatti found out that his workers were struggling with up to 150 lb. bags of soiled linen, while the training videos they're shown teach them how to deal with bags that only weigh 25 lbs. One of the important things Croatti learned undercover is that the company's training videos do not exactly reflect what's going on in the field, and he vowed to change that.

All in the family

It's not as if Croatti is new to the company. He joined in 1965 under the tutelage of his father and company founder, Aldo Croatti. Throughout the next 30 years he gained first-hand experience by working in virtually all areas of the company. Cindy, his sister, is the executive vice president, and his son Michael is a regional VP. Croatti met his wife, Carol, 35 years ago when she was employed at the New Kensington location of UniFirst.

Since Croatti became president in 1995, UniFirst has more than doubled business, and in 2008 they exceeded annual revenues of $1 billion. They try to "foster a family culture" among their more than 200 operating locations and 10,000 employees. The companies that use their uniforms include Wal-Mart, Costco, Goodyear and GE. They manufacture, sell, and process uniforms, as well as cleaning and pressing them.

undercover boss season 2 As big and successful as the company is, however, they have not been unaffected by the recession. "When a worker gets laid off, we lose a uniform wearer," says Croatti. "Right now, we see things flattening out. We [as a nation] don't seem to be losing workers to layoffs, but we're not building the work force either."

Not sew fast

Croatti's first stop on his journey through the belly of his company was in the Sew Seal department, where they sew the emblems on the clothing and heat seal the ID tags. Employees can do 100 heat seals an hour -- which is a good thing, because they work on incentive: The faster they work, the more they get paid, but they have to do it well. Suffice it to say that Croatti wouldn't be taking home a big paycheck for his work. Not only did he have trouble with the heat sealing machine, but he destroyed a shirt when using a sewing machine to attach name tags.

His supervisor was patient with him, however, and felt comfortable enough to relate her concerns about the company's stringent tardy policy. It seems that if you're a minute late or go home early you get a tardy -- and you can't get more than six tardies in a year. She especially felt the pressure of the tardy system since she has kids, and sometimes needs to leave early or give them special attention in the morning. Croatti wasn't even aware of this system until his experience on the show.
So many benefits, so little awareness

Next, Croatti headed to Sumter, S.C., where he discovered that folding aprons and putting them in a plastic bag is not such a simple task. His supervisor had to stop the shipping line so that he could catch up. Here Croatti found that the management can do a better job of keeping the employees informed as to the benefits available to them. Many are unaware that they can get 11 percent of their pay in the form of profit sharing with a 401K. Croatti vowed to keep his employees better informed, as part of the company family.

The third job was probably the toughest and the most dangerous. Croatti went to work in a laundry facility, where they process about 150,000 lbs. of laundry per week. Sorting the huge piles of dirty laundry -- even untying the bags as they arrive -- is a big enough challenge, but loading the dirty laundry into the machines is even more difficult. Croatti came a little too close to finding out the hard way that if you're not careful, you could lose an arm.

For his fourth and final job, Croatti journeyed to Unifirst's most technologically advanced plant, where he learned how to press shirts and check them for holes, missing buttons, etc. His supervisor speculated that Croatti's wife probably does his laundry, since he seemed pretty clueless. Next Croatti was taken to the final shipping area, where his supervisor shared how she worked with the maintenance crew to extend the railing system in order to improve how they load clothes into carts and then into the trucks. The new system she devised saves workers a half hour a day. Croatti was clearly impressed with the improvements.

In general, Croatti was impressed with all his employees and their dedication to his company. As a result of his 'Undercover Boss' experience, he hopes to better show his employees that the company is dedicated to them as well.