Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 31, 1993 TAG: 9310280014
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID LAMB LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: DALLAS LENGTH: Medium
At Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont ice-cream maker, full benefits are extended to gay couples and heterosexual unmarried partners. Hewitt Associates, which designs compensation and benefit programs, gives employees an extra 15 vacation days on their 15th, 20th and 25th company anniversaries - not to mention free lunches and bonuses for wearing seat belts and not smoking.
At Donnelly Corp., a Michigan glass-product maker, you will find CEO Dwane Baumgardner and other senior executives on the loading docks at 5 a.m. just before Thanksgiving, handing out turkeys to employees.
And at Southwest Airlines, CEO Herb Kelleher has made having a sense of humor a requisite for employment.
While much of America agonizes over corporate downsizing and diminished worker benefits, these are among an elite group of companies that have not deserted their employees. Even in tough times, they have remained committed to offering handsome incentives and treating their people as their company's most important asset. Their reward has been employees who work harder, smarter and more efficiently - and consider an enlightened workplace just as important as the size of their paycheck.
Numerous polls show that most American workers no longer equate money with either success or job satisfaction. In one recent survey, the Families and Work Institute of New York City reported that 82 percent of Americans defined success in work as the personal satisfaction gained from doing a good job or earning the respect of supervisors and peers. Only 21 percent listed making a good income as the definition of success.
Of the workers who had taken jobs in the last five years, the top five reasons for picking the new employer were open communications, the effect of the job on personal and family life, the nature of work, the quality of management and the characteristics of supervisors. Salary ranked 16th.
"Nothing drives productivity by itself," said Robert Dewar, associate professor of management at Northwestern University, "but when you combine liberal perks with a good appraisal system and getting rid of people who don't keep up, you're going to get a lot of productivity and a hell of a lot of loyalty. People are knocking down the door to work for companies like Fel-Pro."
After being profiled as a company with a heart in Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz's new book, "The 100 Best Companies To Work For In America," Fel-Pro had so many calls from journalists wanting to interview its employees, it turned down all requests for on-site visits in order not to get distracted from its business as the world's largest maker of gaskets for automobiles.
"Besides, the good publicity cuts both ways," said Rich Morris, Fel-Pro's director of communications. "Half the clients call to say congratulations. The others call to say, `If you're doing that much for your employees, you must be charging too much.' "
Although the bonds of loyalty between employer and employee have been frayed by the economic turmoil of the '90s, management consultants say there is a growing awareness in corporate America that quality production and global competitiveness are directly related to the kind of work place it provides.
"That enlightened attitude was not in place in the early 1980s," author Levering noted.
Almost every day, one corporate group or another descends on Southwest Airlines to study the secrets of its success. What they find is that CEO Herb Kelleher - a chain-smoking, bourbon-drinking, workaholic prankster - has created a company culture: Southwest isn't just an employer; it's a family, a place where you're expected to work hard, have fun and care about each other. On the New York Stock Exchange ticker tape, Southwest's symbol is "LUV."
No one gets hired at Southwest without providing a satisfactory answer to the question: "Tell me how you recently used your sense of humor in a work environment."
"I didn't know a place like this existed when I first went looking for a job," said Denise Zachry, manager of leadership training.
Southwest was the first airline to introduce profit-sharing in 1973, and three mechanics already have retired as millionaires. Employees can wear shorts and sneakers to work during the summer and corporate headquarters all but shuts down on Halloween for a daylong party. Every employee gets one free day off a month, two round-trip passes for each three months worked without an unauthorized absence, and the privilege of switching days off with their colleagues. Among Southwest's 14,000-member work force are 300 married couples.
"I'll tell you how I feel," said Gary Lopez, manager for in-flight Dallas services. "I take a vacation and I almost feel guilty. A Southwest plane goes overhead, and I think, `Wow, I ought to be back at work. The company can't make it without me.' "
by CNB