THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 29, 1996 TAG: 9607270148
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 139 lines
When James Witt crunched some numbers this spring and learned he was short of the $19,000 it will cost to send son Jacob to college, he crossed his fingers and uttered a prayer that Jacob would win a scholarship from Dad's company.
Huntsman Chemical Corp. in Chesapeake awards about fifteen $1,000 scholarships each year to employees' children and about a dozen summer jobs that enable a worker's son or daughter to make $3,000 to $4,000 in a couple of months.
``We stepped out and said we're not going to go for the whole loan,'' said James Witt, a Norfolk resident. ``We said the good Lord will give us the thousand from Huntsman.''
In this case, Huntsman is not just a company but the Huntsman family. Jon and Karen Huntsman made headlines last October when the couple donated $100 million to the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.
Beyond the headlines, though, the Huntsmans' benevolence extends to the 260 workers at the polymer plant in Chesapeake and to their more than 7,500 worldwide employees.
Rewarding employees for their hard work and donating millions of dollars a year is essentially part of their business plan. The Huntsmans belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and their Mormon-inspired values filter through the company.
When CEO Jon Huntsman travels to a one of the plants, Karen often goes with him as well as ``one or two or three or four or five'' of the children and their spouses, Huntsman says. At company picnics, it's workers' families meeting the Huntsman family, rather than workers meeting the boss.
That's why the Huntsmans decided to maintain ownership of the company recently instead of selling stock and becoming publicly traded.
``I could see a lot of things changing as we redirected our efforts toward Wall Street and quarterly earnings and dividends,'' Huntsman said from his Salt Lake City office.
Now, the Huntsmans can use their riches any way they please. They hope to turn their profits into a cure for cancer. Personal run-ins with the disease have driven that effort: Jon Huntsman's mother died of breast cancer, his dad had prostate cancer, and Huntsman himself had prostate cancer four years ago and later suffered from mouth cancer.
Absent a cure, Huntsman has instituted cancer testing programs for employees at his company. Huntsman wants his male employees to be tested for prostate cancer each year and his female employees for mammary cancer - whether the company's insurance covers it or not.
``The family has said, if for some reason our insurance doesn't cover it, just go do it and send us the bill,'' Huntsman said in a phone interview. ``We don't want you to pay a penny for it. It's our worry, not yours, just get there.''
Huntsman Corp., based in Salt Lake City, funds similar programs at its 82 other plants in 23 countries. The Huntsman dynasty started with an idea. Huntsman worked in the egg-distribution business and noticed the cardboard egg containers often tore or leaked.
He developed a polystyrene egg carton jointly with Dow Chemical. Then he went out on his own, formed Huntsman Container, invented the ``clamshell'' container that McDonald's used for years, and started acquiring related companies.
The Chesapeake plant makes polystyrene resins that end up in TV and VCR housings, video and audio cassettes, toys, furniture and appliances.
By 1995, the privately owned chemical company was pulling in $4.5 billion.
Then Huntsman turned around and used those revenues to fund scholarships and summer jobs, give Christmas bonuses and pay for the annual mammogram and prostate exams as well as prescriptions for ``the patch'' for workers who want to quit smoking.
``It's a two-way street,'' Huntsman said. ``I don't know what more we could do that we're not doing for the employees. On the other hand, I don't know what else they could give me in values and work ethic and responsibility and loyalty.''
These days, while Wall Street rewards companies that trim their payrolls by cutting full-time employees, Huntsman seems to have found a way to spend money on its work force and still make a profit.
Part of the payback for Huntsman's generosity is that few of his employees leave the company. The turnover rate is less than 2 percent, Huntsman says.
Lionel Clark, a Portsmouth resident and worker at the Chesapeake plant, has worked there for 22 years.
``Put it this way,'' Clark says of workers' treatment at Huntsman, ``no one's going to leave here and go work somewhere else, that's for sure.''
That goes double for Clark. A few months ago his daughter LaToya's name was pulled out of the hat when the summer jobs were doled out. Since mid-May, LaToya has been doing clerical work in Huntsman's quality control department.
Thanks to the job, she may be driving a newly purchased car back for her sophomore year at Elizabeth City State University.
``It helps me out too,'' Lionel says, ``I can keep my money in my pocket.''
Huntsman and company employees know it might sound sappy, but say that the company functions more as a family business than a multinational chemical and plastics concern.
That attitude filters down from the top. Huntsman has listed the companies three main business objectives: to repay debt, to install new machinery to modernize and ensure the safety of workers, and to make substantial charitable contributions.
Last year, Huntsman gave $28 million to charitable and humanitarian causes - and more to its employees.
That brings things back to James Witt. His son Jacob got that $1,000 scholarship. He'll be going to Hampden-Sydney College in the fall.
And next spring, his dad will be throwing his name in the Huntsman hat again and hoping for the best. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
FAMILY BUSINESS
The employees of Huntsman Corp. are all part of the family
Photo courtesy Huntsman Corp.
Jon Huntsman is CEO of Salt Lake City-based Huntsman Chemical Corp.,
but he and wife Karen are more than figureheads. They treat
employees like family, turning profits back to the interests of
workers.
RICHARD L. DUNSTON
The Virginian-Pilot
James Witt of Norfolk works at Huntsman's Chesapeake plant. Faced
with $19,000 in college costs for his son, he applied for one of the
company's $1,000 scholarships to help out.
RICHARD L. DUNSTON
The Virginian-Pilot
It worked. Witt's son Jacob will be attending Hampden-Sydney College
in the fall. Huntsman awards about 15 scholarships each year to
employees' children.
RICHARD L. DUNSTON
The Virginian-Pilot
LaToya Clark of Portsmouth also got help from Huntsman. Her father
Lionel works at the Chesapeake plant, and for now so does she.
Huntsman offers summer jobs for employees' families.
Photo courtesy Huntsman Corp.
The Huntsmans have also worked hard to find a cure for cancer. They
established the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.
Photo courtesy Huntsman Corp.
A worker on a co-extrusion line helps manufacture a stretch film for
packaging. Huntsman makes industrial chemicals, plastics, packaging
and other chemical products. by CNB