• Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. Winston Churchill

  • It costs 10 times more to gain a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer.

  • The brighter you are, the more you have to learn.

  • Employee loyalty builds customer loyalty, which builds brand loyalty. It’s as simple - and as difficult - as that.

  • 25 of every 27 customers who have a bad experience fail to report it because they don’t believe anything will change.

  • Companies Don’t Solve Problems.
    People Do.

  • People are the core strategic asset. To be successful, a company must listen, involve, encourage, nurture, support, empower, and reward all its constituencies.

  • The number one fear in the world is public speaking. “You” vs. “I” messages are powerful tools for capturing your audience’s attention.

  • The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. Vince Lombardi

  • First, people don’t grow and change much unless they’re in a supportive environment where people know what they want to do and encourage them to do it.

  • If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow rice. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people. – Chinese Proverb

  • 78% of consumers say their most satisfying experience occurred because of a capable and competent customer service representative.

  • 50 – 70% of how employees perceive their organization can be traced back to the actions of one person – the leader.

  • The key to building a culture based on Trust and Personal Responsibility is getting all employees to be committed to the organization’s Vision and the Values That Build Trust.

  • Effective coaching is a key method for increasing productivity and profitability in an organization. Recent studies have shown that 85% of the workforce wants holistic coaching so that they can continually improve and grow.

  • "High performing organizations are constantly focusing on improving their capabilities through learning systems, building knowledge capital and transformational learning throughout the organization.” - Ken Blanchard

  • 70% of organizational changes fail and these failures can be traced to ineffective leadership.

  • Leadership IQ being equal, it is believed emotional intelligence – how we manage ourselves, our emotions and the emotions of others – accounts for 85 – 90% of what separates the most outstanding leaders from their peers.

  • It is estimated that 80% of mergers and acquisitions that occur today fail to meet initial expectations.

  • The key to keeping customers satisfied and loyal is to value and train employees while making them an integral part of corporate success.

  • A survey of 350 executives across 14 industries, 68% confirmed their companies experienced unanticipated problems in their change process. – International Consortium of Executive Development Research.

  • 85% of business leaders agree that traditional differentiators alone are no longer a sustainable business strategy.

  • Leadership is being the best you can be, and helping others be the best they can be.

  • The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving. Oliver Wendell Holmes

  • No one of us is as smart as all of us – when teams function well, miracles happen.

  • Change is constant. To implement change you must listen, engage, and empower individuals in the change process.

  • Learn something every day. Never stop learning.

  • Corporations can work five times harder and spend five times more money to gain new customers, or they can keep the ones they have.

Chemical Week - Management - Retaining Top Talent

December 21, 2005

Chemical Week

By Esther D’Amico

The first wave of baby-boomers will hit retirement age in about two years, and that has a lot of industry executives worried. Many of those workers will take with them industry skills and knowledge that took years to cultivate, say chemical executives, HR managers, and consultants. The drain on human capital has attracted the attention of industry executives, many of whom are focusing on retention strategies, as well as programs designed to groom existing talent for taking on the soon-to-be-vacated spots. Meanwhile, the dearth of students in the U.S. studying science and engineering is particularly troubling to the chemical industry, as many of those about to retire are from these disciplines.

About 77 million baby-boomers across corporate America are nearing retirement age, leaving companies with a “leadership vacuum” to contend with, says Dianne Durkin, president of training and consulting firm Loyalty Factor (Portsmouth, NH). The problem is worsening as “there aren’t enough people to replace the boomers. By 2010, the government predicts that there will be 10 million more jobs to fill than there will be people for those jobs,” Durkin says. “Skills, knowledge, experience, and relationships walk out the door every time a leader retires, and these skilled and knowledgeable employees take time and money to replace.”

A recent report of the U.S. manufacturing sector by Deloitte Consulting (Summit, NJ), and the National Association of Manufacturers (Washington) bears that out. The report is based on a survey of 800 manufacturers, including chemical companies, and says that “the vast majority of American manufacturers are experiencing a serious shortage of qualified employees, which in turn is causing significant impact to business and the ability of the country as a whole to compete in a global economy.” The trend is not limited to the U.S., but countries including China, India, and Russia “are graduating millions more students each year from college than the U.S.,” the report says.

Many chemical companies will have to find large numbers of new staff over the next several years as the wave of older workers comes up for retirement. Lubrizol, for example will have to replace 60% of its staff in the next eight years, says Don Bogus, senior v.p. and president of the company’s Noveon division.

“Despite all our best efforts, we aren’t replenishing the numbers of skilled employees the industry will need in years to come. We are finding it difficult to attract young people to science and engineering,” Daniel S. Sanders, former president at ExxonMobil Chemical, said earlier this year in his acceptance speech for the Society of the Chemical Industry’s Chemical Industry Medal. “We need to improve science and math skills while students are in elementary school, and plant the seeds of interest and curiosity.”

Part of the problem for the chemical industry has been that it did not re-hire sufficiently after undergoing major downsizings in the early ‘80s, and again in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, says James G. Aslaksen, global sector leader/performance materials at executive search firm Korn/Ferry International (San Francisco). “It was largely employees between 35 and 45 years old that were downsized,” and so there is a lack at present of seasoned executives with specific industry knowledge to draw from for the more senior jobs ranging from science to administration, Aslaksen says. “It takes time to develop the skills to manage functions—such as general management, finance, and manufacturing—and you can’t take someone who is 35 and put them in a role that someone with 25 years of experience had filled,” he says. “They also won’t have the political pull in the organization that the more senior person did.”

Companies also did not hire as many new college graduates as they had done in the past, largely due to “lean manufacturing” programs such as six sigma that strive to make firms more efficient, Aslaksen says. Chemical firms were focusing on “condensing themselves,” he says.

Yet another challenge, particularly for the chemical industry, is in attracting talent from a smaller pool of graduates with science and engineering degrees, says Tom Marriott, chemical practice leader Deloitte Consulting. “In the ‘80s you used to see a lot of foreign students coming into the U.S. and going for engineering degrees,” Marriott says. However, there are not as many foreign students studying those disciplines in the U.S. any more, and many of those that do return to their home countries to work, he says.

There is also a scarcity of science educators to teach the next generation of chemists, health care professionals, design engineers with deep technical and interpersonal skills, and seasoned marketers who understand the Chinese marketplace, says a talent management study published earlier this year by Deloitte Research. “Resumes abound, yet companies still feverishly search for people who make the difference between 10%-20% annual growth, or between profit and loss,” the study says.

There is a growing skills gap that varies by industry and organization, and the most “critical” talent does not necessarily represent a senior executive who commands the highest salary, the report says. A company’s critical talent may be the scientists who discover and develop blockbuster drugs that fuel a pharma firm’s growth, or the machinist who performs precision manufacturing to six sigma standards, the report says. “More often we’re talking about employees who don’t end up in the annual report,” it adds.

Some chemical companies are trying to alleviate the skilled labor shortage problem by investing in initiatives, such as training programs for existing staff. Some industry executives have become personally involved in recruiting. Nance Dicciani, president and CEO of Honeywell Specialty Materials, for example, visits college campuses to speak with graduates about opportunities at Honeywell and about science.

Henkel says it has long been aware of the talent management challenge and has focused on retaining existing talent as well as seeking out high-potential graduate students. One way it retains talent is by offering opportunities for advancement as well as programs to further education and training, says John Cocco, v.p./global product development at Henkel’s industrial and maintenance division, who is responsible for tech recruiting.

The company has a “strong stable” of scientists at both its Dublin, Ireland, and Rocky Hill, CT laboratories, but it nevertheless strives to be proactive in holding onto that talent and in seeking out new recruits, Cocco says. Existing staff must be challenged, and given new responsibilities to keep from getting bored, he says. A company can hire motivational speakers in an attempt to boost performance, but they are of little help if there is no job satisfaction, he adds.

Cocco says that a big part of his job is making sure that there is two-way communication between him and employees, so that they feel free enough to tell him that they want to try something different. “If my best person came to me and said they would really like to work in Europe, I would do what I could to make sure this happens—and maybe I could get a really good person in Europe to work here,” he says.

“Somebody that has been here for 30 years and has been through a lot is going to be hard to replace,” Cocco says. But the company is bound to have people on staff who are eager to try something different that will help build the skills needed to eventually fill the position, he says. Companies need to be far-sighted enough to keep investing in their workers’ know-how and skills, so that they are not caught short when a critical position suddenly opens up, he adds.

“You have to have a pipeline of talent in place,” says Gary Yeaw, who recently joined Chemtura as senior v.p./HR. The pipeline should include plans for hiring new workers, developing the knowledge and skills of existing employees, retaining those employees, and understanding the company’s particular emerging needs, Yeaw says. That may require companies to train people to be even short-term replacements for vacant positions, he says. “Any position—whether it be a scientist or someone in payroll—can be critical if you don’t find the person to fill it,” he adds.

The merger of Crompton and Great Lakes Chemical that created Chemtura earlier this year created a company with about 6,700 workers worldwide, but also resulted in the loss of 600 jobs. Yeaw says that talent management after such a merger is focused on growing “a good business” with room for personal development and a culture and leadership that values talent. “At the end of the day, you are a bigger company and have more opportunities for growth,” Yeaw says.

“The shortfall in the chemical industry is in the skilled jobs sector,” says Ron Rice, senior v.p./administration at RPM. “The most effective way to deal with a shortfall is, of course, not to lose the people you have,” which involves continuing to make the company they work for more attractive, Rice says. “We have had growth above the industry average.” The company emphasizes opportunities for advancement, and also offers a “better-than-average” compensation program that includes opportunities for managers to build equity, he says. “We also try to have fun and celebrate our successes as much as possible,” with award ceremonies and other programs. “Those things create positive momentum, which creates its own success at times,” he adds.

Chemtura, Henkel, and RPM each say they first look to hire from within their respective companies when a position is vacated. “We look across the organization to make sure we are finding potential successors,” Yeaw says. “Assuming that is not fruitful, then we ask if there is an external market for this skill set. If that doesn’t work, then we see what are the kinds of skills we have in existing jobs to see if someone may be able to make the leap, at least temporarily,” he says.

Chemtura recently turned to the latter approach in filling a strategic sourcing position. “Strategic sourcing is a relatively new function that involves a much more comprehensive, vendor-focused relationship management skill set, than does procurement, for example,” Yeaw says. “There are not a lot of people in this role at present, and so we had to see what kinds of skills were needed and determined that negotiation skills were a big part of it.” The company’s sales force includes strong negotiators, and so it filled the spot with a sales person “who already had the skill set and knowledge of the company” to do the job, he says.

The chemical industry’s struggle with its image to the public is also to some extent hurting some company’s efforts to attract college recruits with non-science backgrounds, Marriott says. “The industry is not viewed as a ‘clean’ industry and has a negative environmental reputation, which is a problem when it comes to attracting new grads.”

However, some firms say that their company and/or product brands are so strongly recognized by potential recruits with non-science backgrounds that they can by-pass the image problem. Chemistry and engineering grads are usually focused on the science, and so the image issue does not arise for them, Cocco says. “The engineers and chemists I talk with have pretty much decided that they want to go into this area,” he says. “But we do sell the idea that Henkel is a very strong company,” an important distinction to be made when much of the chemical industry has restructured and downsized, he says.

Meanwhile, succession management for senior executives that get poached by competitors is another talent management issue, the Deloitte study says. There are numerous examples of these in the chemical industry. These include Robert Wood, chairman, president, and CEO at Chemtura, who was president and CEO at Crompton, which nabbed him from Dow Chemical’s automotive business; William Joyce, who left Hercules to become chairman and CEO of Nalco; and William Banholzer, corporate v.p. and CTO at Dow Chemical, who was v.p./global technology at GE Advanced Materials.

Most chemical firms have succession management plans in place at the most senior level levels, Marriott says. “However, it is underneath that suite where the rigor has not historically been there,” he says. Companies need to improve their focus on the lower levels, and increase their understanding of the critical skills in their workforce, he says “That doesn’t mean that you are trying to make everybody ready to be a CEO,” he says. Rather, it means “there’s an issue with the development and retention of key components of the workforce.”


Stay In Front - From the Editor

December Issue, 2005

Stay In Front

When I ask executives about their strategies for finding and retaining good employees, most tell me about their compensation, recruitment, or training programs. But with a worker shortage looming, those approaches may no longer be enough.

The solution to this problem is a simple one that many companies have difficulty with: treat your employees better. That idea is the basis of a book I recently received, The Loyalty Advantage by Dianne Michonski Durkin (Amacom 2005). Durkin talks about the Loyalty Factor: employee loyalty drives customer loyalty, which drives brand loyalty.

The formula makes so much sense, yet most companies focus more on customers and the bottom line than they do employees, leading to higher than necessary turnover rates. Durkin makes a good case for building business success this way, pointing to companies like Southwest Airlines and Whole Foods as proof of the formula’s viability.

Two sections of the book stood out for me. First, the importance of a certain type of manager. “The managers who are most effective at cultivating loyalty are player-coaches—those who take an active, measurable role in the business, while providing encouragement, training, and support for their direct reports,” writes Durkin.

Second, the idea of empowered employees. “When you start treating employees like adolescents…that’s when you start to bring out the adolescent in people,” one CEO is quoted as saying in the book. Lately, I’ve been hearing more executives talk about the importance of empowering employees, and some are putting their money where their mouths are, as Martin Staubus reports in our story on employee ownership on page 28.


Boston Globe - Employee loyalty, retaining customers go hand in hand

November 20, 2005

Boston Globe

By Nathan Hurst, Globe Correspondent

As company towns and single job careers become antiquated notions in today's turbulent economic times, corporate loyalty could be the key to retaining top-notch employees.

And while employee loyalty toward companies is higher this year than ever, according to a survey released last week, current economic improvements are giving workers more flexibility in what they do and for whom they do it.

"The Walker Loyalty Report: Loyalty in the Workplace," released last week — it quizzed thousands of workers across the United States in a variety of fields on their attitudes about their employers — showed that employee loyalty has increased since 2003, the last time the survey was conducted.

Thirty-four percent of those surveyed were dubbed "truly loyal."

"Being loyal to a company is something deeper than simply enjoying where you work," said Chris Woolard, a consultant with Walker Information. Dianne Durkin, an employee and customer loyalty consultant and president of Portsmouth, N.H.-based The Loyalty Factor, agrees. She said employee loyalty is also important for increasing customer loyalty.

"Employee loyalty drives brand loyalty, which drives customer recognition for a company," Durkin said in a telephone interview last week. "For a customer, the one employee they interact with is the company."

Durkin described a common situation for consumers: A customer purchases a product and shortly after, something goes wrong. An employee who is responsible for fixing or taking a return on the item mentions in passing that the product is known to be a bad buy, because of recurring problems.

While the product’s quality is also an important issue for the company to handle, so is the employee’s attitude. Even longtime employees might show that loyalty isn’t necessarily built around how long they are willing to stick with a company, Durkin said.

With the majority of workers no longer laboring for one firm, Woolard said, companies are having to focus on creating an environment where employees are interested in the work they do or at least feel as if they have a vested interest in the future of the corporation.

The survey showed that sectors with the highest loyalty responses from employees included nonprofit; healthcare, including hospitals; information technology; and financial services.

Durkin wasn’t surprised.

"People that go into a nonprofit are totally and completely committed to what their organization does," she said.

"If you ask anybody in a nonprofit what their purpose is, they can repeat that. It's the same for people in healthcare. They’re totally committed to the health and well-being of the people they service. It's just part of their nature.’’

But what about workers who aren't working at jobs in their dream career? Or those who don’t know what their ideal career could be?

Durkin said employers should focus more intensely on promoting a culture where employees are valued for what they do well, in addition to allowing for and even improving their chances to stand out in the crowd. She cited Starbucks and Southwest Airlines as companies that recognize employee achievements well.

"Management at Southwest gives [employees] the ability to be themselves. A stewardess I talked to said she liked her job because she didn’t have to be pretentious, just herself," Durkin said. "Their employees don't think the airlines are the end-all, but the company shows that they are very grateful for the people that are there."

Promoting an environment where employees "love the company and feel like the company loves them back" is a key to retaining top loyalty from workers, she said.

Starbucks shows it values employees by offering a bevy of benefits, such as healthcare coverage and stock options, even for those who work part time. Durkin said this is just another way of making employees feel they are part of a company, instead of just working for a paycheck.

"Employees want to feel like they’re in on things," Durkin said. "They want to know how they can contribute to success." The survey also showed that just because an employee shows long-term commitment to a company, true loyalty does not necessarily follow.

For example, 57 percent of US workers said they felt "like part of the family" at their workplace.

Only 34 percent, however, scored as "truly loyal" to their employer. Woolard said the survey also showed an employee can be engaged in the work and enjoy the job without being loyal to the employer.

Both Durkin and Woolard said training and development programs can cause loyalty to surge. Training serves multiple purposes, Durkin said.

First, it allows employees to provide top-notch service. And it gives them an opportunity to broaden their investment in a company by knowing more about what they are doing. "If people are stuck in a place where they aren't learning or being intellectually stimulated, they’re not going to stick around," Durkin said.

About 54 percent of workers this year said they valued development opportunities as an important component of their careers.

How a company’s leaders conduct their business practices can also have a severe effect on how much a corporate ship can sink in troubled times before employees start bailing out for other jobs. Woolard said that in this year’s survey, corporate ethics were more important than ever to employees.

While 64 percent said their companies had good "overall ethics," the same percentage as in the 2003 survey, figures showing the number of employees reporting sound ethical judgments from senior leaders was up to 58 percent, from 54 percent in 2003.

More employees were feeling less pressure to cut corners for the company, and more said ethical guidelines were clearly communicated to them by superiors, in addition to having corporate ethical values interpreted for them by managers.

"If an employee feels like something isn't quite right with what managers and executives are doing, they're not going be loyal to the company or what it does," Woolard said. "Nobody wants to be a part of a workplace that isn't doing the right thing."

Nathan Hurst can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Potentials - Here's to Your Health

October 1, 2005

Potentials

By Julia Chang

OCTOBER 01, 2005 - -- Only a few years ago, if an employee took an early lunch to unwind in a yoga class, or suited up for a quick jog in lieu of a smoke break, he would probably have been pulled into a closed-door conversation with the boss to discuss his work ethic. Fast forward to 2005, and employees are not only taking the time (even out of the workday) to concentrate on their health, their companies are encouraging them to do so. "Back in 2003, a progressive senior vice president of human resources might say to the CEO, 'We should have an integrated wellness program,' and the CEO would have answered, 'How does that impact our profit and loss?'" says Michael Dermer, president and CEO of IncentOne, a provider of incentive solutions in Carlstadt, N.J. "Now, the CEO will ask the senior vice president of human resources, 'Why don't we have an integrated wellness program?' It's a real P&L driver."

The change of heart shows employers have realized that happy and healthy workers are also productive and motivated ones. Many companies now provide everything from office gyms to onsite weight-loss programs to embrace a holistic view of the workplace. Not only are employees being provided the resources to stay healthy, in some instances they are also being rewarded and recognized for doing so—creating a trickle down effect that ultimately benefits the bottom line. "If you are physically fit, then you are mentally fit," says Dianne Durkin, president of The Loyalty Factor, a training and consulting firm specializing in employee and customer loyalty in Portsmouth, N.H. "You project positive feedback to customers, and customers want to do business with positive people."

The Wellness Trend

Companies holding out on wellness initiatives may think twice once they see the costs associated with poor employee health; even on the day-to-day level, those innocuous sick days add up. According to CCH Inc., a provider of employment-law information, last-minute absences last year due in part to illness and stress cost organizations an average of $610 per employee. And not surprisingly, unscheduled absenteeism was 35 percent higher in companies with low morale.

Dermer noticed this concern over costs about two years ago, when surveys of executives showed that employee healthcare was increasingly becoming a significant business issue. "[The notion of] general wellness may have existed back in 2003, but [companies] realized that to change behavior on a day-to-day basis, incentives are important," he says. "A lot of healthcare costs come from daily, chronic conditions." So earlier this year, IncentOne unveiled an incentive solution called Employee Power that rewards employees for healthy behaviors.

In a typical program, the highest values are awarded for high-impact activities, such as undergoing a health-risk assessment. The next highest may be awarded for actions like getting a flu shot, attending a smoking-cessation class, or joining a gym; and then, on the day-to-day level, for things like managing a prescription plan online or going to the gym three times a week. Employees can redeem their points for rewards from IncentOne's vast portfolio of merchants. For instance, if a company chooses to award 75 points for completing a health-risk assessment, employees could split the value between a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card and a $50 Sony Walkman. "What's interesting about wellness incentives is that it's one of the few times you are completely aligning the goals of the organization with the goals of an employee," Dermer says. "If you reward employees for being healthier, they become healthier, and the employer reduces healthcare costs."

Besides cost concerns, the other major driver of the holistic trend is the influence that Generation X is having on corporate culture. Work/life balance, including health and recreation, is one of the major workplace factors GenXers look for. Some of this influence is even rubbing off on Baby Boomers, who in their twilight years may be looking at life after retirement. "[Generation Xers] work to live, as opposed to live to work," Durkin says. "And Boomers are starting to realize that work is not the end-all."

Wellness Benefits Over Time

The results of a June 2005 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reveal a gradual, but steady increase in supplemental wellness benefits in the past four years. The study surveyed HR professionals about their companies' policies and practices.

Percent of Employers Offering Wellness Benefits (by Year)

Program type 2001 2003 2005

Wellness program,

resources and information 53% 57% 62%

Smoking Cessation Program 29% 32% 34%

Weight Loss Program 17% 24% 25%

On-site Fitness Center 21% 22% 24%

Health Screening Program 38% 40% 44%

Getting Fit

At least anecdotally, health-related industries appear to be more active in adopting wellness incentives. It makes sense, since this can help employees better understand their companies' business. That was the thinking behind Polar's ongoing internal fitness challenge. "It was a win-win. It educates them about their fitness, and stimulates knowledge of our product," says Marcelo Aller, training resource specialist in Lake Success, New York, for the maker of heart rate monitors and sports instruments.

The challenge focused on three assessments that are analyzed using Polar technology: BodyAge, an analysis created by the company that accounts for factors like biometrics, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and personal nutrition to come up with a person's biological age (as opposed to their chronological age); body fat; and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), essentially a measurement of how well oxygen is transported and used throughout the body.

The challenge was announced in December, and more than 40 participants were given a baseline assessment and an individualized fitness regimen. At the end of each quarter, prizes are awarded to the top three participants with the most dramatic results; awards include mini iPods, iPod shuffles, and restaurant gift certificates. The grand prize at the end of the year will be a travel incentive that is yet to be determined.

Aller says that since the start of the competition, he's noticed a few more folks taking advantage of Polar's onsite cardiovascular-equipment room, or running to the local gym during lunch hour. "I think after the first-quarter results, people started realizing that they could be a winner," he says. Some of the most dramatic results included a more than 20 percent drop in body fat and an 8 percent reduction in BodyAge. "This is going to be an ongoing process," Aller says. "Memorizing what [our product] does is one thing, but feeling and understanding it is a whole other aspect."

Battle of the Bulge

Not every company has the resources to launch a full-scale wellness initiative. But there are small, and effective, ways to get your employees to make healthy choices. Here are tips for encouraging your employees to reach for a salad instead of super-sizing their fries:

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
Employees may initially balk at the absence of that beloved pizza with extra cheese in the cafeteria. Instead of making them go cold turkey, phase in a healthy menu by first offering healthy snacks, like fresh fruit and vegetables, on the house. This helps them focus on what they are getting, not giving up.

OFFER HEALTH-THEMED REWARDS
Got an employee who stopped smoking for two weeks straight or met a personal weight-loss goal? Celebrate the achievement by offering a spontaneous reward that can help them continue to that goal, such as a discount to the local gym or a gift card from an organic grocery store.

INCLUDE MORE ACTIVE INCENTIVES
Injecting more activity into your incentive offerings will get employees burning calories while enjoying the fruits of their labor—and could also expose them to their new favorite recreational hobby. While golf may never relinquish its top spot as the sport of choice on a President's Club trip, try offering a fun alternative like kayaking or windsurfing.

BRING THE WELLNESS TO THEM
On their own, employees may be shy about attending a yoga class, reluctant to change their eating habits or won't have time to visit a spa. But if those activities are made convenient, they won't have an excuse to avoid wellness. As a reward for a working on a hard project, bring in an onsite massage therapist, or disguise a yoga session or light-cooking class as a teambuilding activity.

—J.C.

For Dole Food, corporate employee wellness was approached on a larger scale—and not without early grumbles from the workforce. The Westlake Village, Calif.-based provider of produce and packaged foods launched its initiative in 2003, which included everything from stocking vending machines with healthier alternatives; taking out the most unhealthy foods from the cafeteria, and selling healthier options at a discount; and offering onsite fitness instruction. This might seem natural for a company that provides fresh fruit and vegetables, but "people got very attached to their bacon cheeseburgers, so there was some whining in the beginning," says Jennifer Grossman, director of the Dole Nutrition Institute, the company's nutrition advocacy arm that pioneered the wellness program. "But now people have changed their lifestyles, and you can see the difference."

Part of the wellness program included Dole Dollars, which employees could earn for participating in lunchtime walks, a company yoga class, fitness consultations and health seminars, or a vegan cooking classes. The dollars are redeemed for products ranging from yoga mats to fitness bands to exercise balls; some of the most-popular items were Whole Foods gift certificates, Grossman says. But perhaps the best reward was improved health. A group of 50 volunteers had their health monitored throughout their participation in the program. "We saw a drop in bad cholesterol, a rise in good cholesterol, a drop in triglycerides—basically all the [different assessments] improved in the volunteer group," she says. "You do have to make some hard decisions," when implementing a wellness program, Grossman adds, such as taking away the fattiest foods from the cafeteria. "But the fact is, a company does not have to subsidize an unhealthy lifestyle."

Lifestyle Incentives

Not all healthy incentives are directly linked to a wellness initiative. Perhaps more commonly, companies are rewarding the usual suspects, such as sales and service, with products that reflect an active lifestyle, instead of the typical big-screen television. Rex Remigi, product line manager for O.C. Tanner, a Salt Lake City-based recognition solutions provider, says he's seen more requests for items like pedometers with built-in radios, treadmills, stair climbers, heart-rate monitors, weight-loss kits—even, to some extent, cookbooks. And then there are the experiential rewards in which employees actively relieve stress or burn calories. Carla Minsky, communications manager for the Sundara Spa in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., says that corporate interest in the spa has been high since it opened about two years ago.

"We have a lot of companies asking how they might provide gifts and incentives to employees," she says. "It recognizes employees' hard work, but it also says to them, 'You deserve a break, a little relaxation, and a chance to rejuvenate.'" And, Minsky adds, unwinding at a spa isn't just for women anymore. The need to decompress appears to be gender neutral, as is evidenced by the fact that three out of 10 spa services performed at Sundara are for men. Although the most popular for the testosterone set are therapeutic massages, more and more of the male audience—which includes everyone from doctors to construction workers—are trying out facials and manicures.

For the adventurous set, incentives that mix travel, relaxation, and a lot of activity are becoming noteworthy alternatives. "I think more companies are offering a choice. You can do the trip to Hawaii, but you can also go to a chateau in the south of France, and go biking and wine tasting," says Andy Levine, president of DuVine Adventures, a Somerville, Mass.-based company that gives bike tours (with stops for fine food and lodging along the way) in parts of the United States and Europe Levine has seen interest in his services for corporate teambuilding and incentives grow over the past five years or so; one real-estate fund firm, for instance, went on a tour that followed the Tour de France as a reward for sales teams that exhibited the best teamwork. "It's a piece of our business that we want to grow, because it's a big market," he says.

What managers shouldn't forget about all these holistic trends, however, is that it's ultimately about motivating and retaining a talented workforce. At SolidWorks, a 3D design software company based in Concord, Mass., it's not uncommon for employees to participate in athletic challenges together. For example, this year, 54 SolidWorks employees and business partners rode as a team in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a 192-mile charity bike race. Employees aren't given tangible incentives for these athletic endeavors, but do receive full management support. "We don't make compensation [or incentives] the reward, and that's very deliberate," says Richard Morgan, vice president of human resources. "The reward for us is the opportunity to give back, and to be affiliated with a place of employment with like-minded people." And to create a corporate culture that attracts talent. "I think becoming an employer of choice," he says, "includes your ability to create a seamless environment between personal life and work life."

Boston Globe - Workplace! Some feel undervalued by management

September 4, 2005

Boston Globe

American workers are concerned about how they are being treated in the workplace and what level of connection they have with management regarding company decisions, according to a survey published recently. Workers also often feel underappreciated by their superiors, the report said.

In many instances, however, a simple thanks can go a long way, according to Dianne Durkin, a business specialist and consultant based in Portsmouth, N.H.

''People aren't talking about money rewards,'' Durkin said. ''They're talking about feeling valued by management. The two most underused words in the English language are 'thank you.'.''

A survey by Durkin's firm, The Loyalty Factor, found that half of workers from one midsized technology company had looked for work at another employer.

And according to Durkin, the problem is not isolated to just one employer. A majority of workers surveyed reported they felt disconnected from and underappreciated by their employer.

The top three reported reasons for that disconnection: ''Not feeling aligned with the company's vision and values, not being rewarded and recognized for their contributions, and not having the opportunity to communicate with their superiors or company decision makers.''

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