On page 33 Ingram’s is proud to present its second annual Best Places to Work awards competition, honoring several dozen local employers that stood out this past year for creating a great environment for their employees. There are a few traits and characteristics com-mon among many of this year’s—and last year’s—honorees: open communication, respect, honesty, great benefits and a sense of fun and family.
This year, though, there’s another trait that employees of the Best Places to Work regularly cited about their employers—stability and successful business practices in the face of trying times. With so much bad news filling the airwaves and daily newspapers, the people who work for this year’s Best Companies appreciate the very thing that they might have taken for granted in the past—knowing their employer is doing everything it can to remain strong and viable.
Not surprisingly, leaders at many of the companies named as Best Places to Work say their employees play a key role in maintaining their companies’ good health, and that now more than ever, open, honest communication is crucial to the success of their business, as is a re-doubling of commitment to a company’s core practices.
“We stick to our core values of integrity, relationships and performance, through thick and thin,” said Suzie Apel, Senior Marketing Coordinator for McCownGordon Construction. “We believe in regular communication, whet-her the news is good or bad. For exam- ple, we hold monthly staff meetings with all associates and provide information on financials and the outlook. Just last month Pat (McCown) shared news about the impact of the economy on 2009 business and our plans for addressing it. Our associates know what’s going on
and their voices are heard.”
John Roberts, Interim President and CEO for Assurant Employee Benefits, acknowledged the key role his em- ployees play in helping to keep the company strong.
“One of the things that we do that keeps us healthy is we’re very up front with our employees, we don’t sugarcoat anything about our business,” he said. “We get everyone together regularly and share what’s good and what’s not good. We teleconference in employees from across the country. The company isn’t just about making money; we take a very holistic approach. Want to be a good place to work and the best carrier for our customers.”
|
Barry Davis, Partner at BKD, LLP, has a similar philosophy.
“One of the things I have done since September when the economy went south has been to be very upfront with our people, to give them an honest asses-sment about the business. Most people appreciate that openness and candid-ness. I try to lay it out for everyone.”
Among BKD’s philosophy for re-maining healthy is to remain as even- keeled as possible.
“Our philosophy in Kansas City and across the firm is we try not to overspend or over-commit in the good times, but don’t under-spend or under-commit in the bad times. It’s easy to cut everything off in bad times and say we’re not going to spend money, but that’s a bad decision. You need to still spend money in the right places, making sure your employees are taken care of.”
John Wisniewski, President/ Manag-ing Partner of Hollis + Miller Architects, has been through a lot in 40 years of business, including a few lean times. “After 40 years in business, the current economic situation looks familiar to me. But we have a lot of young people who haven’t been through anything like this. So we’ve met with them several times to reassure them we’ve been through this, and we know what we’re doing.”
Mike Johnson, President of Excel Constructors, said efficiency is important to his company.
“It’s mostly about risk management,” he said. “In better times you can make a mistake and overcome it. In lean times, you have to control the things you can control. Now more than ever it’s important to follow through with those controls you develop for the business. You’ve got to be able to adapt to the
situation. I’m an active participant in overseeing our expenses and our over-head. We are a very efficiently run organization. When you’re efficient you can do more with less.”
At times like this, several business leaders said, being small is a good thing—it allows for more flexibility and faster response times.
Michael J. Kotubey, President of Midwest Mechanical Contractors, said his company anticipated the economic downturn as far back as five years ago and created a two-
|
pronged attack. “We made a business decision to shift our business from a bidding model to a negotiated partner, that helped get us involved in the process earlier. Most importantly we were able to execute it.
Second, at a time when everyone was saying you couldn’t find good people to hire, we made a concentrated effort to do that, and we have kept our good people, in part, because of the success of our employee stock ownership program.”
Dave Hinkley with Neal Harris Service Experts agrees with the importance of vesting employees in the com- pany’s success. “Our employees feel a sense of ownership and are rewarded through profit sharing. At a time when many of our competitors are laying off people or shutting their doors, we are celebrating our best year in 2008.”
Of course, any successful business needs customers, and Jason Kort of Redemption Plus said his company is more focused than ever on its core base. “In tough economic times you have to be laser focused on your existing customers and make sure they’re happy and satisfied. Those are the folks who
are going to bring you through any time. We all understand that it costs so much more to create a new customer than to satisfy an existing customer.”
Like many of her fellow Best Places finalists,McCownGordon’s Suzie Apel said now is not the time for cutbacks. “We have actually increased our focus on training and development. While times are tough, instead of cutting training we’re bolstering it with additional courses to develop our associates and gear up for the economic recovery. Our associates are very important and we want to make sure we keep them well informed.”
No matter how focused they are, or how hard leaders at the Best Companies try, there still comes a time when tough decisions have to be faced. The best way to get through those tough times? For one business leader it was a matter of simple human decency. “We had to do a small layoff in October and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. These are people’s lives we’re dealing with, but we had to do it to ensure the viability of the company going forward,” said Barb Geiger of Worldwide Clinical Research. “We’re doing everything we can to do what’s right by our employees.” 
|
