| Register/Subscribe Home |
|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | SEPTEMBER 25, 2000 WORK & FAMILY Small Biz Benefits Champions You don't have to be a corporate giant to fulfill working moms' workplace dreams. Two outfits offer some creative ideas
Natch, the small-biz owner might well think, closing the magazine with a sigh. Giant corporations are the only ones that can afford to be "family friendly." But not so fast. On the list -- right below Bell Atlantic with its employee population of 136,000 (now merged with GTE as Verizon) -- is Campbell (Calif.)'s Benjamin Group. This public-relations firm has since merged with a larger company, but at the time the data were compiled, it had 84 employees. And sandwiched between Texas Instruments (19,000 employees) and TRW (36,000 employees), is Tom's, the Maine manufacturer of natural personal products, with 120 full-timers. INFLEXIBLE. I placed a call to Lisa R. Benenson, Working Mother's editor-in-chief, to find out more. It was good timing. This year the magazine has inaugurated a new "100 Best" feature -- the naming of a small-business champion. The honor went to Benjamin Group's Sheri Benjamin, who offers her employees benefits such as job-sharing, telecommuting, and, yes, child care. Benenson wants to draw greater attention to small business, she says, since entrepreneurship is so important to the U.S. economy. "There have been 11 million jobs added since 1995," she says, "and almost all have been added by small business." She acknowledges that few small enterprises can be expected to build gleaming multimillion-dollar child-care centers. Still, she says, the one advantage these business owners have over big-time CEOs is they can sit down eye-to-eye with all the members of their workforce. Why is this important? Read the 100 Best article headlined "Nice Perks -- If You Can Get 'Em." All too often, big companies say they're interested in family friendliness and even introduce generous policies, but the message disappears on the way to the rank and file. Managers don't understand the work-family benefits or ignore them, believing they conflict with their own mission to get the job done. The inflexible corporate culture remains intact because employees are afraid to take advantage of the benefits offered them. STRAIGHT TALK. When the boss is talking directly with his or her 10, 35, or 80 employees, communication is bound to be much clearer. That's exactly the case at Tom's in Kennebunk, Me. The company holds quarterly meetings with all employees, says Teresa A. Schulz, Tom's head of human resources. And the ideas generated aren't simply filed away in a folder. A number of valued company benefits have grown out of these sessions, Schulz says, including early Friday closing hours during Maine's brief summer and a $100 yearly "wellness" stipend employees can use for anything from pottery classes to health-club memberships. The company also, apparently, goes to bat for its employees, Schulz says. Tom's officials were willing to engage in "a huge fight with the insurance companies" to get benefits such as domestic-partner coverage. True, Tom's is an exceptional company. How many small businesses could afford to offer employees on-site massage every other week, an average of two paid hours weekly for those who wish to do volunteer work, and sliding-scale reimbursements for child-care expenses? COMPANIES BENEFIT, TOO. But small-business owners who examine Tom's offerings might get some ideas about programs they could introduce, painlessly, into their own workplaces. And in the end, Schulz says, the company does benefit. In offering flexible working hours, for example, Tom's has discovered it wasn't just helping moms who wanted to be home when the school bus arrived: Flexible hours also boosted the creativity and industriousness of those 10 a.m. risers who work best later in the day. "We honestly care about our employees, that they are happy and productive," Schulz says. "All that comes back to us in their work."  By Pam Mendels  | | |
 Copyright 2000 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Policy |
Printer-Friendly Version
