Seven Businesses Receive National Recognition

Posted July 20, 2006

Chattanooga, TN – The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce will honor in August seven local businesses and institutions as some of the top practitioners of workplace flexibility in the nation.

Six of the organizations will receive the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility during the Chamber’s Annual Meeting at the Chattanooga Convention Center on August 30.

The award winners are Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block, First Tennessee, Jewish Community Federation of Greater Chattanooga, G.R. Rush & Company, PC, UTC’s Center for Community Career Education and Tricycle Inc. UnumProvident Corp. will be recognized for receiving an Honorable Mention.

To make a reservation for the Annual Meeting call the Chamber at 423-763-4366.

The Sloan Awards are part of When Work Works, a national project on workplace effectiveness and flexibility from the Families and Work Institute in partnership with The Center for Workforce Preparation, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Twiga Foundation.

"The Chamber is pleased to be involved with the When Work Works project," said Tom Edd Wilson, president of the Chattanooga Area Chamber. "We are especially pleased that these local companies have recognized workplace flexibility as a sound business decision that will help to not only retain qualified employees but also serve as a means to continued growth for the entire company."

"Top concerns of employers today are recruiting the best talent and retaining them," said Arthur Rothkopf, Senior Vice President and Counselor to the President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "By using workplace flexibility as a strategic tool to make the workplace more effective, organizations are creating environments that meet employee needs and meet their business objectives."

Substantial research and corporate experience suggests that flexibility is a critical element of an effective workplace, according to officials of the When Work Works project. "When employees are exposed to a flexible, effective workplace, they are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, to plan to remain with their employer and to have lower levels of stress," said Ellen Galinsky, president of Families and Work Institute. "When employers and employees collaborate in finding flexible ways to work, both benefit."

Workplace flexibility includes flex-time: allowing employees to select their starting and quitting time within a range of hours surrounding core-operating hours or allowing employees to work their allotted hours over fewer days; reduced time: allowing employees to work part-time, share jobs or perform part-year work; and flex-leaves, enabling employees to take time off for personal and family issues, for personal illness or to care for children.

"The nature of our organization – using puppetry to educate children about social concerns and differences among people -- requires a tremendous commitment from employees," said Sandra Brewer, executive director of Kids on the Block. "Each employee is expected to play several roles but because we are non-profit, we can’t provide a compensation package that reflects the capabilities of our staff. However, we can offer a flexible work environment that enables our employees to make a difference in the lives of children and still have a life of their own."

Kids on the Block scales back employee working hours in the summer when the workload is lighter; offers time off for legitimate reasons when it doesn’t interfere with programming; welcomes staff children at the office if the need arises and offers part-time work and job sharing.

"The flexibility that we have created in our work environment has led us to more efficient productivity and very happy employees - which of course go hand in hand," said Michael Dzik, Jewish Community Federation executive director. "The employees here know that the agency respects their personal lives equally with their work performance. We have known for some time that our organization is a very special place and we are thrilled with this award."

At the Jewish Federation—which serves as the central body of Chattanooga’s Jewish community, providing programming and social services for Jews in Chattanooga and around the world—part-time employees may set their daily schedules and family caretakers may work flex-time. Employees may leave during office hours for doctor’s appointments and other special circumstances.

"The key is for the manager to work individually with each employee to create the best possible work environment for both the employee and the organization," Dzik said. "These types of incentives are worth so much to our employees. We see extremely productive and efficient work (and work habits) and morale couldn’t be any higher."

"First Tennessee bends over backward to create a flexible work environment so employees can embrace both their personal lives and responsibilities at work," said President Frank Schriner.

Some of the flexibility options available to First Tennessee employees include adjusting time and/or place with a flextime or flex place/telecommuting arrangement, working a "prime-time" schedule (as few as 20 hours a week) while maintaining full benefits, compressing their work week, and/or job sharing, according to Leigh Ann Spurlin, vice president, employee services. In addition, many employees use more informal and infrequent forms of flexibility such as making occasional adjustments to their work hours or location, she said.

"These forms of flexibility make it easier for employees to attend their children and grandchildren’s school events, take classes toward a degree during work hours, accompany a relative to an important doctor’s appointment, meet a repair person at their home, volunteer for a special community event, schedule routine appointments with a dentist or eye doctor, schedule their pet’s appointment with a veterinarian and countless other personal responsibilities," Spurlin said.

G. R. Rush, a mid-sized, full-service accounting firm, established a flex-time policy in 1992 to accommodate a C.P.A. who had just had a child and wanted to re-enter the job market but not at the expense of being a parent.

That flexible work schedule has evolved into a tax department that includes eight part-time seasonal "moms" with C.P.A. designations and accounting and master’s degrees. They have 20 children among them, work 50-60 hours during tax season and have their summers off. The department, with its very low turnover rate and high sense of camaraderie, is a strong team for the firm, according to company officials.

G. R. Rush also allows all employees to work at home using a virtual private network if they need to care for sick children, attend their children's activities or handle other family responsibilities. Flex-time and part-time schedules and flexible hours are also offered in other departments of the firm.

"It gives us great pleasure to be honored both locally and nationally by an award that reflects our firm's commitment to a positive and flexible workplace that maintains the highest level of business standards for our clients," said Managing Director Dick Rush. "Flexible schedules create a win-win situation for all of us."

Executives of Tricycle, which provides surface simulation and design technologies to the textile industry, said they believe that the best work is accomplished when employees enjoy working toward the results assigned to them.

"Employees with a large measure of control over their hours, process and methodologies will not only be more engaged in their daily duties, they will also care more about the product and performance they deliver," said CEO Jonathan Bragdon. "Flexible hours and the ability to work offsite when appropriate are just two policies in a larger picture of encouraging employees to bring their best efforts to the table every day."

The UTC Center for Community Career Education is a career and educational counseling and training center within the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. The Center and the University provide a variety of flexible benefits, including sick and annual leave, flexible work schedules, compensatory time and time off for volunteering.

"Center employees have demanding schedules in order to meet our customer needs," said Center Director Sandy Cole. "Having the flexibility to adjust working hours enables staff to find the time for themselves and their families and be able to re-energize for the next day. We are delighted with the Sloan Award and will continue to pursue processes that improve our organizational climate and make the center a preferred place for employment."

UnumProvident, the nation’s leading disability insurer and one of Chattanooga’s largest employers, has worked very hard to create and implement programs that allow workplace flexibility within the context of business needs, according to Marie Clements, assistant vice president of employee relations.

For example, the company's Call Center has been able to allow a number of its employees to work from home (telecommuting) by leveraging specific programs and technology. In other areas where telecommuting does not meet their needs, other arrangement such as job sharing or flex scheduling might be implemented.

"With this ‘menu’ approach to flexibility, UnumProvident has been much more successful than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach would have been," Clements said.

In addition to flexibility around how and where work is done, UnumProvident offers a number of other programs that contribute to work/life balance and allow employees to manage their lives more effectively. These include offering a child care subsidy to employees with low family incomes and a robust employee assistance program to help employees deal with a number of other issues that might otherwise distract them.

Applications for the Alfred P. Sloan Awards were open to all businesses in the Chattanooga area with 10 or more employees. Applicants were evaluated in a rigorous two-step process, first comparing the company’s application to nationally representative data from Families and Work Institute’s National Study of Employers, and then validating what employers report against employee responses.

Chattanooga was one of 17 select communities nationwide chosen to host and participate in the When Work Works initiative. Other communities participating include: Boise, ID; Chandler, AZ; ; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Dayton, OH; Detroit, MI; Durham, NC; Long Beach, CA; Long Island, NY; New Orleans, LA; Providence, RI; Richmond, VA; Salt Lake City, UT; Seattle, WA; and Tampa, FL; Washington, DC.