Best Practices

Characteristic 1: Sustain a work environment founded on dignity and respect for all employees.

CBRE

CBRE’s RISE Corporate Values – Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence – continue to be the foundation of its work environment and culture, and are incorporated into everything it does. Accountability for leading and maintaining its desired environment and culture starts at the top. Executives role model expected behaviors and attitudes. The company strives to be known as an employer of choice and a place where its diverse workforce feels valued and respected.

To create that sense of belonging among its employees, CBRE sponsors a variety of networking groups. The annual meeting of its Women’s Networking Forum typically draws more than 200 attendees representing professionals from every business area of the company as well as participation from senior leaders.

CBRE’s African American Network Group (AANG) also meets each year. The conference helps AANG members and supporters discuss best practices, network and advance AANG’s goals of recruitment and retention, receive career coaching from senior leaders, and share information during roundtable discussions.

For its newer Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Networking Group, CBRE has formed a leadership committee, developed online resources and communication channels, addressed relevant partnership benefits, and modified its Equal Opportunity Statement to include gender identity as a factor for non discrimination.

CBRE’s support of its veteran employees is worth noting as a final example of how the company shows respect for its employees. As home to more than 900 US service men and women, CBRE has been recognized by both Military Spouse and GI Jobs magazines as a military-friendly employer. The company has a veteran mentoring program with the Veterans Administration. The six-month program allows military veterans to work alongside CBRE professionals in each of its business lines, aiding the veterans in transferring their military skills into private sector careers.

Sysmex America, Inc.

At Sysmex America, Inc., associates learn about the company’s Culture of Confidence (3 C’s) and the Sysmex Way during new hire orientation. The 3 C’s are: total customer confidence in our products and services, total confidence in our associates in all our business transactions, and total confidence in our associates in themselves and all their work. The Sysmex Way is a philosophy that sets expectations for all associates.

The 3C’s and Sysmex Way are to be evident on a day-to-day basis. They are reinforced in a variety of programs and practices. First, Sysmex’s management incentive bonus program rewards behaviors and results that align with the corporate values and philosophy. Second, their performance management process focuses on 6 key behaviors that support Sysmex Way: Achieves Results, Customer Centered, Integrity, Teaming, Initiative, and Innovation. In this way, associates are evaluated not just on what they accomplish during the year but on the manner in which they achieved their results. Third, Leading the Sysmex Way, a new recognition program, was launched in 2009 to reward behaviors in alignment with the company’s core values. Last, Sysmex uses their open and transparent communication lines to reiterate expectations through examples of associates’ successes and to share business highlights.

Characteristic 2: Make employees feel their jobs are important.

Enterprise Fleet Management, Inc.

At Enterprise Fleet Management, Inc., employees are empowered to use their best judgment when making business decisions. For example, its sales team is responsible for the initial credit analysis for new customers and customer service representatives are expected to make decisions such as waiving fees, setting up towing service, providing rental vehicles, and delivering ice cream or lunch to clients to thank or apologize to them.

It encourages an open-door policy, listens to employees’ needs, and acts appropriately. Achievements are recognized via awards, public recognition, and peer nominations.

Every two years, Enterprise administers an employee opinion survey. The results of the survey are shared with all employees at a group meeting. Based on the feedback, a committee of employees is comprised. The committee is called FEET, Fleet Employee Enrichment Team; its motto is stepping in the right direction. The committee comes up with plans to improve areas identified as being opportunities for growth. Employees also participate in overall company goal-setting.

Characteristic 3: Cultivate the full potential of all employees.

Bright Horizons

The Growth and Learning Process (GLP) at Bright Horizons is a roadmap to support growth and learning for an employee’s current job and to prepare him/her for potential future roles. This comprehensive growth and learning process assesses employee performance against goals and supports employees in developing skills and behaviors that they need to make their unique contribution to the overall success of the organization. The GLP is individualized to help each employee embrace appropriate learning objectives and link individual efforts to company goals in each of the 4P areas – People, Partnerships, Performance, and Programs.

Employees have several readily available resources to help them develop. Here are three examples:

Bright Ideas is a searchable database of best practices submitted by teachers; it identifies the staff and the center with contact information for collegial communication around the world.
Bright Horizons University (BHU) offers employees enrollment in a wide selection of management development and job-specific coursework developed in-house by internal experts. Over 1,000 employees take advantage of BHU each week.
The company’s Electronic Child Development Associate Program (eCDA) meets all national criteria for early childhood licensing.

Alliant Credit Union

Alliant Credit Union’s Employee Value Proposition is built and sustained on the philosophy of providing employees with the opportunity to know what is expected of them so they can experience an environment that provides opportunities to do what they do best. Its Performance Management System creates alignment between Alliant’s overall business objectives and its documented Key Success Factors. Additionally, employees can always see how their individual goals link to overall ones as well as how their individual actions contribute to the achievement of a specific Key Success Factor.

For Alliant’s Annual Talent Reviews, three areas are the focus for discussion:

What employees WANT TO DO;
What employees CAN DO;
What employees HAVE DONE.

Outcomes from the discussions about leaders of others and key individual contributors are in-depth, customized development plans geared toward maximizing each employee’s full potential.

Characteristic 4: Encourage individual pursuit of work/life balance.

WellStar Health System

Over the past five years WellStar Health System has been steadily implementing workplace flexibility across the organization through a variety of work units and at various levels. Recently, the growing culture of flexibility led senior leadership to take a formal stance on workplace flexibility by launching a formal statement, policy and program, FlexWorks. Working alongside the workforce management team with an initiative to develop a better and more robust scheduling tool to support the clinical areas, FlexWorks has now been established as the single business strategy for Right People, Right Place, Right Time. Leaders work with their team members to develop base schedules that best match patient volumes and workflow. In an effort to meet the growing business needs for more innovative and creative scheduling options, internal workforce management consultants have helped the organization identify more than 200 different scheduling options. To keep the FlexWorks model from becoming restrictive, every leader can work with their teams to determine the best work arrangement for their team/employee. The criteria are – meet patient/customer needs, meet employee desires, achieve business goals. Employees and leaders are becoming highly creative and motivated to find work arrangements that will create wins for everyone. A new flex video motivates and inspires leaders and employees to make flexibility work and has been enthusiastically embraced. More than 80% of the workforce has access to some form of flexibility either occasionally or routinely. Employees are utilizing compressed work weeks, job shares, reduced work schedules, daily flex, and telecommuting.

Ryan, LLC

Ryan, LLC does an outstanding job encouraging the pursuit of work/life balance. The company has transformed its culture from an environment that blatantly valued face time, with employees wearing their hours worked as “badges”, to one that focuses on results and appreciates the need to allow employees to function in a manner that enables them to address all of their life responsibilities. A key message that is reinforced throughout the organization is, “In exchange for incredible flexibility and freedom comes the responsibility and accountability for producing results.”

myRyan, the company’s flexible work environment initiative, allows employees to choose where and when they work. The basic principles of myRyan are:

Everyone focuses on results, not hours;
People have flexible work schedules and locations;
Employees eliminate activities that waste time and money;
Everyone collaborates and supports each other;
Employees thrive in a guilt-free work environment; and
Everyone has the freedom to achieve work-life success.

A cross-section of employees at various levels was involved in the design of myRyan and all employees can provide input as part of the surveys the company administers. Managers receive training about making myRyan work in their organizations. Also essential to a program such as this one is appropriate alignment of systems, processes, and measurements to facilitate fairness.

Ryan is effectively balancing the needs of employees and its other key stakeholders. Even while the organization grows and new employees are integrated into its corporate culture, the company is able to maintain its commitment to helping employees handle their personal and professional life.

Characteristic 5: Enable the well-being of individuals and their families through compensation, benefits, policies and practices.

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management offers a very rich total rewards program to its employees. Even though the school is still navigating through a difficult economy, none of its benefits have been discontinued or reduced. In fact, more benefits have been added, some due to employee input about their benefits needs and interests.

Employees receive 50 percent of their employer contributions toward their Health Savings Account at the beginning of the calendar year to help families have funds in their accounts for emergencies or medical expenses incurred early in the year. When the organization realizes some savings with benefits, it shares those reductions with staff. The school encourages and rewards all staff for having their health assessed.

Staff and their eligible dependents who are enrolled in the school’s MBA program are reimbursed for textbooks and other course materials.

Characteristic 6: Develop great leaders, at all levels, who excel at managing people as well as results.

Sysmex America, Inc.

Leadership development at all levels is an important focus at Sysmex America, Inc. Given the global nature of the Sysmex team, its Global Internship Program is an excellent program that builds strong relationships between SAI’s Americas-based, Japan-based, and Europe-based colleagues. The program has well-established criteria for selecting associates to participate, clear development goals and agenda during the internship, and effective sponsorship during the program. This program also helps increase the cultural awareness of both the interns and the sponsoring teams and overall feedback on this program and its impact has been very favorable.

Additionally, SAI’s talent and development strategy includes mentoring, 360 degree feedback, talent reviews to identify high potential and high performing associates, development planning, and a blended learning program with on-site expert training, online training via Sysmex e-University and in-house developed HR training.

Characteristic 7: Appreciate and recognize contributions of employees.

BCU

There is never a shortage of celebrations at BCU. The many ways the company recognizes employees includes perfect attendance luncheons, summer BBQ’s onsite (Sr. Management does the cooking), holiday parties, discretionary cash awards, public accolades at town hall meetings, and free weekly ice cream treats during summer months.

BCU also gives employees the opportunity to recognize each other. This fosters teamwork throughout the organization and reinforces the desire for the organization to display respect and appreciation for each other. As part of The BCU Way, the organization’s guiding principles, employees are asked to “have a heart” and recognize employees who provide “heartfelt service” to a customer or another employee. These hearts are periodically posted in BCU’s main lobby for all employees and visitors to see. Additionally, there are fish bowls throughout the credit union where employees can drop off notes of appreciation for other employees.

For those employees who like to be recognized for a job well done with increased responsibility and new assignments, there are opportunities to participate on cross functional teams, new service center rollouts, business assignments, and job shadowing.

Characteristic 8: Establish and communicate standards for ethical behavior and integrity.

Sherman Hospital

At Sherman Hospital ethical behavior is expected by all, and facilitated by a corporate compliance officer and plan. The Executive Team oversees the plan development which is approved by the Corporate Compliance committee of the Board of Directors. All workforce and Board of Directors members annually review and sign the professional code of conduct expectations.

All employees are expected to meet Sherman’s behavioral standards during their interaction with patients. To reinforce this expectation, patients receive a copy of their Bill of Rights at registration. Sherman’s Ethics Committee is available to consult on patient care questions and conflicts. Random audits of patient care are conducted.

Standards for ethical behavior and integrity extend to any of Sherman’s research studies. The Institutional Review Board ensures the safety of human subjects for any research done by the hospital. The Board reviews collected feedback, closely follows the treatment of human subjects, and monitors any adverse events associated with trials.

All in all, no one working at or being served by Sherman should ever doubt the commitment the hospital has to adhering to ethical standards.

Characteristic 9: Get involved in community endeavors and/or public policy.

Convergint Technologies

From day one of its existence Convergint Technologies has always held an annual Convergint Social Responsibility Day. This day coincides with the anniversary of the company’s founding and is grounded in a “pay it forward” ideology.

Convergint Day is a huge undertaking and many hours of planning and hard work are invested to make it happen. Recently over 900 employees across 22 North American cities performed community service on the same day. How they serve depends upon the needs of their local community and fun as well as team-building are always part of the experience. Colleagues look forward to this day of service and feel proud to be part of an organization committed to helping others.

Convergint’s volunteerism doesn’t just happen on Social Responsibility Day. Throughout each year, local coordinators plan and execute fundraisers and other community outreach, many of which happen during work hours. Examples include support to family shelters, senior adult facilities, special needs organizations, animal welfare shelters, food banks, military personnel, and high school students.

Lastly, Convergint donates $20,000 to local charities in lieu of giving holiday gifts to valued customers. To increase its contribution, colleagues are encouraged to make their own donations to 501(c)(3) organizations during the month of December. Convergint matches up to $500 per colleague.

Falcon Camp

Falcon Camp’s top executive is the legislative chair for the American Camping Association-Ohio Field Office. In this role, he hears about fresh approaches to create the richest camp experiences possible. Based upon information obtained, the staff works to adapt applicable fresh approaches to the camp’s operations. One example is Explore 30, a program encouraging campers to read for 30 minutes a day, thereby supporting the idea that camp, and summer in general, is not a “backwards” step in a year of learning. From the community involvement aspect of Characteristic 9, it doesn’t matter that Falcon Camp is small (less than 40 employees). It does its part by buying locally, supporting its local 4-H organization, and attending community events with their campers.

Characteristic 10: Consider the human toll when making business decisions.

UHC (University HealthSystem Consortium)

UHC (University HealthSystem Consortium) has a history of taking into account the human toll when making business decisions. One prime example of this in action is their recent move from suburban Oak Brook to downtown Chicago. Over a two-year period, the organization took great care in preparing employees for the move, ensuring they had factual information, and supporting them in making a smooth transition. Thorough planning, frequent multi-channel communication, employee involvement, outlining available resources, subsidizing commuter expenses, and celebrating the move with a variety of events illustrate the lengths UHC went to achieve a successful move.

This employer also has a business travel policy that avoids significant negative impact on family time and promotes safety. Travelers are not required to fly at night with a landing time after 9 p.m. and UHC will reimburse for shuttle or car service for flights departing before 8 a.m. or returning after 7 p.m.

All UHC programs are reviewed regularly. In the event that a review results in the closing of a program, affected employees are offered every opportunity to stay with UHC. If there are no appropriate jobs, the affected employees are offered generous separation packages including pay continuation, benefits, and outplacement.