Page 59 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

Keeping the People Who Keep Your Business in Business 39

are strictly motivated by the almighty dollar, but those people
are not the rule. The two most important factors, according to
Kasten, are the quality of management and employees’ ability

to work on way-cool things.

Dignity and Respect ... and “Way-Cool Things”

Through the preshrunk peace-symbol jeans of the ’60s, the cor-
duroy and polyester bell bottoms of the ’70s, the acid-washed
look of the ’80s, the Dockers™ of the ’90s, or Levi’s newest

jeans for the 21st century, the designated Engineered Jeans™,
one thing remains constant at Levi Strauss—workers at this
multinational company love their jobs and have been assured
by its leaders that every employee worldwide will receive dignity
and respect based on the Levi Strauss code of conduct.

Ethical conduct and the responsibility to treat people fairly
have characterized the way this authentic American icon has
always done business. In 1994, Levi Strauss was named Fortune
magazine’s most admired apparel company and in 2000 it

ranked second on the list of Fortune’s “America’s Best
Companies for Minorities.” So updating the organization’s recruit-
ing and retention programs at the turn of the century was critical.
Kasten played a pivotal role in the process, so it’s with good

authority that he cites two factors as most important factors
when it comes to keeping people:

• quality of management (that’s you!)
• making it possible for employees to work on “way-cool
things”

In other words, it’s important for managers to match their
employees’ specific talents and interests to exciting or challeng-
ing new projects that ignite passion for the job.

Techniques for Keeping Employees
During his years of managing employees, Kasten came up with
some powerful techniques for getting and keeping the best tal-

ent possible, even in the worst economic times. Here are a few
morale-boosting suggestions you may want to adopt.