Page 255 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

242B RE-ENGAGE

art of JDV—the culture and the science of JDV—the operational
how-tos. We have JDV University, which offers 150 classes per quar-
ter, and every class furthers the values of the company. We don’t want
our people to think we see them as just another cog in the wheel. We
focus on enriching the whole person, which is why we offer art classes,
sports classes, a class on how to be a first-time home buyer, an English-
as-a-second-language program, personal financial management,
and so many others. We train managers in how to treat their people,
recognize them, keep them engaged, and make them want to stay
with us. We offer a class that helps employees better understand who
they are as a person and what they want to do. We also teach that
organizational success is up to all of us and that we have to show
initiative and be accountable. Valuing employees also means making
sure all human resource processes are fair. So when making decisions
that affect people, we make sure we listen to their views.

Q: Some managers don’t like recognizing employees because
they think the paycheck should be enough. How do you hold
managers accountable for recognizing employees?
Howard: For one thing, we have an item on recognition on our yearly
climate survey—“I have been recognized by my supervisors in the last
two weeks.” We keep track of which managers score low on that state-
ment, and we either coach them or come to a mutual decision that they
are not a good fit for us. Managers who don’t recognize their people
usually don’t last long here. When a culture is strong it spits out the
people that don’t fit. People either get on the bandwagon quickly or
they get off quickly. The culture pushes them, plus it’s the right thing
to do. Some people need permission to be the kind of supervisor that
recognizes employees, and we give them that permission. Instead of
resisting, most of them say, “This is cool!”

Q: What else is important for managers to know about recog-
nizing employees?
Howard: They need to understand that the people giving the most
direct service to the customer need the most recognition. For us that