May 1, 2024 • 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Blue Cross wants to ensure group customers have the information they need to promote available mental health resources to their members.
May 16, 2024 – The Henry, Autograph Collection
The MichBusiness Women Thrive Conference is a day of celebration, informative panel discussions, facilitated networking opportunities, and knowledge-sharing. It is advised by a distinguished board of businesswomen and community leaders.
Human Resources professionals are always searching for new and effect ways to better communicate, train and retain key constituency groups inside and outside of their organizations. Whether they are conducting training sessions, creating onboarding procedures, or recruiting new hires, HR pros are keenly focused on motivating, activating and retaining employees to drive corporate performance.
Audio is an often overlooked, but compelling and cost-effective way to create content that can be successfully integrated into all HR functions.Audio content helps streamline processes and enable more impactful communication across businesses of all sizes. This article highlights some of the benefits of audio content and a few simple strategies for incorporating audio into your key HR initiatives.
Benefits of Audio for HR Pros
Some of the most notable benefits for HR professionals:
Simplify content creation. Existing Web-based tools enable HR professionals to simply create interactive audio content at their desks or on the go using a phone, your computer, a Web app, or service like Skype. The ability to create content from anywhere enables global teams to collaborate and contribute to content from disparate locations.
Provide multiple options for consumption. Live and recorded audio content can be streamed by internal and external audiences over any phone, on a computer, or using any Web enabled device. This means content can be consumed in the office, at home, in the car, or on the go.
Increase engagement. Employees and potential employees can participate in a moderated way by calling-in or participating via integrated chat or social sharing.
Share easily. The portable nature of audio content makes it very easy to share. Audio players can be embedded on any website in front of or behind the firewall. To support and enhance external communications and social recruiting efforts, content can also be shared to Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes.
How HR Pros Can Leverage Unique Audio Content
Below you will find a few practical and effective applications of audio within the enterprise:
Onboard New Employees. Create an on-demand audio content series for new employees that features interviews with top executives who can share the strategy, vision, and voice of the company. It can also include interviews with current employees in similar roles to help them better understand their roles, key resources, and tips on how to ramp up quickly. All of these interviews can also be transcribed and shared on your intranet or in other onboarding materials.
Train Teams. Broadcast live or record and archive valuable product or professional development training. Audio content creation tools like Cinchcast make it easier to engage instructors, trainers, and thought leaders from across your organization in the content-creation process because content can be created conveniently using a landline phone, mobile phone, or computer.Students can stream training online, call-in to ask questions, and download content on any MP3 player for later listening.
Enhance Communications. For large organizations, it can be difficult to communicate and collaborate across multiple locations. Use live call-in webcasts or town halls to create a sense of unity among diverse teams that are unable to meet face-to-face.
Recruit. Record testimonials from satisfied employees to share for recruitment purposes across social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and your company blog.
Audio content can engage employees, optimize recruiting efforts and encourage effective communication across an organization. The opportunity to easily record, archive, and share unique and interactive audio content can streamline internal processes and empower HR pros to do their jobs more effectively.
Dan Kashman is president of Cinchcast. He is a startup business leader and senior digital media executive with a solid track record of developing and growing successful entrepreneurial ventures. Cinchcast provides solutions that allow companies to create, share, measure and monetize audio content to reach and engage the people that are most important to their business. For more information, please visit www.cinchcast.com.
Over the past few years, every industry has experienced a new market environment, marked by a sharp decline in consumer confidence and altered consumer behaviors that have made it increasingly difficult to acquire and retain customers.
Accelerated recovery and success in this new paradigm depends upon customer acquisition, satisfaction, and loyalty-and every consumer contact presents an important opportunity to improve the customer experience, reach new markets, and differentiate from the competition.
With the proliferation of available marketing channels and increased expectations of customers that businesses communicate with them in the manner they prefer, the ability to successfully implement a multichannel marketing communication strategy will most likely be the single biggest challenge-and opportunity-for every business over the next few years. Success in this arena will require a carefully planned customer communications strategy backed by robust technology that provides access to the information customers want-and enables delivery via the channel they prefer-morning, noon, or night via print, electronic, the Web, and mobile devices.
Seeking a solution designed for a multichannel, personalized communication strategy
Leveraging the power of multichannel campaigns requires the ability to determine the communication preferences of each customer and having in place the right solutions to deliver compelling, personalized content through that channel. Whether the recipient likes paper (mail), electronic (e-mail, Internet), mobile devices, or a combination of these channels, being able to meet delivery preferences is quickly becoming essential to engage prospects and simply to remain competitive.
One of the first decisions to be made is whether this can be done in-house or should it be outsourced to a third-party service provider. Many organizations already use third-party service providers to print and mail statements and other customer communications. If you choose to outsource, it is critically important to closely evaluate your vendor partner’s capabilities to ensure they can meet client communication needs in the areas of agility, flexibility and control. Employing “agile billing”- the ability to maintain flexibility and control of documents while enjoying the cost benefits of outsourcing physical printing and fulfillment-is simply good business.
Meaningful communications are the lifeline between every organization and its customers, and there are software solutions available that are specifically designed for a multichannel, personalized communication strategy. The right solution will be user-friendly and have the flexibility needed to allow business users to create interactive, point-of-need, personalized documents for their customers in-house, while ensuring that costs are controlled through centralized production and fulfillment. It pays to do research because not every solution offers all of the functionality you may need to achieve your specific communication objectives.
Providing relevant and effective communications However, there is more to consider. Just as important as communicating through multiple channels is ensuring the delivery of easy-to-understand customer communications when doing so. Tailoring communications to specific preferences offers many benefits, including improving the customer experience, targeting marketing messages, and reducing customer service calls. For example, if an individual has a profile that suggests they may be interested in a new product or offering, the communication solution should be able to personalize their next statement or other communication with information highlighting it. Having the technology in place to access the data you already have about your customers can put their needs front and center with every communication sent to them.
Overcoming integration challenges As with any customer communication management initiative, there are challenges when integrating multichannel communication options with current systems. Here are three important considerations in evaluating how well a communications solution will integrate with your existing processes:
Be sure the communication solution you choose can tap into the broad range of data sources that drive your business, and that the solution makes it easy to merge and consolidate this data and present it to users in a unified way.
Another critical feature for success is the ability for the solution to create flexible content that automatically changes to match the different formats and layouts of each delivery channel. Without this kind of flexibility, designing for multiple channels can become a painful and complex process.
Finally, having an integrated framework that can leverage data across the entire solution to manage content, logic, users and roles, interfaces, and change control practices for a multichannel solution is essential. Additionally, the ability to manage content-independent of the documents and channels that receive them-is needed.
Having the right technology in place for managing the customer base across all media channels is essential to overcoming today’s market challenges and succeeding when it comes to customer communication management. Multichannel communications are no longer the wave of the future for business organizations; your valuable customers already have expectations concerning how you communicate with them. Implementing a well-thought-out strategy can help improve sales and loyalty by getting relevant information to customers more quickly-and with a personal touch via the channel they prefer.
Doug Cox is General Manager, North America for GMC Software Technology, a provider of document output for customer communication management, based in Boston and Appenzell, Switzerland. He can be reached at [email protected].
Unlike the X Factor, which is often unknown, unexplainable, and makes an unpredictable impact, you can definitely recognize, describe and predict the impact of the Trust Factor. When leaders have the Trust Factor, employee engagement increases. When leaders lack it, employee engagement declines, plain and simple.
The business case for improving the Trust Factor between leaders and employees is no secret. Research shows that when employee engagement is high, performance and retention follow suit, contributing to the organization’s bottom line. Trust between employees and leaders at all levels, senior managers, managers, and supervisors, is a foundational factor for employee engagement. Yet in many organizations, there is an opportunity to increase the Trust Factor.
“Employees’ trust in senior management, direct supervisors and co-workers is dwindling across all industries,” was among the key findings of a March 2010 Maritz Poll conducted by Maritz Research. A perhaps shocking figure - only 11 percent of employees strongly agreed that their managers show consistency between their words and actions. The study also pointed out that trust increases employee engagement and job satisfaction. According to the survey, well over half (58 percent) of the employees with strong trust in their management were completely satisfied with their job and 63 percent of those same employees indicated they would be happy to spend the rest of their career with their present company.
I am a strong believer that the most effective employee engagement efforts are not complicated programs or elaborate events, but instead, the result of every day interactions. How then do you go about building, maintaining, and even repairing trust with your employees? I would say simply by demonstrating The Trust Factor every day, whether you are interacting with groups of employees, or one employee at a time. Stephen Covey’s books have been on my bookshelf throughout my career. When I attended the workshop, “Leading at the Speed of Trust,” based on his book, “The Speed of Trust - The One Thing That Changes Everything,” one message in particular stuck with me: “When you behave in ways that build trust with one; you build trust with many.” There are many things leaders can do to increase the Trust Factor in every day employee interactions. Here are four ways to lead with trust and increase employee engagement:
Keep Your Word
It goes without saying that keeping your commitments is crucial to any relationship and that holds true for relationships with your employees. Doing what you say you are going to do speaks to your integrity and your credibility. Responsiveness and follow through are key to building and maintaining the Trust Factor. Good intentions are not enough. Frequent status updates, even a quick, “I haven’t forgot about your request - I’m still looking into it,” can make a big difference in the employee’s perception that you are doing what you said you would do. If you can’t commit to something, say so. When you are honest and forthright, employees will not only trust you, they will respect you.
Keep Them In The Loop
In the fast-paced, information overloaded age we live in, it is no doubt difficult to keep employees appropriately informed. A good rule of thumb is to share more information on the things that directly impact them and the work that they do, as soon as you can, and if possible, before and/or during the development stages. Employees often tell me they like the opportunity to give input to new processes that will impact their day-to-day work. And no one likes to be the “last to know,” so make sure your communication channels don’t hit a bottleneck, leaving some employees in the dark. Keeping employees in the loop ups the Trust Factor. Not doing so will have a negative impact on not only trust, but to many other areas of your operation.
Keep Your Ears and Mind Open
Generally speaking, getting feedback usually isn’t the problem. Most employees readily share their thoughts and ideas. The make it or break it Trust Factor is often how, you as a leader, respond to the feedback employees give you. Employees want to feel heard. They want to feel valued. Truly listen to them, acknowledge their ideas and concerns and keep an open mind. Try to understand the employee’s perspective by probing and asking questions. Check out the tip a reader shared on how to create trust in my last article, To Get Answers-¦Start with the Right Questions.
Keep It Real Be open, honest, and authentic with those you lead. No one expects you to be perfect - so admit your mistakes when you make them. Often managers are afraid to admit they don’t know something, thinking they should have all of the answers. There is nothing wrong with saying, “I don’t know; let me get back to you,” or “let’s find the answer together.” Your team will also appreciate a leader who is candid and not afraid to “tell it like it is.” Be respectful to your organization and other work groups, but don’t be afraid to be open about things that concern you. Ask for their help in coming up with a solution when things are not running as they should. Being transparent and tackling difficult issues together will build trust, versus ignoring problems, finger pointing, or sweeping issues under the rug.
The Trust Factor is a crucial element in creating a culture of employee engagement. Every employee interaction is an opportunity to build trust, maintain trust, or begin to repair trust if it has been damaged. Your employees want to have confidence in you. They want to know that you’ll keep your word, that you’ll share information, and listen to their ideas. They want you to involve them in day-to-day operations, tell the truth, and be upfront an honest. They want to trust you. In addition to the behaviors described here, take time to think about what other leadership behaviors contribute to the Trust Factor. Consciously choose to demonstrate these behaviors in your every day interactions with employees. Doing so will strengthen both trust and employee engagement.
Diana Moss is Senior Director of Employee Engagement and Employee Relations for Comcast, one of “Chicago’s 101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work For”. She can be reached at [email protected].
How do the best of the best companies treat their employees in the face of economic uncertainty?
Very well, actually. Instead of slicing away benefits, drastically downsizing payrolls, and such, they engage in proactive, positive programs designed to improve health and wellness, keep their employees informed and engaged, and many continue to pay competitive wages.
Metropolitan Detroit’s “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” include staffing firms, public relations and marketing agencies, automotive suppliers, nonprofit organizations and more. Their names may be quite familiar to most Michiganders - such as Easter Seals Michigan and Henry Ford Health System - to some that might be lesser known, but are still important to the state’s economy including the Altarum Institute or Halo Group. As a group, the winners use innovative strategies that represent the best practices in human resources.
An independent research firm evaluated each company’s entry based on key measures in various categories including communication, community initiatives, compensation and benefits, diversity and multiculturalism, employee education and development, employee engagement and commitment, recognition and retention, recruitment and selection, small business, and work-life balance.
The winning 101 companies also vie for 10 elite awards, one granted for each category. Also an overall winner, who has excelled in all categories, was honored with a “Best of the Best” award. The elite award winners were announced during a luncheon Sept. 29 at the Dearborn Inn Marriott.
Elite Winners:
Best of the Best — Arrow Strategies
Communication - Turner Construction Co.
Community Initiatives - Easter Seals Michigan
Compensation and Benefits - Michigan First Credit Union
Diversity and Multiculturalism - Henry Ford Health System
Employee Education and Development - Skanska
Employee Engagement and Commitment - Plex Systems Inc.
Recognition and Retention - Digitas
Recruitment and Selection - OpTech LLC
Work-Life Balance - Rehmann
Small Business - Shazaaam!
Jeff Styers of Arrow Strategies accepts the Best of the Best Overall Elite Award from MCs Rhonda Walker and Devin Scillian of WDIV Local 4 and Jennifer Kluge of MBPA.
“This year’s 101 award recipients stand out from most businesses in that they have exceeded traditional human resource practices to recruit, develop, motivate and retain their employees. They acknowledge the value their employees have on affecting the success of their company,” said Jennifer Kluge, president of the Michigan Business and Professional Association. “We are very impressed by the commitment that they have demonstrated to their employees.”
This year’s winners include: A.E. Mourad Agency, Advantage Technical Resourcing, AGIS Michigan Agency LLC, Altair Engineering, Altarum Institute, Amerisure Insurance Co., Angott Search Group, Arrow Strategies, ASG Renaissance, Atlas Oil Co., Barton Malow Co., BDO USA, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, The Bower Cos., Bridgewater Interiors, Brightwing, and Brown & Brown of Detroit.
Other winners are: Cambridge Consulting Group, Cintas Corp., Clayton & McKervey PC, Community Choice Credit Union, Community Financial, Computer and Engineering Services Inc., Computer Consultants of America Inc., Computerized Facility Integration, Compuware Corp., Delta Staffing, DeMaria Building Co., Detroit Athletic Club, DFCU Financial, Digitas, Domino’s Pizza, and DTE Energy.
Some more winners include: Easter Seals Michigan; Educational Data Systems Inc.; Employees Only; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; The Epitec Group; ePrize LLC; Etkin Equities; Family Home Health Services; Farbman Group; Fifth Third Bank, Eastern Michigan; Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber; Flagstar Bank; Gallagher Benefit Services; Garden City Hospital; Ghafari Associates LLC; Gordon Advisors PC; Grant Thornton LLP; Greenleaf Trust; GreenStone Farm Credit Services; G-Tech Professional Staffing; Halo Group; Harada Industry of America Inc.; Harley Ellis Devereaux; The Harvard Drug Group; Henry Ford Health System; Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP; and Human Capital LLC.
Other winners include: Image One; ImageSoft Inc.; Inergy Automotive Systems USA; JARC; KPMG LLC; McGraw Wentworth; Menlo Innovations LLC; Michigan Financial Cos. Inc.; Michigan First Credit Union; MiPro Consulting; MyInsuranceExpert.com; Nemeth Burwell PC; Netarx; New Horizons Rehabilitation Services; NTH Consultants Ltd.; Oakwood Healthcare Inc.; OpTech LLC; Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment; OtterBase Inc.; Plex Systems Inc.; Plunkett Cooney; and Polk.
The remaining winners are: Red Level Networks; REDICO LLC; Rehmann; Seco Tools Inc.; Service Express Inc.; Shazaaam!; Skanska; Soil & Materials Engineers Inc.; Stout Risius Ross Inc.; Strategic Staffing Solutions, The Taubman Co., Tognum America Inc. (MTU Detroit Diesel Inc.), Turner Construction Co., UHY Advisors MI, University of Michigan Health System, US Foods; Valassis; w3r Consulting; Walbridge; and Warner Norcross & Judd LLP.
Below are descriptions of the various winners based on their answers to a Corp! magazine questionnaire, supplemented by information from their websites. In some cases, when the award winner did not respond by the deadline, efforts were made to contact them and information may have been completely based on the firms’ websites.
A.E. Mourad Agency Inc.
Madison Heights www.aemourad.com
A.E. Mourad Agency Inc. is an independent insurance agency of experts who create custom-designed employee benefits solutions for customers. Based in Madison Heights, it is one of Metro Detroit’s largest family-owned and operated insurance agencies. Its specialties include creating employee benefit programs for medium to large organizations; offering medical, dental, prescription drug, vision, life, short and long term disability insurance; as well as voluntary programs on a fully-insured or self-funded basis. “We are extremely honored to be awarded as on of the 2011 Metropolitan Detroit’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For this year,” said Vice President Steve Mourad. “Our employees are the cornerstone of our success and we appreciate all of their hard work and dedication.”
Advantage Technical Resourcing
Bloomfield Hills www.HireThinking.com
The staffing firm Advantage Technical Resourcing of Bloomfield Hills has a global network with main offices in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Japan plus satellite offices in Australia, Poland, Dubai and China. It serves businesses all over the world in nearly every field. In Michigan, it provides technical staffing services to the automotive industry. The firm implemented several innovative approaches, such as flexible schedules based on employee needs, to keep workers satisfied. If employees meet or exceed their weekly goals, management offers a weekly paid-time-off incentive, where an employee gets a bonus time-off outside the regular paid time-off schedule. On July 8, 2011, Advantage Technical Resourcing hosted an outing at Detroit Yacht Club during the time of the APBA Gold Cup races on the Detroit River, which is the oldest active trophy in all motor sports. “This was a great way to close our successful year and celebrate team achievements,” noted CEO Ian Driscoll. “We host our pot-luck lunches every first Wednesday of the month. It is always a fun time.” Employees actively support local and global charities. For years, it has been a part of the United Way’s “Live United” charity program. Every Friday is “Jeans Day” where every member donates $5 for wearing jeans that day. At the end of the year, Advantage matches the amount donated by employees and the funds are sent to United Way. Earlier this year, the company helped Australian flood and Japanese tsunami victims. Advantage was a platinum sponsor at this year’s Angels of Hope Annual Golf Outing, which gives financial and emotional assistance for families of children with cancer.
AGIS Michigan Agency LLC
Birmingham www.goagis.com
AGIS Michigan Agency LLC was founded in 1978 by CEO Michael J. Kirchner. It is a full-service independent benefits agency, representing more than 60 qualified insurance carriers, with more than 1,000 clients at more than 75 professionals in offices in Detroit as well as in Florida (through AGIS of Florida LLC). AGIS’ range of products is tailored to meet customer needs. With offices in three states (including Indianapolis), the company’s benefit programs include plan design, benefit analysis, Section 125 plans, employee communication and enrollment, renewal preparation, COBRA services, claims and administrative assistance, and legislative updates. “We pride ourselves on our highly dedicated service and support staff, professionals with a unique understanding of industry issues and market trends,” said Kirchner. “We invest in long-term relationships with our clients, as well as in the technology, resources and professional personnel necessary to execute unmatched client service.”
Altair Engineering Inc.
Troy www.altair.com
Altair Engineering Inc. of Troy is a privately-held company with more than 1,500 employees at 40 offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. It has a 26-year track record of delivering to its clients’ high-end software and consulting services for engineering, computing and enterprise analytics. “Currently, Altair’s workforce comprises employees in more than 40 offices throughout 16 countries,” noted James R. Scapa, chairman, president and CEO. “Each individual’s religious beliefs and cultural customs are accommodated during business hours.” Employees receive a compensation and benefits package that exceeds industry averages, according to the American Society of Employers and LSG Insurance Partners of Michigan. Rewards consist of not only traditional, quantifiable elements but also more tangible, non-cash, elements, such as career opportunities, learning and development, work challenge, and a supportive culture. Altair seeks to hire diverse, well-rounded and extraordinary individuals and tries to rotate them around the world. This practice provides employees the opportunity to travel overseas and learn from colleagues or bring colleagues to Altair’s Michigan headquarters to train on new methods or applications. “Promoting diversity with talented individuals from all over the world is vital to Altair, just one aspect that makes Altair one of the best places to work,” Scapa added.
Altarum Institute
Ann Arbor www.altarum.org
The nonprofit Altarum Institute of Ann Arbor serves clients in the public and private sectors. It employs more than 400 individuals and has additional offices in the Washington D.C. area; Sacramento, Calif.; Atlanta; Portland, Maine; and San Antonio, Texas. Career progression at Altarum is an integral part of its commitment to providing diverse and fulfilling growth opportunities. Advancement at Altarum can be achieved by demonstrating leadership and planning/independence in management, marketing, or technical expertise within an employee’s field of work. All employees who are eligible may enroll for and begin receiving their benefits on the first day of employment. Altarum pays for many of the benefits. Those that are not entirely company-paid have reasonable employee contributions and many can be paid with pretax dollars.
Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co.
Farmington www.amerisure.com For the sixth time, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co. of Farmington, one of the nation’s leading property and casualty insurance groups, has been named one of Metro Detroit’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. “Amerisure is honored to be named one of the ‘Best and Brightest’ companies in southeast Michigan,” said Angela McBride, vice president of Human Resources. “Year after year, we strive to ensure that our human resource practices meet and exceed the expectations of our employees to allow them to excel in their careers. Each individual is encouraged to participate in formal training and professional development that will enhance their skills, enabling them to take on more responsibility and advance within the company.” The average length of service for active employees is more than 10 years, such longevity is an indicator of the company’s stability and its success for nearly 100 years. Amerisure was founded in 1912. Amerisure and its affiliates serve mid-sized commercial enterprises in manufacturing, construction and health care across the United States.
Angott Search Group
Rochester www.asgteam.com
Angott Search Group (ASG) of Rochester is one of the nation’s largest management search firms with clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations. Founded in 1981 by owner and President Mark R. Angott, the company uses a variety of resources such as video conferencing, texting services, social media and upgrading its CRM (customer relations management) database. ASG offers opportunities for employees to meet with potential clients and candidates through Skype Videoconferencing and Go-To-Meetings. “We understand the importance of our team members to have the ability to connect with individuals in their network in the best fashion,” Angott said. ASG’s marketing department uses social media to market to a variety of candidates and clients. Recently the company purchased MaxHire, a CRM database, which provides its employees with training exercises and tutorials to help them advance their skills. The company’s incentive programs include the person of the month, quarter and year; along with daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly contests with such rewards as cash prizes, gift cards or a trip for the entire office for a long weekend. “We also encourage telecommuting for various team members where certain life situations have required them to work remotely from our Rochester, Mich. office,” Angott said. “This has helped ASG expand geographically, meet more client expectations and as allowed several team members to stay dedicated to our business in turn, they are able to improve their work-life balance.” To promote team building, twice a year all remote employees are brought together for meetings and annual business planning events. ASG’s core values include honesty, integrity, professionalism and enthusiasm, while its mission statement is to create partnerships with its candidates and client companies. “This drives us to develop high standards for selection and recruitment to help attract top performers,” Angott said. “The success of the Angott Search Group has its roots in those core values that are practiced every day by every member of the team.” ASG is a family-oriented business and Angott and other managers take time to get to know employees outside of the work environment. Numerous company functions such as cookouts on the patio and occasional Friday night dinners foster both friendship and great teamwork.
Jeff Styers of Arrow Strategies says a few words about winning the 2011 Metro Detroit Best of the Best Overall Elite Award for the third consecutive year!
Arrow Strategies
Bingham Farms www.arrowstrategies.com
As a full service staffing firm, Arrow Strategies of Bingham Farms recognizes that its people are the driving force of the company. “We are in the business of finding, hiring and retaining dedicated and talented employees,” said President Jeff Styers. “Our prime focus is identifying people that stand out among their peers; people that possess valuable attributes including work ethic, attitude, skills, talent, and a team player mentality. Our internal staff possesses these same attributes and has been handpicked because of their collective belief in our values and mission.” Programs offered by Arrow Strategies allow employees to focus on themselves and teach them how to live healthier. The Biggest Loser program, discounts to gyms, Weight Watchers memberships and nutrition seminars are a few of the ways Arrow Strategies promotes a healthier lifestyle. Employees are also encouraged to use flexible scheduling to help them balance their personal lives with their work lives. Every employee is provided with remote access into the company’s system, allowing them to telecommute when needed. Also, all employees have either a laptop or a BlackBerry to give them the opportunity to work outside of the office and during non-traditional business hours.
ASG Renaissance
Farmington Hills www.asgren.com
ASG Renaissance of Farmington Hills is an international professional services firm that offers clients a suite of services including marketing communications, human capital recruiting, performance management and diversity services. Founded in 1987, ASG has more than 200 employees and received numerous honors and awards. It continues to be competitive with respect to salaries and merit pay increases, but also provides important non-financial incentives like flexible work schedules to keep employees satisfied, noted Lizabeth Ardisana, CEO and co-founder. ASG’s flexible work schedules allow employees to work remotely from home, opportunities for employees to increase their pay through generous referral benefits. In 2000, ASG created its “Building Blocks” recruiting and retention program that focuses on career building, advice to create a financially secure and healthy future, plus balance work and life needs. “ASG’s Building Blocks looks at the needs of our employees from a holistic view and provides them with answers to their most important questions,” Ardisana said. A sample of ASG’s employee programs include: candidate referral bonuses, anniversary gifts, associate recognition awards, associate’s and bachelor’s degree completion bonus, flexible work schedules, job share, employee discounts on vehicle purchases, and discounts to various museums and attractions. For more than 20 years, ASG has recruited retiring executives and senior managers and placed those workers on projects where their experience and knowledge could make significant, meaningful contributions to the outcome. “Our flexible work schedules provide these workers with the freedom to work when and where they want - which provides a win-win-win for ASG, the employee and our clients alike,” Ardisana added. “Since they are working more flexible schedules, these late career employees also tend to be very generous to the next generation of employees by sharing their experience and expertise and providing mentoring.”
Atlas Oil Co.
Taylor www.atlasoil.com
Headquartered in Taylor, Atlas Oil Co. supplies fuel to nearly 400 gasoline convenience stores throughout Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. It also transports fuel to businesses, municipalities and government agencies in 23 states. It has operational centers in Taylor and Niles, Mich.; Hammond, Ind.; Toledo, Ohio; and Houston, Texas, with satellite offices in Minneapolis, Minn.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; La Feria and Odessa, Texas; and Albuquerque, N.M. The company has been a repeat winner of the “101 Best and Brightest Companies” and earned similar recognition from the Detroit Free Press. Inc. 5000 listed it as one of the fastest growing private companies in 2009 and 2010. “With the help of our wonderful partners at Gallagher we established a holistic view to our team members benefits, which support our core values and promote long term total wellness,” said Sam R. Simon, CEO and owner. Its employee programs include full coverage medical, wellness programming, prescription drug, dental, orthodontic, vision, etc. The company provides days off for volunteering and birthdays; subsidized lunch and clothing programs, legal services, flexible spending accounts, tuition reimbursement, life insurance and more. Atlas Oil hosts after-hours events at local restaurants and pubs where team members meet 5-7 p.m. Employees can participate in different initiatives, celebrations, or events and they receive a themed rubber duck (for example a “Red Cross” duck for its blood drive or a Hawaiian duck for its Jimmy Buffet after-hours program). At the end of the year, all ducks are signed and put into a pool. Ducks are pulled out of the pool to create up to four employee teams that compete for prizes. Starting at 9 a.m. Friday, a 15 minute meeting called “What’s Rockin’ Atlas” is webcast nationally. Then Atlas Oil has its Sammy Awards where employees nominate individuals for going above and beyond their normal duties. A team of three “Sambassadors” runs the program and each quarter an employee wins a “Sammy” in each of the five key areas - which are determined by the Sammy Academy (a group of 20 co-workers). “At the end of the year we will hold a Red Carpet/Black Tie Sammy Awards Ceremony where we select the Annual Sammy Award winners,” Simon said. “Winners get an all-expense paid cruise for two, airfare and transfers included along with spending money and a crystal Sammy Award for their desk.” The company also has a bonus plan, training sessions and more.
Barton Malow Co.
Southfield www.bartonmalow.com
The construction firm Barton Malow Co. of Southfield has some 1,300 employees in 13 offices in the United States and Mexico. With annual revenues exceeding $1.5 billion, its industrial division focuses on heavy industrial customers including manufacturing, automotive, energy, renewable and other industrial facilities. Employee benefits include health and wellness programs; medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off for holidays, vacations, and sick time; income protection including life and supplemental life insurance, dependent life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, long- and short-term disability plus long-term care insurance; health savings accounts; tuition reimbursement, professional licensing, auto discounts and more. To facilitate career progression and experiential learning, the company moves people throughout the divisions to meet business and individual development needs. “We believe in a holistic approach to employee development,” said Ben Maibach III, chairman and CEO. Job rotation, webinars and classroom training are provided. “We also encourage professional association leadership, community participation, article writing, cross-training, peer presentations and research. Collectively these opportunities help build a great company and advance career fulfillment,” he added.
BDO USA LLP
Troy www.bdo.com
The Certified Public Accounting firm of BDO USA LLP has a long history, tracing back to its founding in New York City in 1910 as Seidman & Seidman. By 1917 it had established an office in Michigan. As the firm grew over the decades it formed partnerships with other accounting firms in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. In 1973 these firms created BDO (Binder Dijker Otte & Co.). Today, BDO USA has an office in Troy, Mich. - one of its 1,082 offices in 119 countries. To build a good relationship with its employees, BDO has an employee engagement survey called Pulse. The survey gives BDO employees a chance to anonymously provide feedback on everything the company does, from local leadership to firm-wide initiatives, so management can identify the effectiveness of its programs and meet the needs of its professionals. “By gathering continued feedback from our employees, we hope to create engaged employees who are motivated for continued success with BDO,” noted CEO Jack Weisbaum. “BDO also takes great strides to create, implement and sustain innovative strategies to bring out the best in our employees.” Some of these initiatives include BDO’s Total Rewards such as health, dental and vision plans, paid time off, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, plus a wellness program. The firm offers educational loans programs, travel insurance, CPA reimbursement, adoption assistance and pet insurance. Starting July 1 BDO began providing “Back-Up Dependent Care,” where employees will have access to center-based child care, in-home child care and in-home adult/elder care through Bright Horizons. Another initiative is “Secondments,” where senior associates and above have the option to work in a different BDO USA or BDO International member firm office for a period of time, ranging from three months to two years. This program allows participants to share best practices among offices and develop their professional and personal skills in a different environment, while still remaining a part of the BDO team. The firm’s internal news site, BDONews, provides information on firm news, initiatives and successes. The company offers day-to-day flex, which can be used on an as-needed basis for small changes, and a more formal flex option where an employee and his or her manager agrees upon a long-term change in where, when or how the employee works. Through “Formal Flex,” employees can work longer hours four days a week and take Fridays off, or work from home full time to save money on a long commute. BDO also provides a career counseling program, Web-based training courses, a program for new managers, and an internal leadership development program.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Detroit www.bcbsm.com
With 150 hospitals and nearly 30,000 physicians in its network, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is the largest insurance system in the state. Founded in 1939, the “Blues” has about 7,000 employees with 4.3 million members in Michigan and 1 million out of the state. It processes more than 81 million claims annually. “As a nonprofit, BCBSM also plays a key role in the communities we serve and whose social mission is helping people throughout Michigan build healthier lives,” said President and CEO Daniel J. Loepp. “Employees are an integral part of our social mission. Our work environment is centered on seven cultural beliefs that help align employees’ jobs with the company’s key goals.” Employees are awarded recognition and offered education opportunities. Among BCBSM’s employee initiatives are its work-life management programs such as flexible work schedules, ride share programs, and employee sponsored events. It provides onsite and offsite resources and supporting policies to help employees manage their life issues with their jobs - whether it’s obtaining a higher education, finding care for an aging parent or being afforded time to participate in a child’s school event. It has wellness initiatives, recognition and awards, and employee learning opportunities. For example, its award-winning First Call Resolution program helps build customer service skills, as well as saves the additional costs of second and third calls. Another example is KnowIt - a collaborative, social website that provides interactive information on the company, its industry and business topics targeted to all employees. “Two ongoing efforts to ensure the transfer of knowledge across employee generations are succession planning and interactive repositories of company, industry and business knowledge. BCBSM laid the ground work in 2010 for a succession planning program,” Loepp said. “The program’s purpose is to continuously fill the leadership pipeline with high-performing talent so that every leadership level has an abundant and diverse candidate pool from which to draw, thus ensuring ongoing success of the organization. Additionally, building business acumen among our employees empowers them with the knowledge needed to better serve our stakeholders and stay up-to-date in the complex ever-changing health care industry.”
The Bower Companies
Troy www.serpeo.com
A premier provider of human resource and benefit solutions. SERPEO, a division of The Bower Companies, has been “helping people succeed since 1991.” The company provides complete human resource solutions tailored to its clients’ needs. In turn, TBC gives back to its employees. “We are a small company with a lot of heart,” said CEO John Bower. “TBC managers freely give of their time to each employee.” Each manager has regular contact with employees on a daily basis. The company’s reward and recognition programs honor and employees while giving them the flexibility to balance their home and work life. These initiatives include tuition reimbursement, Spirit awards, paid time for volunteer efforts, and Bower power breakfasts that educate employees. It offers paid time off (PTO) for full- and part-time employees plus flexible work schedules, job sharing, health, dental, vision, life, and supplemental insurance programs. “TBC believes that employees are most satisfied when they are able to exceed their basic need components and focus on enhancing their lives both at work and at home,” Bower said. “We implement an individualized approach when addressing our employees wants and needs. TBC provides cost sharing programs for benefits that enable our employees to affordably care for their entire families’ health and well-being.” The company cross-trains employees within each department to understand the essential functions of critical programs and processes to ensure that knowledge is passed from one person to another.
Bridgewater Interiors LLC
Detroit www.jci.com
Formed in 1998 as a joint venture with automotive supplier Johnson Controls Inc., Bridgewater Interiors LLC of Detroit is one of the largest African American owned companies with about 1,000 employees. It supplies car seating for General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and Honda of America and has three locations nationwide. Using the expertise of an outside consulting firm, Bridgewater annually surveys its entire workforce to assess the perspective of its employees. Feedback is collected on six key measures: involvement and belonging, communication, recognition and rewards, employee engagement, safety, and quality and continuous improvement. This data is utilized by company leadership to assess and coach managers, update internal processes, and drive better operational results. “Despite the challenged economy, survey results have improved in each of the past two years,” noted Ronald E. Hall Sr., president and CEO. “Specifically, improved communication of business results, recognition of long-serving employees and regular employee appreciation events at each of the four manufacturing facilities are among the innovative approaches we have undertaken to preserve employee morale.”
Bridgewater’s business is highly dependent upon the conscientiousness of its workers. Human craftsmanship is very important during seating system assembly, yet its customers are extremely cost conscious. To engage employees beyond traditional wage and benefits adjustments, Bridgewater has an on-site, fully engaged owner who promotes a culture that ensures employees know they are valued. Open-door access to senior management, public praise and sharing of accolades, and responsiveness to employee concerns and suggestions all contribute to an environment where people feel appreciated and know their contributions matter. The role of racial diversity in the company’s success cannot be overlooked. As a certified minority business enterprise (“MBE”), workplace rules are regularly updated to reflect input from employees, and provide as much flexibility as possible to facilitate the myriad needs and wants of employees in managing their lifestyles away from work. Bridgewater has vigorous workplace health and safety systems in place and thorough tracking metrics in place to assist senior leadership in quickly addressing any issues that arise. The company provides succession and personal development planning occurs for persons at senior through lower management, and a comprehensive quantitative evaluation process is leveraged to promote from within whenever possible. As evidence of this, many current managers are former assembly line employees. All employees have access to a tuition reimbursement program for college studies, and successful coaching of subordinates is a key component of evaluating every manager’s performance.
Brightwing
Troy www.gobrightwing.com
A staffing and training company, Brightwing of Troy has received numerous awards. In addition to being a Corp! 101 Best and Brightest Company - which it also won in 2009 and 2010 — it has received honors from Crain’s Detroit Business, Inc. Magazine, and Winning Workplaces. Brightwing represents more than 550 consultants and clients nationwide. The company has offices in Dallas and Weston, Fla. “At Brightwing we view people holistically and strive to promote and satisfy their educational, health/wellness and creative endeavors,” said Aaron Chernow, CEO. “Similar to a concierge service, we offer employees the ability to choose work/life programs that fit their needs as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach.” Brightwing funds employee skills development classes. For instance, consultant sales training is given to all business development managers. All employees receive communication coaching and advanced software training plus they are encouraged to apply for and maintain formal certifications and take advantage of opportunities for webinars and other educational venues. “We try and create an environment that supports the diverse health and wellness needs of our employees,” Chernow said. “We have a lactation room for nursing mothers. We also have a lounge outfitted with couches, a television and Xbox to encourage employee relaxation and decompression.” The company’s in-house workout facility is open 24 hours a day and on Mondays and Thursdays is staffed with a Yoga and Pilates instructor. A professional life coach is available on a monthly basis to all employees. Brightwing covers the cost of smoking cessation classes and regularly engages the services of a dietician, financial planner and mortgage expert for the staff.
Brown & Brown of Detroit
Sterling Heights www.bbdetroit.com
Brown & Brown of Detroit is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc., the nation’s seventh largest insurance intermediary, but its Michigan roots stretch back to Allied, which was founded in 1948. Headquartered in Sterling Heights, the company reaches out to its employees in a variety of ways including the yearly “state of the firm” offsite meeting, monthly town hall meetings, intranet, open door policy, and regular performance reviews. Management engages employees with paid time off and monetary awarded suggestion programs, summer and holiday outings, river cruises, and museum tours. Brown & Brown has a hiring bonus program, employee run committees, company sponsored education opportunities, and mentoring programs. “We provide organization discounts, paid Sunshine/early close days, and employee and family events, opportunities for community involvement,” said CEO Gene LoVasco. “We believe that all of the above helps to keep our employees satisfied, engaged and motivated.” The firm encourages the continued growth and development of its employees through programs such as management development, to give the resources and tools to achieve a long lasting, fulfilling career at Brown & Brown of Detroit; encouraging continued growth and development through programs such as an extensive sales program, tuition reimbursement, one-on-one mentoring program, formal training, licensing and credits, and educational seminars; plus employee recognition programs with a variety of bonus and incentive programs. The firm promotes community involvement and many employees work on school and community service projects including student mentoring programs, food and clothing drives, blood drives, jean day charity, and Habitat for Humanity. Brown & Brown strives to maintain a consistent level of service and experience. “As part of our succession plan we pair less experienced employees with more experienced and seasoned professionals,” LoVasco said. “We offer our seasoned employees the option of having reduced schedules and job sharing as they transition into retirement.”
Cambridge Consulting Group
Troy www.cambridge-cg.com
Cambridge Consulting Group is one of the largest independent insurance agencies in Michigan. Founded in 1985 by Albert W. Papa and Ralph W. Eagle, it grew from a one-room office in Mount Clemens, to where it has a headquarters in Troy and additional offices in Grosse Point Farms, Farmington Hills, and New York. It has been named one of the best places to work in Southeast Michigan for more than five years. During the last week in April, the agency held an employee appreciation week with each day consisting of a gift from the executive team. For example one day was titled “Thanks a Latte” and each employee received a Starbucks gift card. Every Friday is bagel day and the company provides numerous lunches throughout the year. “Many of our employees have been with the company since inception and several of our top manages have become shareholder at Cambridge,” noted Al Papa, chairman. “We are creating a performance culture, built upon the foundation of teamwork and accountability. In this culture participative leadership empowers each and every employee to strive toward excellence. We are a work-hard, play-hard environment.” The agency’s benefits package includes full medical benefits, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, 401(k) and profit sharing. Cambridge gives each employee a full three weeks of paid time off on Jan. 1 of each year regardless of how long an employee has been with the company. Employees who have been with the organization over five years receive four weeks of vacation; and over 10 years, five weeks. Employees can take advantage of flex time, starting anywhere between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and complete day between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. The company also offers part-time, work from home and job sharing options. “Cambridge believes that employee retention is the key to transfer of knowledge,” Papa said. “We also encourage job shadowing to train and educate. Cambridge offers an educational assistance program.”
Cintas Corp.
Westland www.cintas.com
Cintas Corp. operates more than 430 facilities in the North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia - including six manufacturing plants and eight distribution centers - and employs approximately 30,000 people. Family-owned, its main headquarters is in Cincinnati and its Michigan regional office is in Westland. Cintas considers every employee to be a partner, noted Scott Farmer, president and CEO. “We act with honesty and integrity in everything we do,” he said. The company’s benefits include medical, dental, vision and disability insurance; 401(k) with company match; profit sharing; an employee stock ownership plan; paid vacations and holidays; corporate discounts on goods and services, and more. Cintas is also diverse, with 42 percent of its employees women and 39 percent persons of color. “Our partners come from many countries around the world and speak more than 20 different languages,” Farmer said. “We have given many of our partners their first jobs in America. We proudly hire women and men as they complete their military service to our country.”
Clayton & McKervey PC
Southfield www.claytonmckervey.com
Clayton & McKervey PC provides accounting, tax and business advisory services to growth-driven, middle market entrepreneurs with global reach. The Southfield-based firm provides employees with opportunities for lifelong learning via internal and external trainings. With a flexible schedule, many employees can have a career, time for family and friends, and time for themselves. Clayton & McKervey uses the best technology available including the flexibility to work remotely from anywhere. With an open door environment, management keeps the staff apprised of the firm’s outlook and asks for input. “Everyone is really friendly and it’s not stuffy,” said Donald H. Clayton, managing director. “You don’t have to call me Mr. Clayton. Please call me Don. Clayton & McKervey is like a family comprised of a diverse group of employees that makes coming to work fun. There is a true sense of caring that permeates throughout the organization.” The firm’s core values include a passion to help others succeed, a can-do attitude, fun, and performance.
Community Choice Credit Union
Farmington Hills www.communitychoicecu.com
Starting during the Great Depression by friend and neighbors who put five dollars into a fund from which anyone could borrow in time of need, Community Choice Credit Union provides its members a variety of services including savings, checking, lending, mortgages, business services, mobile banking, and more including a foundation that provides college scholarships. For its workers, the Farmington Hills-based CCCU engages its employees in a variety of ways including quarterly roundtable sessions where senior managers address subjects raised by employees, a morale committee that rewards and recognizes team members, and a leadership team that ensures coaching and development is happening. “All initiatives that are offered within the organization align with our strategic initiatives, values and our culture,” said Rob Bava, CEO. “We know that in order to truly have engaged team members, who are committed to those same business principles and satisfied, it has to be a relationship of give and take.” Employee benefit offerings include external and internal development programs. “Community Choice believes in ‘Giving Big’ to the communities we serve and our team members value that same belief,” Bava added. “We compensate (employees) with volunteer time to ‘Give Big’ to our communities. Team members are allotted up to 24 hours of paid time each year.” Give Big is the credit union’s term for its efforts to support charities. For example, this year CCCU had its third annual Give Big Weekend with a walk to support the American Diabetes Foundation, beautifying the grounds of Vista Maria, a donation to the Gleaners Community Food Bank, a walk to support the Canterberry on the Lake Senior Home, and helping to beautify Kensington Metropark. Recognition and incentive programs include incentive pay, time off and recognition lunches with the senior management team. To help with the work-life balance, CCCU has different programs such as “Choice Time” — paid time off. Paid time-off hours are rolled into one bank of hours for team members to use how they need to use it rather than dividing it between vacation and sick time. All employees are given three days off for the birth or adoption of a child. There is a “Quiet Room” at its headquarters for employees to re-group and re-focus throughout the day. No phones, pagers, or socializing are allowed in the room to truly support the “quiet” environment. Team members have utilized that room for various reasons including completing homework, reading a book, or even taking a nap while on their lunch or scheduled break time. “Flex time and 4-10 hour work days are highly encouraged when possible. This allows team members more flexibility when scheduling appointments, attending school, daycare, or just spending time rejuvenating,” Bava said. Finally, during the winter months the credit union has hosted instructors for a physical fitness “boot camp” sessions after hours for team members to attend.
Community Financial Members Federal Credit Union
Plymouth www.cfcu.org
Celebrating its 60th anniversary, Community Financial Members Federal Credit Union provides its members with competitive dividend rates on checking and savings accounts, as well as attractive loan rates. Its roots go back to 1951 when it was formed as the Daisy (Air Rifle) Employees Federal Credit Union. Once Daisy moved out of state in 1958, it became the Plymouth Community Federal Credit Union. Its membership range expanded over time to include several surrounding communities and after a merger in 1983 with Montsego Credit Union, it expanded its membership to Northern Michigan’s Montmorency and Otsego counties. In 2003, the Plymouth-based credit union officially changed its name to Community Financial. It has received various awards for being one of the best companies to work for in Metro Detroit for several years in a row. “We were formed sixty years ago by community members who wanted to borrow and save together,” said President and CEO Bill Lawton. “We have grown from those humble beginnings to a credit union serving over 47,000 people in several communities. We pride ourselves in proving an outstanding service experience at every opportunity we are given.”
Computer and Engineering Services (CES) Inc.
Rochester Hills www.cesnet.com
Computer and Engineering Services (CES) Inc. of Rochester Hills provides professional staffing services to Fortune 500 companies in diverse industries nationwide including automotive, aerospace, banking, architectural, government, pharmaceutical and service. Its skilled candidates have successfully passed a stringent, quality controlled hiring process. They are personally interviewed, reference checked and skill assessed. CES is ISO 9001:2008 certified and all full-time employees are offered a competitive compensation package.
Computer Consultants of America
Southfield www.computer-consultants.com
Incorporated in 1994, Computer Consultants of America is a “Woman Owned” firm certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Based in Southfield, it specializes in building sophisticated business software. “CCI constantly strives to improve our employees’ experience through innovative and competitive compensation and benefits,” noted John Wheeland, chairman and CEO. CCI offers the employees medical, dental, flexible spending, dependent care reimbursement, life insurance, group long-term disability, short-term disability, lead generation bonus, vision benefits, and more. Within a month of employment, workers automatically receive up to 16 hours of paid time off. For the year, employees have up to 24 hours of paid time off for vacation, personal or sick time. CCI does not believe in a use-it or lose-it policy so unused hours can be rolled over into the next year. “CCI believes in investing for the future with our employees,” Wheeland said. “We provide a tax deferred pension plan based on the 401(k) regulation of the Internal Revenue Code to help employees plan for a financially sound future.” CCI’s plan allows the employees to contribute anything from 1 percent to 100 percent of their pay on a pre-tax basis, with some corporate matching funds too. Employees can receive various discounts on goods and services, including credit union, General Motors Corp., BMW, Verizon, Brook’s Brothers, and GMAC Insurance. “CCI is built around our employees,” Wheeland said. “Our organization encourages all employees to achieve higher education and training to keep current with the ever changing technical advances. This includes career planning and unlimited dollars based on client needs.” The company provides assistance in both the planning of personal development as well as provides financial assistance as a reward. CCI’s culture promotes family and a work-life balance such as company sponsored events and social activities in which many employees are respected and acknowledged.
Computerized Facility Integration LLC
Southfield www.gocfi.com
Providing consulting and information technology integration services for corporate real estate and facilities customers, Computerized Facility Integration LLC of Southfield was founded in 1990. CFI uses several approaches to keep employees satisfied, such as a fun but exciting work environment that is free from the stresses of layoffs and downsizing. How? CFI’s annual growth rate exceeds 20 percent. It promotes a “team first” mentality that encourages mentorship and peer support. “We also value employee input - requesting feedback several times a year and evaluating it regularly,” said President Robert Verdun. Its compensation and a benefit package includes 401(k), medical, dental, life and disability insurance plus paid holidays, vacation, and sick time. The company offers flex scheduling as well as the option to work remotely. “Our largest office is actually ‘home offices.’ This allows employees the ability to avoid a commute and manage the rest of their lives while still contributing to the company in a very real way,” Verdun added. Continued training is highly recommended through several internal programs such as CFI University. CFI University educates employees on the goals, processes, service offerings, philosophies, techniques, applications and the company’s mission. The program has an orientation program, boot camps, business management training, technical training, and other courses.
Compuware Corp.
Detroit www.compuware.com
Compuware Corp. of Detroit was founded in 1973 and serves the world’s leading IT organizations, including 46 of the top 50 Fortune 100 corporations. With more than 4,100 employees in 75 offices and 30 countries Compuware offers extensive training and development programs along with a corporate commitment to promoting from within. The company has a host of benefit package to set a rhythm between work, lifestyle and personal needs including leave of absence programs; flexible work arrangements; free, confidential, 24-hour access to professional advice on a variety of topics; while “Commuter Assistance” provides information about a variety of potential cost-saving commuter options. There are extras for U.S. employees including the group legal plan that provides legal assistance for many common legal needs; voluntary group insurance discount programs allow employees to save money purchasing insurance, including auto, home, renters, long-term care and pet insurance; employee discounts for health/fitness clubs, vehicle purchases, entertainment, mortgage/financial services, and more. There is a wellness program plus personal learning programs on financial planning and college saving. Compuware C.A.R.E. provides a single point of contact for quick and correct answers to human resource, payroll, professional development and other related questions. Also, employees can access their payroll and W-2 statements via the Web at any time of any day. Its world headquarters employees have additional perks including a 40,000-square-foot fitness facility with professional-level strength equipment, cardiovascular machines, racquetball courts, indoor track and a full-size basketball court; on-site daycare for children aged 6 weeks through kindergarten, as well as holiday and summer care programs for school-aged children (6-12 years old); a medical clinic, chiropractic and physical, occupational and massage therapy; etc. “We’re innovative, we’re fun, we’re motivated and we share and deliver on common goals and objectives achieved through collaboration and hard work,” noted Peter Karmanos, chairman and CEO. “Employees worldwide spend countless hours volunteering for a variety of charitable organizations-¦ and inclusion is not a stand-alone initiative, nor is it a special program-it is who we are.”-¨
Delta Staffing
Clarkston www.delta-staffing.com
Delta Staffing of Clarkston works to provide the ideal environment for both the client and contract employee. Its precision hiring system finds the proper candidates suited for clients. Delta recruiters have technical backgrounds as engineers, designers, programmers and managers in high-tech automotive, IT, aerospace and military organizations. As an employee of Delta Staffing, for every hour worked, you earn paid time-off credits, noted Brad McKouen, president, who is nicknamed “Mr. Delta.” Full-time employees can earn up to two weeks paid vacation time for every 50 weeks of 40 hours worked. Delta Staffing also provides full-time employees paid time off for many holidays after 30 days of employment. An array of health, dental and vision benefits are available to contract employees.
DeMaria Building Co.
Detroit www.demariabuild.com-¨
A multiple year winner of the “Best and Brightest” award, the DeMaria Building Co. was incorporated in 1969 and handles construction projects ranging from $50,000 to $50 million. The Detroit firm’s expertise includes creating assisted senior living, athletics and entertainment, automotive, energy, medical, manufacturing, education, laboratory, multi-unit housing, municipal, parking, research and development, university, and waste water management structures. “Talented individuals who work well in teams are committed to exceeding client expectations,” said President Joseph A. DeMaria Jr. “This is the culture of DeMaria. Professional excellence is continuously promoted. So strong is this belief, DeMaria promotes employee growth and advancement through regular training, reimbursement of continuing education, rewards and recognition programs, and career advancement opportunities.”
Detroit Athletic Club
Detroit www.thedac.com
Established in 1915 to “get the men of the automobile industry out of the saloons on Woodward Avenue” (as the president of the Packard Motor Car Co. and DAC member No. 1, Henry B. Joy once joked), the Detroit Athletic Club (DAC) is one of the premier organizations with a membership roll that includes a number of Detroit’s regional business leaders. “Work is a social activity and the DAC is a social organization that is well suited for providing an environment that emphasizes relationship building and camaraderie,” said J.G. “Ted” Gillary, DAC’s executive manager. “Because we have a great kitchen and culinary staff, a lot of our social moments have to do with food. We provide meals, eat together, and enjoy special staff appreciation days when management cooks and serves.” The club provides clear expectations for work performance and thorough training. Management holds open discussions on how to improve as a team from regular broad-based meetings to one-on-one personal progress interviews; it assures that information is accurate and timely for continuous improvement both at the team and personal levels. A multi-year winner of the “Best and Brightest” award, the DAC has earned many other accolades. A personal approach is evident at the DAC, with employee birthdays being recognized with a personal card from Gillary, and help when a funeral or illness occurs within employees’ families. The club recognizes its employees have personal lives outside the building and tries to help them find a good work-life balance.
DFCU Financial
Dearborn www.dfcufinancial.com
DFCU Financial is Michigan’s largest credit union. Headquartered in Dearborn, it has issued $90 million in dividends for five consecutive years - the largest amount in its history. The credit union, with $3 billion in assets, has an employee activities committee to provide after-hours/weekend activities for its employees and their families including, sporting events, movies, zoo trips, amusement parks, cider mills and more. “The majority of our team members participate in activities,” said Mark Shobe, president and CEO. “Given the economic climate in Michigan, our gainsharing program is likely the exception, not the rule.” Gainsharing, based upon the organization’s profitability, is awarded in addition to merit increases. DFCU’s Branch Team Development program provides career development through training and work proficiencies. Annually there are all-employee “in-service” days to provide information about the credit union’s performance and future projections. “We truly value our employees and do what we can to provide them with training and competitive salaries and benefits,” Shobe noted. “Of great value to employees is our robust benefits program.” DFCU funds 88 percent of medical benefits while other benefits, such as dental, are 100 percent funded. It offers employees flexible scheduling for personal reasons or to attend school, employee activities, and a paid time-off program - three weeks after the first year of employment. The credit union has an in-house training department, and opportunities for employees to participate in cross training and job rotation.
Digitas won the Metro Detroit Elite Award for Recognition and Retention.
Digitas
Detroit www.digitas.com
Digitas of Detroit is a supplier of integrated strategy, technology and marketing solutions to Internet-based, e-commerce companies. “Digitas believes strongly that, in addition to the benefits provided to the employee to increase the quality of life outside of their work environment, we owe it to our dedicated employees to provide them with benefits that add to the quality of their lives at work,” noted CEO Laura Lang. The company’s “Reward & Recognition” (R&R) program acknowledges employees who have gone “above and beyond by taking on additional job responsibilities, exhibited excellent leadership, or have worked extensive overtime. The company’s “Recognition Time” program allows managers to give employees additional time off when they sacrifice personal time to get the job done. Digitas also recognizes employees who have reached their one, three-, five-, ten-, 15-, 20- and 25-year anniversaries. The Detroit office honors employees on their birthdays and anniversaries with a celebration featuring homemade cake. Digitas honors employees through its annual “Heart of the Company” award to one individual in each office who was nominated by their peers for inspiring others to take action. The recipient receives an engraved glass heart. “Our leadership team conducts informal coffee chats with small groups to get to know employees personally and understand what’s important to them” Lang said. “Quarterly focus groups are held by the HR team to assess employee satisfaction and listen to their thoughts regarding process improvements, training and development needs and best practices.” Digitals provides an anonymous question box and a public journal for sharing relaxation tips. Recognizing that community involvement activities help keep employees feeling fulfilled, the company encourages its staff members to host charitable efforts internally while also supporting their participation externally. “Our staff owns and leads activities like birthday parties, peer-nominated awards, sports teams and team outings,” Lang added. “Staff involvement in affinity groups, volunteer and fundraising activities and their own personal development encourages employees to take ownership in creating a unique office culture and community focused organization.”
Domino’s Pizza
Ann Arbor www.dominos.com
Domino’s Pizza began nearly 50 years ago as one small pizza shop in Ypsilanti. Today it has more than 9,000 stores worldwide in more than 60 markets. “That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident,” noted Chairman and former CEO Dave Brandon. “It takes leadership, commitment and an ever-evolving team of passionate people who love what they do. Our success is accomplished when our exceptional team members wow our customers.” Domino’s has more than 170,000 employees in 600 corporate-owned stores, a system of more than 5,000 domestic franchise-owned stores and international franchise base that operates more than 4,000 stores. There are 13,000 corporate employees, with some 400 who work at its headquarters in Ann Arbor. A repeat winner of the “101 Best and Brightest” award, the company has earned recognition from Entrepreneur magazine as third on its list of America’s Top Global Franchises and No. 1 in the pizza category. Domino’s was named “Chain of the Year” by Pizza Today magazine, the leading publication of the pizza industry. It’s also important to Domino’s for employees to have a good work-life balance, so they offer benefits, such as adoption assistance, bonus days given to extend summer holiday weekends (known as Domino’s Days), free use of the fitness center, and mother’s room. On-site conveniences offered to the Domino team members include dry cleaning, hair salon, post office, manicures and massages, cafeteria, free parking and free coffee and soda.
DTE Energy
Detroit www.dteenergy.com
The Detroit-based electrical and natural gas utility DTE Energy avoided broad layoffs in response to the recent recession by redeploying employees from areas where less staff were needed to areas where the company could make opportunities available. In some cases, employees were asked to fill new roles and responsibilities and the utility’s workers stepped up to the challenge. “Redeployment has been a win-win proposal for employees and for DTE Energy - helping us keep dedicated employees, and building their loyalty and appreciation. Thus far, DTE Energy has successfully re-deployed over 250 employees,” noted Gerry Anderson, chairman, president and CEO. “During the economic crisis, while businesses around us laid off masses of employees or slashed benefits, we asked our employees to help identify $150 million in sustainable cost and revenue improvements. And they did it.” Two years ago, the utility has set the goal of reaching “top decile” status in the Gallup Survey’s employee engagement rankings of energy companies. The company’s priorities include building an engaged workforce, continuous improvement, and achieving the highest level of customer satisfaction. Conducting an annual engagement survey of all employees, DTE Energy analyzes issues and creates action plans to improve engagement. Every company leader attends a two-day “Engaging Leadership” program that teaches them new concepts, skills and techniques. “We train a cadre of ‘engagement champions’ embedded throughout each business unit who encourage, coach, train, and ensure application of the Engaging Leadership concepts and skills by leaders,” Anderson said. Plus there are “strength coaches” who advise leaders on how to understand and utilize each employee’s strengths. And all managers receive continuous improvement training. The utility also has a wellness program for employees and encourages teams to do community service projects.
Easter Seals of Michian is presented their Elite Award for Community Initiatives.
Easter Seals Michigan
Auburn Hills www.essmichigan.org
Easter Seals Michigan is the leading nonprofit provider of services for individuals with disabilities, mental illnesses, emotional impairments, autism and other special needs. Since 1920, the Auburn Hills-based Easter Seals has helped Michigan families. Recognition, engagement, as well as a competitive compensation and benefit package, are all key components found in the successful employee retention practices at Easter Seals Michigan’s (ESM). Easter Seals’ workforce engagement initiatives encourage employee dialogue, enhance performance and improve communication. In addition to traditional, employment acknowledgment events like family picnics, service award ceremonies and staff retreat, there is a peer recognition program. Employees present “You Rock” cards to co-workers who go above and beyond their required job responsibilities. A copy of the “You Rock” card is given to the employee’s supervisor and the agency’s CEO. Staff members who received the “You Rock” cards are entered into special prize drawings held during monthly staff meetings. The distinctive program promotes both camaraderie and performance affirmation. “Our staff is what makes Easter Seals such a great place to work,” said Brent Wirth, president and CEO. “They’re energetic, compassionate and loyal - not only to the people we serve - but to each other. One of the most important aspects of our culture as an agency is the understanding that each individual employed by Easter Seals represents a necessary component to the team’s success in supporting and serving people with disabilities.” The agency provides several, advanced resources for employees to further their skills through on-site training and professional development programs. For example, DiSC is a dialogue and development tool used to identify employee strengths, promote teamwork and help provide them with a better understanding of their own behavior and how it can be modified to improve job performance. Easter Seals’ comprehensive and competitive benefit programs effectively respond to the need for “family-friendly” and “employee-friendly” benefit packages. The diverse options help meet the changing needs of its workforce, while assisting employees in successfully balancing their work and personal lives.
Educational Data Systems Inc. Dearborn www.edsisolutions.com
Educational Data Systems Inc. is a diversified services company that provides workforce development program services, management consulting services and workforce consulting services. Founded in 1979, the Dearborn-based company has placed more than 25,000 individuals into jobs. EDSI’s network currently employs more than 400 people in eight states and Washington D.C. in the manufacturing, automotive, public transit, utilities, aerospace, logistics, transportation, building and construction, retail, food service, and training business sectors. “EDSI managers go to great lengths to be exceptional listeners,” noted Kevin Schnieders, CEO. “The individual employee always comes first.” During quarterly and annual reviews, each person is asked about his/her satisfaction level within and outside of work. Every effort is made to have employees engaged in work that brings energy and happiness 90 percent of the time. The “Predictive Index” assessment tool is used to understand an individual’s specific behaviors and motivations. When employees are happy and engaged, and their individual talents and interests are put in the best possible place, the overall company is more effective. The company’s three core values are show up, smile and support one another. “You have to show up to be relevant,” Schnieders said. “When we do, clients come to trust our consistency. We arrive at all of our meetings on time, and work hard to end those meetings in a timely fashion. At EDSI, smiling means always looking for a solution. If we are taking a positive perspective that something can be done, we will find our path to the right answers.” All employees are encouraged to participate in at least one community service event each year. Employees look forward to group outings, such as baseball games, bowling, picnics, Laser tag and more. EDSI provides a flex program where employees can work 80 hours in nine days and have a day off every other week, tuition reimbursement for additional education, plus “lunch and learns” to help employees with issues such as better nutrition and financial planning. Surveys are sent out regularly to obtain feedback on how employees feel about the company.
Employees Only
Auburn Hills www.employeesonly.net
Employees Only of Auburn Hills is a human resource outsourcing company. It handles its clients’ non-core business functions that are required by federal, state and local rules including payroll and payroll tax processing, insurance, benefit administration, human resource requirements mandated by law and workers’ compensation. “Our company strives to continually upgrade and respond to the needs of its staff,” said Mario D. Apruzzese, CEO. Recognizing the need to offer a work environment that attracts top talent, the company’s employees programs include flexible and mobile work schedules. Mobile access and a shared electronic file system allow employees and customers to always remain in contact while receiving the most up-to-date information. Employees Only offers reimbursement for educational expenses, encourages certifications and professional degrees, as well as, provides monthly employee recognition, rewards, and gifts for outstanding performance. Finally, in an effort to truly listen and respond to our employees, an internal non-management employee group was formed to bring new ideas for improving their workplace to management. “Our overall goal is to provide a responsive and flexible work environment that encompasses our needs for a highly trained and productive staff, with employees’ needs for a good work-life balance,” Apruzzese said.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Farmington Hills www.enterpriseholdings.com
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is a subsidiary of Enterprise Holdings, the largest car rental agency in North America. Enterprise Holdings is headquartered in St. Louis but it has regional subsidiaries, such as in Michigan. The company has been listed as one of the top entry level employers by CollegeGrad.com. It has won numerous other accolades including being a previous “Best and Brightest” awardee.
The Epitec Group
Southfield www.epitecgroup.com
The Epitec Group of Southfield is a technology services and staffing provider, serving not only companies looking for the right people but also its own employees. For the fifth time, Epitec’s employees designated the company as one of the “Best and Brightest” companies to work for. “Employees are not only our biggest asset but our core business, so our various approaches to keeping employees satisfied, both individually and as groups, are very significant,” said Jerry Sheppard, founder and CEO. “The Human Resources team ensures that Epitec remains a best-in-class employer and human resources team. The awards that we receive are critical to retain year after year. We have a reputation for caring about our employees… Even while our economy changes, our strong commitment to our valuable employees never will.” Epitec empowers each person to contribute through formal and measurable processes using best-in-class tools and a high performance workspace. It embraces change, encourages forward-thinking, and recognizes that both our customers and employees represent the infrastructure of its organization. “We value proactive interaction, timely feedback and meaningful communication with our customers, employees, and partners,” Sheppard added. Every Epitec Group employee receives a customized compensation package that is built utilizing an ala carte menu system. Employees choose among options such as pay rate, amount of paid time off, holiday pay options and insurance participation options. Depending on the assigned client, employees may have flexible work hours that can include a summer hours program. When possible, telecommuting is made available to employees wishing to work from home.
ePrize LLC
Pleasant Ridge www.ePrize.com
Founded in 1999, ePrize LLC of Pleasant Ridge creates promotional and loyalty programs for its clients, the company expanded into the social media and mobile marketing channels to allow brands to reach consumers through a suite of online and interactive promotions. When Matt Wise joined as CEO in 2010 he focused the company on strategically expanding its offerings to integrate social networks, micro sites, and mobile communications. ePrize’s “mess hall” program allows employees to order food from up to three restaurants daily, have it delivered directly to the office, while the cost is automatically deducted from their pay. Laptops and iPhones are provided to virtually all team members allowing them the freedom to work and meet anywhere, such as our outside sundeck or at one of our two large kitchens. If people want to sit outside in the sun and work, they are encouraged to do so. “If they would like to sprawl out on a couch to get their work done, we provide spaces that will allow them to do that,” Wise said. “We have a La-Z-Boy lounge and a number of other areas outside of typical desk spaces. Our intranet has a link that lists out all of the ongoing perks for team members.” These perks include clothing and other retail discounts, travel (hotel and vacation packages), cars, insurance, technology and cell phone plan discounts, restaurants, etc. Unlike most companies, ePrize does not block Facebook or other social media sites. In fact, employees are required to spend at least 30 minutes a day on social networking sites to stay in touch with others and keep informed of media trends. “ePrize’s greatness comes from our staff, therefore it is important to us that our team members have time to relax, therefore we offer weekly onsite massages and a number of social activities throughout the year that include eating contests, celebrations, spirit week, etc. Our dress code in virtually anything you could imagine. We provide the flexibility to allow team members to dress the way they want to show their individuality,” Wise added.
Etkin LLC
Southfield www.etkinllc.com
Etkin LLC of Southfield is a commercial real estate firm that develops, acquires, manages and markets office, industrial, retail, hotel and mixed-use properties. Formed in 1982, the company also handles fee-based property management and development services on behalf of third party owners. The 2011 “Best and Brightest” award marks the fourth year that the company has received this honor from the Michigan and Professional Association. The firm uses many, different approaches to keep employees satisfied, including treating employees like individuals not like one large group. Flexibility and an open-door policy helps. More than 20 different perks and discounts save employees’ time and money. Additionally Etkin supports continuing education programs and encourages employees to continue skills training, noted Curtis B. Burstein, president.
Family Home Health Services
Plymouth www.fhhs.us
Providing medical care to those who are injured, aged or disabled, Family Home Health Services of Plymouth employs registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and medical social workers. Its specialty programs focus on diabetic management, fall prevention, emotional wellness, and transitional care. “At Family Home Health Services, we have a strong belief that it is our duty to provide the best benefits available at the most affordable prices,” said CEO Kevin Ruark. “We know that health insurance rates are expensive but necessary. We gladly pay the employee premium for all full-time employees on both their health, dental and vision insurance. This allows our employees to worry less about their own health and more about our patients.” FHHS works to provide cutting edge tax-free benefits to its employees through a flexible savings account, health savings account through Blue Cross Blue Shield and 401(k). To encourage long term retirement savings, FHHS matches, dollar-for-dollar, an employee’s contribution up to 4 percent of his annual compensation. Every full-time employee automatically receives $25,000 in life insurance for themselves, $10,000 for their spouse and $5,000 for each child. FHHS provides long-term disability coverage, through MetLife, for all of full-time employees plus paid short-term disability benefits. The company hosts a variety of annual events such as our company softball game, sponsored benefit 5k and marathon runs, serving Thanksgiving meals to seniors, Christmas breakfast and Secret Santa celebrations. The company also offers performance-based incentives.
The Farbman Group
Southfield www.farbman.com
The Farbman Group is one of the largest full-service real estate organizations in the Midwest. With more than 200 real estate professionals, the Southfield firm’s services include brokerage, property management, development and construction. Making sure that employees have a voice in the organization, the “Farbman Think Tank” is a program that gives employees the chance to talk about ideas, problems and solutions to help improve the company in an open forum format. Another program, “Farbman Bright Idea,” allows employees to submit an idea to help the company and every quarter these ideas are reviewed and a prize is awarded the individual whose idea is selected as the winner. The company also supports a number of charity programs aimed at helping the well-being of its employees, clients and the community. For example, it has partnered on walks to support the American Diabetes Association, sent care packages to soldiers as part of the “Thank a Soldier” project, held the “Pennies from Heaven” benefit to support Homeward Bound, which is an animal rescue organization, and more.
Fifth Third Bank, Eastern Michigan
Southfield www.53.com
Fifth Third Bank, Eastern Michigan is metropolitan Detroit’s sixth largest bank and has $6.37 billion in assets, $4.6 billion in deposits, $1.2 billion in custody assets, and actively manages $611 million for its personal, corporate, and not-for-profit clients. With its eastern Michigan headquarters in Southfield, the bank serves customers in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Shiawassee, Livingston, Genesee and Washtenaw counties. It has banking centers and more than 120 ATMs throughout the region. The Fifth Third name has stood for high performance and great service for more than 100 years. Fifth Third’s roots go back to 1858, when the Bank of the Ohio Valley was formed in Cincinnati. That bank became the Third National Bank in 1871 and merged with the Fifth National Bank in 1908 creating the Fifth Third name.
Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber Inc.
Farmington Hills www.ftch.com
Established in 1956, Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber Inc. (FTC&H) employs more than 360 people, who provide a full range of civil engineering, environmental, architectural engineering, construction management and related services to both public and private clients. “One key aspect of employee satisfaction comes from our commitment to remain employee-owned, to control our own destiny and not be managed from afar,” noted James A. Susan, president. “Our staff appreciates the ability to work on complex technical projects that challenge themselves and their team.” Based in Farmington Hills, FTC&H supports continuing education, training, and certifications to enhance their professional career, which adds to the firm’s accreditation. The firm continually supports upgrades to software and equipment so staff members have the most up-to-date tools. The availability to work with flexibility around their personal and family schedules as well as the confidence that many can work from home also has added satisfaction to staff. “Our employee-ownership and the general work itself leads to satisfaction and challenges that our staff thrive on,” Susan said. “The general sense of accomplishment and the effects their projects have on the communities they live in provide for a feeling of affiliation to our firm.” FTC&H consistently seeks improvement and progress. The firm’s core values include enthusiasm and intensity; honesty and integrity; innovation and excellence; a concern and respect for people and their personal and professional growth; and exceptional client service.
Flagstar Bank
Troy www.flagstar.com
Flagstar Bank of Troy is one of the largest banking institutions headquartered in the Midwest, with assets in excess of $12.7 billion. It has nearly 3,000 employees at 162 banking centers in Michigan, Indiana and Georgia. “Flagstar is more than just a place to work; it’s a community of professionals who are truly committed to the growth of the company and have an invested interest in its success,” said Joseph P. Campanelli, chairman of the board, president and CEO. “It’s a place where ambitious, smart, and independent people can make their mark.”
Gallagher Benefit Services
Bingham Farms www.gallagherbenefits.com
Gallagher Benefit Services of Michigan is a subsidiary of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., which plans, designs, and administers a full array of customized, property and casualty insurance plus risk management programs. The company assists clients in all areas of their employee health/welfare and retirement plans, such as plan design, funding and administration. Based in Bingham Farms, Gallagher Benefit Services uses a number of “other than salary” incentives to reward employees and keep them engaged, including full-time “business casual” dress to save its people money and maximize their comfort during the work day; a “Fridays off in July” program allowing everyone to take three-day weekends with full pay; monthly “50/50” raffle drawings; monthly “Wine-Down” Thursdays where the office closes at 3:30 p.m. and employees enjoy beer, wine and cheese in our board room; in-office concierge service for dry cleaning; summer internship opportunities for both high school and college students; in-office social activities including NCAA basketball, Super Bowl and Tiger broadcasts and lunches; and more.
“We recognize the need to transfer knowledge from our seasoned baby boomer leadership team to the next generation of leaders in our industry,” noted James W. Durkin Jr., president. “Toward that end, we developed a paid college intern program for six students each summer.” Encompassing a nine week period, the internship program offers future students a paid summer job in a business office environment, opportunities to meet and work directly with team members at all levels of the company, a chance to do a meaningful “live” project work as opposed to clerical tasks, mentoring opportunities and more. “Over the years, we’ve hired 60 percent of our former interns upon graduation from college,” Durkin said. “We are very proud of this program, and believe that it represents a pro-active and intelligent investment in the next generation, as well as in our community.” Other Gallenger employee benefits include a full range of health and welfare coverage, 401(k) with company match (never suspended), generous “paid time off” program, employee stock purchase program and numerous discount programs through company, tuition reimbursement for selected, business related course work, and a chance to select from multiple Gallagher locations throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and South America. Gallagher operates from offices throughout the United States and in six other countries, as well as through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants in more than 100 countries.
Garden City Hospital
Garden City www.gchosp.org
Garden City Hospital, in the Detroit suburb of Garden City, has been recognized as a “Best and Brightest” company four straight years and has received other awards including being ranked as a Top 100 teaching hospital in the nation with 200 or more acute-care beds. The hospital’s “KUDOS” program recognizes staff and volunteers who go above and beyond their duties. The American Heart Association recognized Garden City with a National Gold Achievement Award, designating it as a “fit friendly” company. There is continued growth and participation in its wellness programs with 400 employees participating in third annual Pedometer Challenge, and it held its third annual employee wellness fair.
Ghafari Associates LLC
Dearborn www.ghafari.com
Ghafari Associates LLC is a fully-integrated firm with diverse experience and offices located around the world, offering a variety of services including architecture, complete engineering capabilities, construction and consulting. Its Dearborn headquarters has been recognized as one of the Detroit region’s “Best and Brightest Companies” for several years. This year, its Chicago office also received a “Best and Brightest” award. The firm has earned a reputation of excellence by recruiting top talent and promoting continuous improvement. It encourages employees to develop their skills and further their education through in-house training programs, continuing education and seminars, undergraduate and graduate tuition reimbursement, and professional registration and membership reimbursement.
Gordon Advisors PC
Troy www.gordoncpa.com
Established in 1954, Gordon Advisors PC is one of Michigan’s leading public accounting and business consulting firms, offering a full complement of services from business financial and tax advice to accounting, auditing and information technology services. Gordon also received the “Best and Brightest” award from 2001-2006, and in 2009 and 2010. The firm has many programs for its employees, including a wellness program, a health newsletter, and encourages its people to participate in the Detroit Marathon and other activities. They offer employees flexible hours through their “flex program” in order to tend to family and personal commitments. In preparation for the knowledge transfer to younger employees, Gordon Advisors has implemented its Emerging Leaders Academy.
Grant Thornton LLP
Detroit www.grantthornton.com
Grant Thornton LLP of Detroit specializes in auditing, management consulting, corporate finance, risk management and information technology. To retain the talent, Grant focuses on its people as much a priority as is delivering the Grant Thornton Experience for its clients, noted Stephen Chipman, CEO of the U.S. operations. This translates into five key areas: offering meaningful and challenging work assignments, providing career development to support their professional growth, recognizing what work its people do and paying them fairly, creating an environment where people feel connected and appreciated, and fostering a culture of pride. “Coaching is a critical component in delivering the Grant Thornton Experience for our people and our clients,” Chipman said. “All of our people are assigned to a coach who will act as a facilitator to understand the firm’s culture, an advisor to assist in career development, and a mentor to foster an environment of trust and respect as well as an evaluator to provide performance feedback.” Annually, the firm gives employees the chance to provide confidential feedback; leadership reviews and acts upon such comments. Each quarter the firm recognizes those that have gone above and beyond in a communication to the office with gifts, such as tickets to a Tigers game, plus partners informally write out personalized thank you notes. Grant Thornton also has created the “Stay Connected” program so even if someone leaves for a period of time, they can remain in contact with the firm. The program allows those who qualify and who have voluntarily left the firm access to technology and resources for up to five years after separation, continuing education and networking opportunities.
Greenleaf Trust
Birmingham www.greenleaftrust.com
Greenleaf Trust of Birmingham is one of Michigan’s few trust-only banks and has more than 70 employees working in offices in Kalamazoo, Holland, Grand Rapids, Southeast Michigan and Northern Michigan. It provides asset management for trusts, estate settlement and comprehensive trust administration services. Greenleaf views its offices as communities of team members who look out for each other not just at work but on a personal level, noted Ronald N. Kilgore, CEO and senior trust officer. Greenleaf’s “Diamond Drops” program is a formal way of recognizing employees who exemplified the bank’s core values and gone above and beyond. “We hold one another accountable for our actions and we have fun together,” Kilgore said. “As we continue to grow, we seek to provide opportunities at all levels to engage each other and strengthen the cohesiveness of our team, within and beyond the workday. This esprit de corps creates a family feeling bond that compels us to help one another with anything that needs to be done to ensure the greatest benefit to our clients and to each other.” The bank strives to communicate with its employees and clients, but underpinning these worthwhile initiatives is its embrace of continuous improvement. All Greenleaf Trust team members are encouraged to participate in internal work groups that research and implement best practices and actions. Workgroup leaders communicate progress to the entire team on a monthly basis at all-staff meetings, present their findings to the executive team every six months, and provide an in-depth review of progress at the year-end company-wide strategic planning meeting. One of its workgroups, “Communication & Culture,” was created as a result of employee feedback in 2005 that identified the need for greater communication among employees and management. The bank has an employee of the month program, while other activities include a family-focused event in October where employees can bring their families to the office for crafts, snacks and games; a bagel and coffee event that welcomes new employees; monthly “Get to Know You” team-building activities; an annual summer barbeque; monthly birthday breakfast celebrations, and more. Throughout the year, there are opportunities for employees to participate in department-specific training programs such as talent-development coaching sessions. Greenleaf Trust has been creative in its employee work schedules for various and beneficial reasons. “We enable working moms to have a compressed week so as to allow for more time at home with their family,” Kilgore said. “We also provide remote access for those traveling or working from home for personal reasons. We do everything within reason to accommodate reduced work schedules.”
GreenStone Farm Credit Services
East Lansing www.greenstonefcs.com
With 37 branches throughout Michigan and Wisconsin, GreenStone Farm Credit Services is America’s seventh largest association in the Farm Credit System. Headquartered in East Lansing, GreenStone provides financial services to the agricultural industry including equipment and building leases, life insurance, crop insurance, accounting, tax, and appraisal services residential and country home loans. “At Greenstone innovation is not about inventing the wheel,” said David B. Armstrong, president and CEO. “We take best practice ideas and customize them to the unique needs and desires of our employee population.” Since Greenstone is a financial cooperative owned by its members, it maintains long term relationships with them and the employees who serve them. “Leaders at GreenStone feel a responsibility to the preservation of our Employee Value Proposition even during times of economic stress like we experienced in 2008/2009,” Armstrong noted. “In fact during that time, we did not lay off talent, have a hiring freeze, or cut pay and/or benefits.” GreenStone carefully and constantly analyzes workforce demographics, strategic recruiting and ongoing skill development in its succession management practices. It recruits new talent while developing its current staff members so knowledge can be transferred over several years.
G-Tech Services Inc.
Dearborn www.gogtech.com
Founded in 1986, G-Tech Services Inc. is a staffing firm that places highly technical professionals with client firms on a contract and direct hire basis. G-Tech Services expresses the company’s culture and values to its employees during the beginning of their employment at a full orientation. They want to have a positive work environment that acknowledges the relationship of high performance and a balanced work and personal life. Besides encouraging a healthy lifestyle for all employees, G-Tech Services believes in cross-training their staff and to share knowledge throughout the company. The company also brings in young, college graduates giving them opportunities to be mentored and grow in their careers.
Halo Group
Novi www.halogroup.us
Halo Group of Novi was founded in April 2004 by Bradley Waite, George Moilanen and Camille Elliott. They started Halo on the simple premise that leading organizations will always require experienced information technology experts. Their goal was to build strong relationships with clients and the local IT community providing clients and candidates with a single source for IT services. Remarkably, the company was profitable by its second month of operation, and has grown considerably every quarter since its inception. The company has also won numerous awards.
Harada Industry of America Inc.
Novi www.harada.com
Harada Industry of America Inc. of Novi is a subsidiary of Harada of Japan, a supplier of antenna systems for many of the world’s major automakers. For 2011, Harada enhanced its employee benefits package in several ways including expanded medical care options with the choice of either an HMO or a PPO medical benefits plan; a bonus program for all employees based on company, departmental and individual performance objectives; and a flex schedule program where employees can start work as early as 6:30 a.m. or as late as 10:00 a.m., which allows them to choose a schedule that best fits their personal and family needs, along with any commuting variables. “We maintain a family-oriented working environment where our team members genuinely feel that they are a part of the Harada ‘family’ - to be achieved via our family values system, robust company culture, and keeping the fun in the family,” said Paul Sasaki, president. “Harada values and strives to take all necessary steps to protect and maintain employment security, as it is integral that the ‘family’ feels they are being taken care of.” The company has recognition initiatives, competitive compensation, benefits, and advancement opportunities. Harada’s “three-winged” approach for future organizational resources planning includes procedural reference documentation, executive management succession planning, and organizational succession planning. Standardized documentation serves as reference material for the ongoing performance of work functions and for the training and the transfer of knowledge among team members. This supplements its ISO/TS 16949 quality management system (which emphasizes defect prevention plus the reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain) and Sarbanes-Oxley documentation control requirements. “As part of succession planning at Harada, we take measures to identify potential future lead and executive management candidates,” Sasaki said. “These individuals will undergo development and mentoring activities, to strengthen their skills and capabilities for future opportunities - derived either from traditional business growth opportunities or via executive management succession planning recruitment activities, as contained within the succession plan.” To enhance the overall team-oriented family and work environment, Harada provides a wide spectrum of employee activities such as health screenings, wellness fairs, summer barbeques, Hawaiian Luau, holiday parties, cultural pot-lucks, and so on. Harada partners with local vendors to offer free or discounted items, such as dancing lessons and golf lessons. Additional benefits are made available as part of corporate memberships with various organizations, such as the Michigan Business and Professional Association (MBPA).
Harley Ellis Devereaux
Southfield www.harleyellisdevereaux.com
Founded in 1908, the architectural firm Harley Ellis Devereaux handles all facets of architecture, from planning and design to construction, plus offers strategic planning, program management, real estate services, sustainable design, quality review and construction services. “We believe that one key to employment satisfaction in our industry is to ensure every employee understands their unique contribution to design and to provide employees an opportunity for new project experiences and professional growth,” said Gary L. Skog, who is the firm’s principal and a member of the board of directors. “To that end, we have identified and promoted a focus on client intimacy and our ‘one firm network’ as two of eight key elements in our defined business strategy. Because each client and project is unique, allowing team members to interact with clients in order to gain a specific knowledge of their needs and then to share their professional expertise to create a collaborative deliverable that exceeds client expectations, helps keep our employees engaged in the work, creates passion around the deliverable, and ultimately leads to satisfaction about their contribution in association with the firm.” The focus on “one firm network” helps employees to create synergies across office boundaries, leading to more personal and professional bonds throughout the organization. These enhanced relationships and sharing of knowledge, help maintain and develop employee satisfaction based on positive personal and professional experiences. “We also share candid business communication throughout the firm to help employees understand management decisions and every employee’s role in the company’s progress,” Skog said.
The Harvard Drug Group
Livonia www.theharvarddruggroup.com
Founded in 1967, The Harvard Drug Group is the second largest generics-focused pharmaceutical distributor in the United States. It has more than 400 employees and supplies generic and brand pharmaceuticals to more than 6,000 retail customers.
Jan Harrington-Davis of Henry Ford Health System accepts the Elite Award for Diversity & Multi-Culturalism from event MC Chuck Stokes of WXYZ Channel 7.
One of the nation’s leading health care systems - providing both health care and health insurance - the Henry Ford Health System includes its main 802-bed hospital in Detroit plus hospitals in Ferndale, two hospitals and five health centers in Macomb County, Henry Ford West Bloomfield and Henry Ford Wyandotte hospitals. The Henry Ford Medical Group has 1,200 physicians and researchers in 40 specialties, who staff Henry Ford Hospital and 29 Henry Ford medical centers. Henry Ford has more physicians listed as “Top Docs” than any other hospital in metropolitan Detroit in the book “America’s Top Doctors.” With more than 23,000 total HFHS employees, the hospital addresses different employee needs with tailored programs, such as its “Move to Improve” wellness program that provides various programs and incentives to promote positive lifestyle choices, said CEO Nancy Schlichting. “We provide various specially negotiated discounts and savings offers including innovative ‘Life Midtown’ which provides financial incentives to buy, rent or improve housing in Detroit’s economically challenged Midtown area where Henry Ford Hospital, HAP (Health Alliance Plan) and our corporate headquarters are located,” she said. “This further underscores HFHS’ strong commitment to the workforce and to the community.” Through HAP, about 85 percent of Henry Ford’s employees met the health qualification standards and received lower co-pays and out-of-pocket costs. The wellness program improved employee health and productivity while lowering costs. A charitable initiative - Helping Hands - is supported entirely by employee contributions and provides financial assistance to members of the workforce who experience a catastrophic life event. Henry Ford benefits and retirement programs include a variety of medical/vision options, dental options, life and disability options, flexible spending accounts, same sex domestic partner coverage, retirement savings and pension programs. They also provide tuition assistance, generous and flexible paid time off programs and voluntary benefit options that include a wide range of offerings such as discounted auto, home, insurance, long-term care insurance, pet insurance and group legal insurance. Corporate culture teaches respect for people, communicating openly and honestly with patients and employees, embracing diversity of its patients, community and workforce, plus stressing high performance as well as continually developing employee talents and skills.
Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
Detroit www.honigman.com
Founded in 1946, the law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP has attorneys practicing in more than 50 different areas, mostly specializing in business law. Headquartered in Detroit, Honigman also has offices in Lansing, Oakland County, Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo. “We strive to satisfy our employees by fostering a culture of active engagement and participation through open communication initiatives, a culture of continuous feedback, robust professional development and training programs, and special recognition programs that reward exceptional performance,” noted David Foltyn, chairman, CEO and partner. The firm’s communication and best practices initiatives include regular, periodic meetings of practice groups and administrative departments, focus groups, lunches with the CEO, e-newsletters, and a town hall type meeting. These activities provide the foundation for friendly, open and collaborative communication. The goal is to keep everyone informed and involved in important happenings. “Our culture of continuous feedback supports our performance management system, which provides clarity of performance expectations firm-wide and is integral to providing exceptional service to our clients, and ultimately, our continued success,” Foltyn said. During 2010, Honigman’s workforce participated in thousands of hours of in-house professional development opportunities, resulting in a 62 percent internal promotion (16 of 26 open positions were filled internally). To emphasize the importance of continuous learning, the firm recently hired two learning and organizational development professionals to establish a formal approach to firm-wide learning. During 2010, the firm recognized many of its team members with a “S.T.A.R.” award, which is Special Thanks and Recognition for performance that contributes to extraordinary service, innovative ideas, or improved efficiencies. Also in 2010, Honigman paid out two cash bonuses to its entire workforce in recognition of a very successful year.
Human Capital LLC
Rochester Hills www.human-capital.com
For more than ten years Human Capital LLC of Rochester Hills has been taking care of its customers’ outsourced administration tasks. As a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), the company was founded on the principle that: “Employees are the greatest asset of any business.” Its services include human resources, benefits, payroll, payroll tax compliance, staffing, placement and risk management administration. Unlike other businesses that have a “take it all or leave it policy” on purchasing its services model, Human Capital focuses on meeting the specific needs of the client, noted Seth Seidell, president and general counsel.
Image One
Oak Park www.imageoneway.com
Image One of Oak Park is a print management services company that is an HP Office Printing Solutions Elite Partner. Its specialties include assessing, optimizing, and managing its clients’ internal print equipment. “We believe in things like exceeding expectations, giving back, and being grateful,” said Rob Dube, who is company president plus co-owner with partner Joel Pearlman. “We made these ideals themes in our daily existence and culture. This year the theme is ‘Good Turn Daily,’ which was kicked off at the beginning of the year with a blog, thought of the day e-mails, and a team meeting where all employees were given iPads preloaded with our Good Turn Daily presentation.” Even employees at its satellite offices around the country received an iPad and were able to share in the presentation. Every employee is also given a day off throughout the year to contribute or give back to the organization or charity of their choice. “We’re happy at Image One and think our innovation comes from placing priority on sustaining that happiness as a huge part of our business model and company culture,” Dube added. “We all show up here every day to do great work and exceed expectations, but it’s pretty cool to also witness real change and growth in progress simply by incorporating simple themes into daily practice.”
ImageSoft Inc.
Southfield www.imagesoftinc.com
Celebrating 15 years in business, ImageSoft Inc. of Southfield offers IT solutions to streamline and improve its customers’ workplaces. Along with generous wage and benefits packages, ImageSoft offers a number of innovative employee perks such as bonuses and merit-based incentive pay to keep employees happy, plus flexible scheduling. All employees are given eight hours per year of paid time off to volunteer in the community for the cause of their choice. “We recently implemented a recognition program to acknowledge employees for their dedication and years of service to ImageSoft,” said Scott Bade, president. Each employee reaching a five-year service milestone receives a commemorative award as well as a monetary gift. The company’s paid wellness initiative provides a comprehensive health evaluation and fitness assessment, monthly workplace lunch-and-learn sessions on a variety of health and fitness topics (free lunch included), personal nutrition and fitness consulting, prizes and rewards for achieving health goals, plus a dedicated fitness room in the new ImageSoft corporate headquarters, which this year will be outfitted with a variety of equipment for use by employees. “We incorporate fun into the work week by holding events such as a summertime ice cream social or cookout, or by celebrating milestones in our employee’s lives - like the birth of a new baby or a wedding - with an at-work shower and luncheon,” Bade said. “Finally, we relocated this year to a spacious, contemporary, new HQ building that provides an inviting, enjoyable place for our team to work. Our new office is a bright, colorful, open work environment that goes a long way in making our employees happy.” The building boasts two kitchens, which are amply stocked daily with complimentary snack foods, fresh fruit, candy, soda, coffee and other beverages.
Inergy Automotive Systems USA
Troy www.inergyautomotive.com
Inergy Automotive Systems USA of Troy is a division of Plastic Omnium, a global Tier One supplier of plastic fuel systems to the automotive industry. The parent company is headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It employs approximately 4,000 people worldwide and operates 25 manufacturing facilities in 18 countries. In 2010, Inergy delivered 11.9 million plastic fuel systems.
JARC
Farmington Hills www.jarc.org
Based in Farmington Hills, JARC is nonprofit, nonsectarian agency dedicated to enabling people with disabilities to live full, dignified lives in the community, and to providing support and advocacy for their families. It operates 20 group homes, has independent living programs for adults, and serves more than 450 families with a child or adult with a disability who is living at home. “In order to achieve our goal of providing the best possible care and the highest quality of service to individuals with disabilities, we must have a strong and dedicated staff,” said CEO Richard A. Loewenstein. “We recognize the magnitude of this responsibility and strive toward providing whatever is possible for our staff. At JARC, our motto to staff is, ‘We’re the best, because you’re the best.’ We set the bar high and compensate with the highest hourly rate for direct support staff in the Metro Detroit area.” JARC offers a health care plan at no cost to the employees (rare in its field) and dependents can be added with a reasonable contribution by the employee of 10 percent of the premium. Staff members are recognized many ways throughout the year with gold longevity pins, annual anniversary gifts, awards of excellence, among others. “Because our homes and programs are 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, it is our responsibility to ensure that we take work-life balance into account,” Loewenstein said. “We encourage our staff to take advantage of accrued sick/personal days as needed, to allow some flexibility to be with loved ones or take care of a sick relative.” Managers rotated employees on weekends to increase the time the employees spend with their families. Teamwork is emphasized as a key component to its success.
KPMG LLP
Detroit www.kpmg.com
KPMG LLP of Detroit is part of the KPMG International is a global network which has 137,000 professionals, including more than 7,600 partners, in 144 countries. In the U.S., the company provides tax and advisory services; it has 87 offices with more than 23,000 employees and partners. “Our job is to take the client’s knowledge and turn it into an actionable plan,” said Gabe Mesanza, a director in KPMG’s Transactions & Restructuring U.S. practice in an interview posted on the company’s website. Mesanza specializes in the automotive industry. “I’m working closely with KPMG people,” he noted. “We share best practice and support each other. But at the same time it’s necessary to have conversations with the client at the highest level and you have to walk the floor.”
McGraw Wentworth
Troy www.mcgrawwentworth.com
McGraw Wentworth of Troy is an employee group benefit brokerage and consulting firm. The company focuses on providing exceptional service for its highly valued employees. The firm welcomes communication and open discussion. “Because we have stayed the course, even in tough economic times, our high performing staff stayed,” noted Thomas P. McGraw, president. “To show our appreciation and recognize their commitment to McGraw Wentworth, we have instituted a new employee bonus program valued at $150,000.” The bonus pool will be distributed to 55 non-executive, service-centric staff based on a straightforward payment formula weighted for each employee’s tenure and pay scale. To be eligible, an employee must simply have one year of service and be actively employed on the December payment date. The company has a merit-based environment in which high performers are rewarded, retained, recognized, empowered and promoted for their effort and for what they know. It has a disciplined recruiting process and then provides training, education, candid feedback to employees during annual reviews, and encourages its people to grow. “In the end, people enjoy knowing that they’re working as part of a winning team and that each team member is pulling their weight,” McGraw said. “The relevance of this approach is tracked in our bi-annual employee satisfaction survey. In 2010, 100 percent of our employees agreed with the statement ‘My co-workers are committed to doing quality work.'”
Menlo Innovations LLC
Ann Arbor www.menloinnovations.com
Inspired by Thomas Edison’s “Invention Factory” - his laboratory formerly in Menlo Park, N.J. (though now it’s at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich.) - Menlo Innovations LLC is a custom software design and development firm. Founded in 2001, it is located in Ann Arbor and in 2007 was named one of Inc. 500’s fastest growing privately-held firms in the U.S. and received Corp!’s “Economic Bright Spot” award earlier this year and the “Best and Brightest” award last year. It has about 20 employees. “One of our team members, who has many decades of experience in the software industry, made an interesting observation the other day,” said President Richard Sheridan. “He said, ‘You know, Rich, I’ve worked a long time and in a lot of places, but I’ve never worked in a place that has as much laughter as we do here at do at Menlo.’ Looking around the room, you often see smiles and hear laughter.” The business value of joy leads to a more engaged and productive workforce, he added. Quality improves and absenteeism drops. One example of this is Menlo’s policy permitting new mothers to bring their babies to work. “It requires others to step up and help,” Sheridan said. “For example, a mother may be a project manager in a meeting with a client. Her first choice, which she is welcome to do, would be to go pick up her child if there was a problem. But if she was unable to step away for whatever reason, it’s just as likely that someone else would go pick up the baby and determine what the problem is. With the exception of feeding, there’s not much we can’t or don’t do to help out.” Menlo maintains a work pace of 35-40 hours per week and does not ask team members to take work home with them. This enables them to be present in the home lives. Furthermore, the company has never denied a vacation request in its 10-year history.
Michigan Financial Companies Inc.
Southfield www.michiganfinancial.com
Michigan Financial Companies Inc. of Southfield delivers a variety of services such as retirement counseling, investment advice, life and disability income insurance, estate planning, business continuation programs, executive bonus plans, and employee benefits. To encourage staff members and keep them motivated, Michigan Financial Companies has a program that communicates the company’s profitably on a quarterly basis and awards bonuses to employees for its success. To keep their workforce more engaged, MFC sponsors different employee activities. For example, they have played bocce ball in Lake Orion, attended a show at the Fox Theater or played on a golf adventure in Garland. They believe in supporting other Michigan companies while taking care of their own.
Michigan First Credit Union is the Metro Detroit Best & Brightest Elite Award winner for Compensation and Benefits.
Michigan First Credit Union
Lathrup Village www.MichiganFirst.com
Based in Lathrup Village, Michigan First Credit Union serves more than 86,000 members and has more than $590 million in assets. Founded in 1926 as the Detroit Teachers Credit Union, it provides financial services to people living, working or worshipping in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, as well as local businesses. “At Michigan First Credit Union, the key to keeping employees satisfied is a combination of all that is offered,” said Michael Poulos, president and CEO. The credit union offers a generous health care package, market or above-market wages, consistent annual salary increases, bonuses and monthly incentives. It invests in the education, training and development, mentoring and the advancement of employees, plus provides regular contests to our retail and lending team members to cross sell products and services to increase income. “Each team leader has the ability to recognize strong performers with discretionary bonuses, gift certificates, free lunches and other such perks,” Poulos said. All of Michigan First’s facilities feature state-of-the-art training equipment and technology and are kept clean and organized. The main office has a fitness center complete with a locker room and showers and a recreation room with foosball, a pool table, darts, air hockey and more. Many employees have the flexibility to move in and out of full or part-time schedules, giving them better control over their work-life balance. “We have a liberal vacation and sick-day policy and encourage all team leaders to accommodate and be flexible with team member schedules,” Poulos added. “We offer up to $5,000 per year in educational reimbursement and we actively encourage use of the program to promote education and personal improvement.” Employees are asked to attend outside seminars and training sessions to achieve the goal of an average of 40 hours of training per team member per year.
MiPro Consulting
Milford www.miproconsulting.com
Founded by some of PeopleSoft’s most senior executives, customer service and consulting professionals from the Midwest region, MiPro Consulting of Milford is nationally recognized. Its core business units include PeopleSoft (particularly Enterprise Asset Management), Workday and MIPRO BI, a business intelligence practice. With consulting professionals who have been identified as leaders in their respective fields, MiPro consulting serves businesses ranging in size from mid-market to Fortune 100 companies. “I think out most important program is pay for performance,” said President Christopher Bishop. “While many companies claim to have such a program, our employees are given information about our program immediately upon hire. Our consultants are eligible for bonuses based on the number of billable hours they achieve each quarter; other employees and their managers discuss quarterly goals which allow them to develop professionally as well as earn bonuses.” Every quarter, Bishop sends out a personal letter to each employee thanking them for their efforts. Because of deadlines and client demands, some consultants work 50-60 hour weeks, usually at client sites from Monday to Thursday and fly home Thursday evening so they can take care of administrative tasks on Fridays from home. “We do quarterly management surveys, in which our employees are free to say whatever they wish about the management team - either as a group or individually,” Bishop added. “This helps us keep the finger on what we are doing right - or wrong. All project wins are shared with all employees within a week of receiving the contract.”
MyInsuranceExpert.com
Troy www.myinsuranceexpert.com
With more than three decades of experience, MyInsuranceExpert.com of Troy offers insurances services and support throughout the United States. It is important at MyInsuranceExpert that “tribe members” feel like they have the ability to take the time that they need to do things with and for their families. The firm sponsors events and charities, provides a generous time off package and support employees’ interests and needs inside as well as outside of the office. It also provides free memberships to a local community center so employees can get in shape and enjoy time with their families. MyInsuranceExpert has an intensive and thorough training program to make people into top producers. “It is a collaborative effort to obtain the recognition and growth that we have been able to over the past year,” noted CEO Lorne Zalesin. “We could not accomplish this unless all of our tribesmen were rowing in the same direction and had a strong sense of ownership in what we do and what we accomplish as an organization. Because of our culture and values, employees are happy to get up every morning and work hard to continue to grow our organization.”
Nemeth Burwell PC
Detroit www.nemethburwell.com
Founded in 1992, Nemeth Burwell PC has 16 attorneys and three law clerks specializing in management labor and employment law. Not only has the Detroit firm earned numerous accolades, founder Patricia Nemeth was named one of the Best Lawyers in America in 2010 while Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly picked her as one of the 25 outstanding “Leaders in the Law” in 2009. “We believe that the most innovative approach for employee satisfaction is that we promote equality for all staff, regardless of position,” Nemeth said. “For example, the receptionist and the managing partner have the same insured benefits plan; there is no premium plan available only to partners or attorneys.” All staff members can be eligible for bonuses for new work brought into the firm, regardless of whether that individual ultimately works on that client matter. The bonus incentive plan ensures that all of employees have a stake in the firm’s continued growth. “It also fosters a team approach between our employees,” Nemeth added. “When everyone is performing well, each individual employee has a greater opportunity for bringing in new clients. The firms’ entrepreneurial approach in the marketplace is directly aligned with this internal entrepreneurial program. It is consistent with our philosophy that the client comes first and client service is our number one priority.” The firm has a tuition reimbursement plan and pays 100 percent employees’ health care.
Netarx LLC
Auburn Hills www.netarx.com
Netarx LLC of Auburn Hills was founded in 1997 and provides information technology services for its clients. The company’s annual revenues have now grown to nearly $60 million. In July 2011 it was bought by the international IT firm Logicalis Group. Netarx has more than 250 certified professionals who are experienced in nearly all industries and advanced technologies. The company has received the “Best & Brightest” award for six consecutive years, plus other honors.
New Horizons Rehabilitation Services Inc.
Auburn Hills www.newhorizonsrehab.org
Providing vocational training and job placement in Michigan since 1964, New Horizons Rehabilitation Services Inc. is a private, not-for-profit agency that prepares people with disabilities for competitive employment and provides the necessary skills for long-term success. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, the nationally recognized agency has six branch locations and serves people in Genesee, Huron, Lapeer, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Sanilac, St. Clair, Tuscola and Wayne counties. “One of the most innovative things we do to keep (employees) satisfied is quite simplistic, but it makes a huge difference,” said Stan A. Gramke, president and CEO. “We hold new hire orientations where I talk to our new hires as a group to make them comfortable here and to let them know we truly do have an open door policy. I also meet with them individually to share the passion I have for what we do and to hear their ambitions.” New Horizons’ Employee Value Proposition includes competitive salary, medical benefits where the agency covers a generous portion of the deductible and co-pay amounts, paid time-off benefit, 403(b) with 100 percent match and an informal profit sharing program. Personal development opportunities include its new hire mentoring program where seasoned staff works with new employees coupled with online training where staff can complete tasks at their leisure. Plus the agency offers tuition reimbursement to those that wish to continue their education. “We support the family and home life of employees and encourage outside activities with their families, volunteering both inside and outside our organization, we have high family values and support those activities by being flexible with work schedules,” Gramke said. “We realize that having a work environment where they feel supported, safe and secure is a huge part of their overall quality of life.” New Horizons’ succession mentoring plan identifies talented staff and mentors them up through the roles of management. It actively participates in community leadership training opportunities so staff members can enhance their management skills.
NTH Consultants Ltd.
Northville www.nthconsultants.com
NTH Consultants Ltd. is an employee-owned engineering firm that specializes in geotechnical, environmental and facilities engineering. It has more than 250 professionals with offices in Detroit, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. NTH values education and offers tuition reimbursement, as well as continuing education courses and seminars. Additionally it has training and mentoring programs for staff, and distributes monthly in-house newsletters to keep employees informed about new procedures, upcoming social events, seminars, staff achievements and announcements. Its employees come from diverse backgrounds and NTH provides flexible and part-time schedules to accommodate employees’ individualized personal needs. Other benefits include non-standard features such as matching 401(k), dry cleaning services, an employee recognition program, and community service programs.
Oakwood Healthcare
Dearborn www.oakwood.org
Oakwood Healthcare operates four acute care hospitals with 1,267 beds, 52 primary and specialty care centers, plus a rehabilitation center. With 1,308 physicians, 9,375 employees and 1,200 active volunteers, it has been ranked as suburban Wayne County’s second largest employer. Headquartered in Dearborn, Oakwood has received the “101 Best and Brightest” award for eight consecutive years. “At Oakwood, we have always believed that our team is the key to our success,” said Brian Connolly, president and CEO. “We appreciate the hard work they do every day in providing excellent care to the people we serve.” Oakwood has a broad Service Excellence program that is designed to foster a great working environment for employees and volunteers and to encourage them to build their leadership skills as well as to improve care for patients and their families. Oakwood has several programs that recognize employees for their efforts, from the ‘Bravo!’ program where employees can thank their colleagues for going above and beyond their duties, to the Every Day Hero program, which recognizes staff members who have had a lasting impact on the lives of patients, to programs that cultivate their diversity and talents, such as the creative writing and employee art programs offered through Oakwood’s Arts for the Spirit. The “Cool Ideas” program, aligned with the strategic plan, seeks to engage the workforce in developing innovative approaches to support high performance work. Creating a culture of workforce engagement involves creating an environment where the workforce wants to work. Workforce Engagement Teams, integral to Oakwood Healthcare’s Service Excellence Program, include employees from different units and jobs, nursing and non-nursing, union and non-union. Team members offer their feedback and solicit opinions from coworkers on system and division programs. They initiate actions, recommend and implement new programs. J. Paul Conway, senior vice president, human resources of Oakwood Healthcare, said valued employees and successful organizations are inextricably intertwined. “If you have a diverse, engaged, and satisfied workforce you will provide better service-no matter what line of work you’re in,” Conway said. “We’re proud to receive this distinction again because it is a validation of our continued commitment to our staff, our patients and our community. It shows that not only is Oakwood a great place to receive quality care, it’s a great place to work.”
Daniella Ortiz-Lalain accepts the Elite Award for Recruitment & Selection on behalf of OpTech LLC from Chuck Stokes.
OpTech LLC
Detroit www.optechus.com
OpTech LLC of Detroit is a technology consulting firm that provides business process re-engineering, application maintenance outsourcing, enterprise resource planning solutions and eBusiness solutions. OpTech’s employee teambuilding and retention program combines training, mentoring, bonuses and recognitions to motivate and retain the highest caliber talent. OpTech’s retention rate is 95 percent. Employee benefits and incentives include Detroit Tigers or Detroit Red Wings games, a breakfast welcome wagon to introduce new hires to their team, “Meet & Greet” breakfast orientation, smart technology tools for telecommuting, flexible schedules, an annual employee holiday party, quarterly appreciation luncheon, and anniversary dinner and gift. “OpTech’s culture is family comes first but performance is key,” said President and CEO Ronia Kruse. “We created a very friendly work environment where employees can excel at work and yet have a healthy work-life balance. We are able to achieve this by offering flex time, ability to telecommute from home, engage in family events throughout the year, and pampering perks.” OpTech has received Working Mothers Magazine’s “25 Best Small Companies for Women” for offering female employees a day at the spa. “We want all of our employees to have a very positive work experience at OpTech,” Kruse added.
Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment Inc.
Livonia www.ohm-advisors.com
Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment Inc. (OHM) is an award-winning architectural, engineering and planning firm. Founded in Livonia in 1962, it now has offices across Michigan plus Tennessee and Ohio, with nearly 200 employees. Its team includes architects, mechanical, electrical and civil engineers, surveyors, urban designers, planners, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professionals, graphic designers and information technology professionals. “We host fun activities including summer barbeques on the patio, picnics and milestone celebrations,” said John Hiltz, president. “More importantly the company strives to obtain challenging work that engages our professionals’ problem solving skills. Although many of our competitors saw staff migrate to other states over the last few years, most of our staff is rooted deeply in their communities, places that OHM also serves. We are believers in Michigan.” The firm has a range of comprehensive benefits, wellness, and telecommuting options. It also supports employee volunteerism including its “Give-back” program. This matching-fund program allows employees to raise capital for their cause, and then apply to the company for a matching grant. Beyond serving local communities, this program has helped fund a rainwater collection system in Haiti and a school in Africa.
OtterBase Inc.
Grand Rapids www.otterbase.com
The staffing firm OtterBase Inc. was founded on basic principles: honesty, respect, commitment and work ethic. The Grand Rapids-based firm has realized significant growth within the supplemental staffing industry by remaining committed to these guiding principles. This philosophy applies to every aspect of its business - from the way it treats its employees to its business partnerships to the client relationships. Even through difficult economic times, OtterBase has secured more market share and hired more employees.
Plex Systems Inc. won the Metro Detroit Best & Brightest Elite Award for Employee Engagement & Committment.
Plex Systems Inc.
Auburn Hills www.plex.com
Founded in 1995, Plex Systems Inc. of Auburn Hills delivers all of the software needed to run a manufacturing company over the Internet, providing its customers with an entire suite of manufacturing operations management systems (MOMS) programs it calls Plex Online. Plex Systems serves the automotive, aerospace, defense, electronics, industrial, medical device, and food/beverage industries. Plex has begun to embrace the “servant leadership” philosophy, where the organization achieves success by giving priority attention to the needs of our employees, but the tricky part is figuring out what our employees want. “The simple answer? We ask them - and we put them in charge of filling the gaps,” said Mark Symonds, CEO and president. “In the true spirit of empowerment, employees are told, ‘This is your company. If you see something wrong in your company, then fix it. If you have an idea, voice it. If you see an opportunity for improvement, then do it. If you don’t know something, then learn it. If you know something, then teach it.'” Plex employees learn to share their knowledge, skills and wisdom with each other. This not only makes the company even more successful, it makes the entire workforce more successful personally and professionally - in fact, “knowledge hording” is against the company rules. To pass knowledge along, the company provides co-op/intern opportunities for students at local universities through a program that it has expanded annually. About 7 percent of its workforce is interns or college students. Internal volunteer committees organize many family-oriented employee activities such as holiday parties and picnics with fun themes. For example, during the 2010 World Series, human resources organized a Nintendo Wii Home Run Derby contest that resulted in employee engagement and fun competition. The company holds an annual Take Your Kids to Work Day, with events for kids ages 5 to 14. In response to employees’ concerns about personal finances, and the stress they’ve been feeling as a result of the Michigan economy, Plex Systems treats all employees to free lunch-and-learn sessions during a financial and physical wellness week in April. The event includes expert talks on everything from estate planning, to self-defense, to 401(k)s, as well as financial “check-ups” and health screenings. The company instituted a corporate philanthropy program that focuses on fund-raising (with company matching funds) and participation in charitable events. Employees were even asked about the design and plan of its new office building, thus there are no cubicles, but the space is flexible and has ad hoc meeting areas, a pair of gaming rooms, an exercise room, and much more.
Plunkett Cooney
Bloomfield Hills www.plunkettcooney.com
The law firm Plunkett Cooney was founded in 1913 and employs more than 160 attorneys in nine Michigan cities, plus Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. The Bloomfield Hills-based firm provides a range of transactional and litigation defense services. Martindale-Hubbell - the leading, international directory of law firms - gave Plunkett Cooney its highest rating. U.S. News and Best Lawyers in America also gave the firm high marks. Plunkett Cooney created specific working groups to implement its strategic initiatives with a cross section of all employee classifications. The working groups focus on testing, implementation steps, training and getting employee feedback. This helps employees feel “part of things” and empowers them to be invested from the beginning of the process. “Our associate development committee has been created to address our associate attorney professional development issues and integration into the firm culture,” noted Henry Cooney, president and CEO. “The management team values this feedback and supports the Associates as future leaders in the firm.” A few years ago, the firm created the women’s initiative committee to address women specific professional development topics, health issues and marketing strategies. The purpose of the committee is to explore initiatives that support women in the legal profession from business development, work and life balance issues. Mentoring programs have been implemented for associate attorneys and legal secretaries. These mentoring programs share information and helping the younger generation of workers transition into the firm. “As our population ages, we have discussed adding training and development working groups to address this area more formally especially as it relates to the use of technology and client service needs,” Cooney added.
Polk
Southfield www.polk.com
Polk provides automotive and marketing information. Privately held and based in Southfield, the company collects and interprets global data, and provides extensive automotive business expertise to help customers understand their market position, identify trends, build brand loyalty, conquest new business and gain a competitive advantage. Polk serves automotive manufacturers and dealers, automotive aftermarket companies, finance and insurance companies, advertising agencies, media companies, consulting organizations, government agencies and market research firms. It has operations in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Polk offers a formal telecommuting program that enables most of its employees to work from home one day per week; flexible working schedules; while some full-time positions can be remotely worked from home. “How else does Polk positively affect a work-life balance? We offer several other opportunities such as conducting stress management classes onsite as well as through our Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) provider,” noted Stephen Polk, chairman, president and CEO. As part of its wellness program, Polk has weight management classes, free access to its onsite fitness center plus other seminars about body metabolism, nutrition, smoking cessation and healthy-eating. The company also has mentoring and coaching programs. To transfer knowledge from one generation of workers to another, Polk uses lean activities to identify and document key business processes so it becomes less dependent on the level of employee seniority and more reliant on its business processes to ensure future success.
Red Level Networks
Novi www.redlevelnetworks.com
Red Level Networks of Novi is a full service information technology firm that designs, installs and provides ongoing network support for small and medium sized businesses. It is a Certified Microsoft Partner. Red Level Networks strives to provide substantial benefits while maintaining the small business feel. Last year, a 401(k) and profit sharing program was introduced for all employees. New to Red Level Networks in 2011 and 2012 are flexible spending accounts as well as better dental and vision plans. “We aim to provide above-average benefits for our employees, in addition to company perks,” said David King, founder and president. “Our company culture is very much about excellent work ethic but also a reasonable work-life balance. We provide our employees with a bartering account through an outside organization that allows them to get every day needs taken care of for free. When an employee’s job performance is especially positive, he or she will receive more ‘dollars’ toward that account and can get more services done free of charge. We value our employees beyond their lives at work.” Red Level Networks offers flexible working hours too. Every new employee is assigned a mentor or guide. Red Level Networks compensates its employees for any technical training they engage in that benefits their work performance and increases knowledge related to their position.
REDICO LLC
Southfield www.redico.com
Founded nearly four decades ago, REDICO LLC of Southfield is a diversified real estate development, construction and property management company. It handles office, retail, residential, industrial, entertainment, and public works real estate sites across the United States; its portfolio exceeds $1 billion in value and encompasses over 13.5 million square feet. Its services also include legal, interior design, upgrades and repairs, leasing, acquisitions and sales, space planning, marketing, maintenance, government approvals, redevelopment, and risk management. With many traditional employee programs already in place, REDICO recently implemented a flexible summer schedule aimed at boosting employee satisfaction. The initiative was developed by a team of six employees who were charged with selecting one innovation that would make a positive impact across the organization. Their initiative was accompanied by a business plan and presented to the CEO Dale Watchowski and Executive Team. Once approved, it took a lot of planning to figure out how to offer the flexible summer schedule option to all employees. Ultimately, 65 percent of the staff signed up for the program. Employee feedback was very positive. “We also offer voluntary benefits such as prepaid legal and identity theft protection,” Watchowski said. “We understand that employees like to be recognized for their contributions and use our W2G (Way to Go); NTMU (Nice To Meet You) and Team Corner sections of our newsletter to get the word out about specific accomplishments of our employees.”
Rehmann won the 2011 Metro Detroit Elite Award for Work-Life Balance.
Rehmann
Troy www.rehmann.com
The Troy-based CPA firm Rehmann was founded in Saginaw in 1941. It now has about 16 offices in Michigan, Ohio and Florida, approximately 600 staff members and reported revenues of approximately $80 million in 2010. “We encourage associates to never stop learning and demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvement by reimbursing tuition for work-related courses at accredited institutions,” said Steve Kelly, chairman and chief executive. The firm repays associates for the cost of joining professional organizations and attending professional seminars and increases an associate’s base compensation by $1,000 when he or she passes the CPA exam. If they pass the exam within two years of hire, they also receive a $1,000 bonus and 100 percent reimbursement of all exam fees and expenses. This pay increase is also given to associates who earn a new certification in their industry. Rehmann tries to identify associates’ future career opportunities using “Career Path,” a program developed by the firm’s retention committee. “The committee compiled input from functional disciplines throughout the firm and created a ‘what the future will look like’ template that meshes with our existing values and core competencies,” Kelly said. “This customized-by-employee template becomes the career path that associates use to develop and prosper within our employer-of-choice organization.” The Career Path program does not advocate an up-or-out philosophy; rather, expectations are spelled out for associates striving to achieve a particular employment level. It is not a requirement to pursue advancing levels to have a career at Rehmann.
Seco Tools Inc.
Troy www.secotools.com/us
Seco Tools Inc. of Troy is the U.S. operation of Swedish-based Seco Tools AB and manufactures and supplies carbide cutting tools and associated equipment for a variety of industries. To keep its employees engaged and satisfied, Seco offers a comprehensive wellness initiative to help employees create a good balance between their personal and professional lives. This initiative encompasses everything from physical health to personal finance. For example, the company offers concierge services, such as dry cleaning, personal massages and low-cost healthy meals, on site. Seco has developed an employee self-service website where they and their enrolled family members can access health benefits information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The site contains summary plan descriptions, relevant contact information, W4s, paycheck information and much more. “Seco places high value on passion for the customer, personal commitment and family spirit,” noted Kurt Nordlund, president of the NAFTA region and member of the Group Executive Management of Seco Tools AB. “Therefore, we provide employees with opportunities that allow them to learn, develop and grow despite their length of employment or where they sit on the pay scale.” The company has a paid-time-off policy that includes paying employees for community volunteer work. Seco uses open lines of communication - including executives attending field sales meetings, executive engagement in steering committees and executive team involvement in the wellness program and eating lunch in the employee lunchroom - to motivate its staff and build a team environment. Seco hosts regular town hall meetings where leadership discusses the “state of the business.” In 2009, the company’s commitment to communication proved highly beneficial during the recession. “Seco understands its employees want to know the company’s expectations and understand their connection to the company and its goals,” Nordlund added. To retain talented employees, Seco has a “Talent Pool” training program where select employees gain a broad 360-degree view of the company’s business, access to top executives and international exposure. Its “Peer2Peer” program encourages employees to nominate co-workers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty while on the job. Also Seco’s CEO recognizes the nominees at all-employee meetings and awards are presented throughout the year. The “President’s Club” rewards top sales team performers, which includes the recognition of an employee’s spouse for supporting Seco’s mission. And last but not least, the Little Improvements From Everyone, or LIFE, program honors those employees who make improvements to current company processes.
Service Express Inc.
Farmington Hills www.seiservice.com
With an annual revenue growth rate of 20 percent during the past decade, Service Express Inc. (SEI) delivers customized service solutions for on-site data center maintenance, focusing on mainframe, midrange and Intel based servers for IBM, DEC, HP, Sun, Dell, as well as EMC and STK storage. Based in Farmington Hills, the company’s clients include mid- to large businesses companies in the manufacturing, education, health care, government, and financial institutions. “Our number one innovation is our vision, which is to work with our employees to help them achieve their personal, professional and financial goals,” noted Ron Alvesteffer, president. “When employees tell us their goals, we work for them.” SEI’s culture is based on empowering employees to take initiative and give their best; having fun and celebrating small success; acting with honesty and integrity in every encounter; taking ownership of the company and customer success; and putting the heart and mind into our work to get the best possible results. “Every employee has the opportunity to choose a path and have a meaningful impact on our company, which in turn, creates great opportunities for him or her to determine and achieve their goals,” Alvesteffer added. SEI invests a lot of time, energy and funds into developing our employees through learning and enhancing skill sets. The peer mentor program creates an exceptional learning partnership between more knowledgeable engineers, with all their vast experience in the field, to our newer engineers. Extensive training programs and cross-training also promote an open system of support and learning between teams.
Shazaaam! is the 2011 Metro Detroit Elite Award winner for Small Business.
Shazaaam!
West Bloomfield www.shazaaam.com
Shazaaam!, a public relations and marketing firm located in West Bloomfield, offers traditional and non-traditional services such as social media programs for its clients. Its professionals serve industries such as aftermarket and OEM automotive customers, professional and financial firms, consumer packaged goods, entertainment and media, food service, franchises, government entities, real estate, retail, nonprofits, and more. It was also selected as a “Best and Brightest” winner in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Sarah Griffin accepts the Elite Award for Employee Education & Development on behalf of Skanska.
Skanska USA
Southfield www.skanska.com
Skanska USA is one of the largest, most financially sound construction and development companies in the country with expertise in construction, civil infrastructure, public-private partnerships and commercial development initiatives in select American markets. With its Southeast Michigan headquarters in Southfield, it has been in the Detroit market for more than 70 years and has built many landmark commercial, educational, health care and entertainment facilities throughout the Midwest. In 2008, a three-year Skanska Employee Ownership Program (SEOP) was introduced to further strengthen Skanska’s attractiveness to new and existing employees. It was aimed at all permanent employees, for the purpose of attracting and retaining employees and strengthening their affinity with the company. During the third year of the program, membership increased to 19 percent of group employees.
Soil and Materials Engineers Inc. (SME)
Plymouth www.sme-usa.com
For the fourth consecutive year Soil and Materials Engineers Inc. (SME) received the “101 Best and Brightest” award. Based in Plymouth, it is a full service geotechnical, environmental, and building materials consulting firm with more than 200 employees with nine offices in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Founded in 1964, SME supports clients at every stage of development and ownership, from site acquisition, design and construction, to maintenance, restoration and redevelopment. It assists clients by providing practical solutions to the most challenging sites and building related problems from land use, brownfield redevelopment, green buildings to alternative energy sources. It covers the commercial, education, energy, health care, industrial, retail, state and local government, telecommunications, transportation, and agriculture markets.
Stout Risius Ross Inc.
Southfield www.srr.com
Stout Risius Ross Inc. is a financial advisory firm that specializes in investment banking, valuation and financial advice, dispute advisories and forensic services. Its clients include Fortune 500 corporations to privately held companies in numerous industries around the world. Founded in 1991, SRR has offices in the Detroit suburb of Southfield plus Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. It encourages employees’ professional growth through technical training, career-related seminars, and reimbursement for continuing education. Employees are offered a benefits plan that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage; life and disability insurance; flexible spending accounts; and a 401(k) savings plan with an employer match.
Strategic Staffing Solutions
Detroit www.strategicstaff.com
Headquartered in Detroit, Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3) is one of Michigan’s largest women-owned companies. It has been ranked as the seventh largest diversity staffing company in the nation by Staffing Industry Report and has earned numerous other awards including being a previous winner of Corp!’s “Best and Brightest” honor. Employees receive an extensive range of benefits and vary slightly depending on what is available in the countries it operates in. The benefits may include: a 401(k) plan, long- and short-term disability, a vacation package, technical training, flexible spending account, health care, tuition reimbursement, dental benefits, and life insurance. One example of their innovative approaches is the “S3 Club,” which is offered to the entire workforce and shows appreciation for their hard work. Employees are recognized for their anniversaries with the company with a commemoration gift. Its headquarters features a full workout facility with showers and a children’s play room to help employees find a healthy work-life balance.
Taubman Centers
Bloomfield Hills www.taubman.com
Taubman Centers is a real estate investment trust that develops, leases, and manages regional and super regional shopping centers. Headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Taubman has 26 U.S. owned, leased and/or managed properties, serving major markets from coast to coast. Taubman is committed to creating an atmosphere where employees enjoy coming to work. Some of the special programs offered at many of its work sites include casual Fridays, lunch program, flexible work arrangements, wellness program, employee and family events, recognition program, and community outreach programs. Comprehensive benefits include 401(k) with employer match, medical, dental, vision, long-term disability insurance, health and dependent care reimbursement accounts, PTO Program (paid time off), life insurance and tuition assistance.
Tognum America Inc.
Detroit www.tognum.com
The name and ownership may be different, but Tognum America Inc. (MTU Detroit Diesel) has been a Detroit automotive institution for decades. The Tognum Group of Germany is one of the world’s leading suppliers of engines and propulsion systems for off-highway vehicles but it also owns MTU, which began building diesel engines in Germany as far back as 1909 and in North America in 1938. As General Motors Diesel - and later Detroit Diesel - it produced lightweight, two-cycle engines for power, industrial and defense applications and later heavy duty engines. By 2000, MTU and Detroit Diesel combined its off-highway operations into a single, global organization (Tognum America). The company received the “Best and Brightest” award several times. “Given the economic climate and regional expansion our company has been preparing for over the past year, I see this award as a strong testimonial to our commitment to our employees,” noted Patrick Kapusta, MTU Detroit Diesel’s senior manager, Human Resources. “To continue to receive very positive feedback from employees, even in uncertain economic times, is what I am most proud of,” says Kapusta. “Our employees are our most important resource and it is their commitment to the company that allows us to set standards in our industry. It is only appropriate that our human resource programs and benefits set standards as well.”
Tracy Hagen accept the Elite Award for Communication on behalf of Turner Construction.
Turner Construction Co.
Detroit www.turnerconstruction.com
For nearly 110 years, Turner Construction Co. of Detroit has remained on the cutting edge of construction management helping to pioneer the sustainable construction movement and advancing the use of 3-D technology in construction coordination. With annual construction volume of $8 billion, Turner ranks first or second in major segments of the construction industry. Turner maintains a nationwide network of offices and a staff of more than 5,000 employees, performing work on over 1,200 projects each year. The Associated General Contractors of America recently named Turner as one of the nation’s safest construction companies. This is the second time Turner received a first place finish in the “Over Four Million Hours” category. Key elements of working at Turner are opportunities to build relationships and network. Activities include summer outings, organized sports, holiday celebrations, book clubs, movie clubs, dinner clubs, and business unit outings. Additionally, Turner is a strong supporter of community service activities.
UHY Advisors MI Inc.
Sterling Heights www.uhy-us.com
The certified public accounting firm UHY Advisors MI Inc. of Sterling Heights recognizes that Michigan is one of the few states with a double digit unemployment rate so its focus is on maintaining jobs. The Michigan office is celebrating its tenth year being a UHY affiliate, though its roots go back to the CPA firm (Follmer Rudzewicz) founded in 1968 by Gordon Follmer. As the seventy largest CPA firm in Southeast Michigan, UHY Advisors gives back to the community. For example, it closed both of its offices in Southeast Michigan at noon one day so all of its employees could perform four hours of service for St. Vincent de Paul. “Community outreach continues to be important to our culture as we also have a 501(c)3, UHY Cares,” said Anthony (Tony) Frabotta, CEO. “Our employees continually amaze us as they dig into personal funds to help others in need in our community. We are still faced the challenge of keeping jobs and clients. We again accomplished most of this through flexibility in schedules, furloughs, etc. during the summer months.” Even before the recession, UHY allowed its professionals to turn bonus dollars into additional time off for their personal needs. That coupled with an aggressive advertising campaign allowed the firm to stay competitive and kept its workforce intact. The tax season is the busiest for UHY with three and a half months of long hours and short deadlines. Dealing with this stressful time, the firm does not mandate how many hours employees need to work each day. Also, it adds additional staff members - who receive intensive training - to help carry the workload. “Then we add special items like specific food days, fruit, hot dog and nachos, ice cream,” Frabotta said. “Then at the end we give bonuses to those below manager to take more time off, or they can get a bonus instead.” The firm hires both seasoned professionals and new CPAs fresh from college. “We think the important point is to treat people’s needs in the moment. Tomorrow will come no matter what,” Frabotta added.
University of Michigan Health System
Ann Arbor www.med.umich.edu
With more than 22,000 faculty and staff and more than 120 clinic and offices throughout Michigan and Northern Ohio, the University of Michigan Health System is one of the top U.S. research schools with 45,000 inpatient hospital stays and 1.8 million outpatient visits and surgeries. Based in Ann Arbor, the hospital system has focused on creating the ideal patient care experience along with the ideal faculty/staff experience. “No matter what role you play in this very large and complex organization, service excellence applies to you,” said Tony Denton, executive director of University Hospital and chief operating officer, U-M Hospitals and Health Centers. Denton noted that every employee at U-M Health System should watch “Creating the Ideal Patient Care Experience at the University of Michigan Health System.” This award-winning video emphasizes the importance of providing high levels of service and compassion, anticipating needs and solving problems with an exceptional commitment to teamwork. The hospital’s core values include creating a culture of institutional best practices. To achieve this vision, it offers staff members a variety of resources to assist in ongoing growth and development. “Whether it be our online learning management system (that) provides access to our vast array of resources in continuing personal and professional growth or through our Human Resource Development program where you can choose from more than one hundred programs and courses designed to teach you new skills to help advance your career,” said Dr. Ora Hirsh Pescovitz, executive vice president for Medical Affairs and CEO, U-M Health System. “We regularly exam how we are engaging the hearts and minds of our employees by conducting an annual employee engagement survey.” The survey results are shared broadly across the health system to create transparency and develop strategies to address problems. “We achieve service excellence when every patient names U-M Health System as the place they want to receive care, and we are the most referred to and recommended health care provider in the state. It’s an ambitious - but achievable - aspiration,” Pescovitz added.
US Foods
Wixom www.usfoodservice.com
US Foods, which has a food distribution facility in Wixom, is one of the leading nonprofit organizations that helps feed needy children and families. The organization in September changed its name from U.S. Foodservice. About one in six Americans face hunger, according to research by Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization with more than 200 food banks in 50 states and Puerto Rico. Last year, U.S. Foodservice donated more than $4 million in food and cash to Feeding America. Since 2007, when it became an official partner of Feeding America, U.S. Foodservice has donated more than 22 million pounds of food to the organization.
w3r Consulting
Southfield www.w3r.com
Headquartered in Southfield, w3r Consulting is an information technology staffing and consulting company that is a member of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC), the Chicago Minority Development Council (CMBC), the South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council (SCOMSDC), the Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council (VMSDC) and the Louisiana Minority Supplier Development Council (LMSDC). It provides its employees with health, vision, dental, life, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance along with a host of retirement savings plans, dependent and medical reimbursement, educational services and more. For example, w3r employees can receive monthly reimbursements for their home Internet connection.
Walbridge
Detroit www.walbridge.com
Celebrating 95 years in business, Walbridge of Detroit is one of America’s top construction firms and has more than 1,000 personnel. Privately-owned, the firm’s expertise covers the automotive, aviation, cultural, education, government, health care, hospitality, manufacturing, office, power, and wastewater and sewerage segments. It has offices in South America and the Middle East. “We select each project team with care, balancing experienced professionals with emerging talent, while carefully considering personalities and synergies,” noted John Rakolta Jr., chairman and CEO. “As a result, our teams spend less time learning to work together and more time learning from one another and focusing on customers’ needs. These ever evolving teams drive improved processes and create exciting projects. While these ideas often create their own rewards, we further expand the reward with beyond compensation bonuses, recognition opportunities and fun events tailored to the group.” Walbridge has a lower than industry average turnover rate. Safety is Walbridge’s number one core value. In 2011, the company received its second Star Award for single-site safety program excellence from the Michigan Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s MVPPC program. The new award recognized Walbridge for its excellent safety performance at the Alice Lloyd Residence Hall renovation project at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Warner Norcross & Judd LLP
Southfield www.wnj.com
Headquartered in Grand Rapids, the law firm Warner Norcross & Judd LLP has six offices and 220 attorneys in Michigan serving clients in virtually all areas of law. Among its list of accomplishments, Warner is ranked among the Top 200 by The National Law Journal; has 62 partners listed in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. During the recent recession, the firm retained a long-term focus, making changes that had the least impact on attorneys and staff while concentrating on business development and expense control. “We did not eliminate or decrease benefits, we did not conduct a layoff, we did not decrease or freeze pay and we did not retract employment offers,” noted Douglas E. Wagner, managing partner. “We had never taken these measures in the past and we were committed to weathering this storm without doing so. The members of the firm noticed, allowing us to retain high levels of morale and engagement. Ultimately, this translates into better service for our clients.” For staff members, the firm provides flexible start and end times, paid time off policies, while attorneys can work a reduced schedule without it impacting their ability to become a partner. “Our technology allows us to work from remote locations seamlessly, we embrace job sharing, the support staff is able to make up time instead of taking vacation for short meetings or events, to help during times of crisis we have a time donation program, and this is merely a sampling of what is available to meet the needs of firm members,” Wagner said. The firm has five medical plans to choose from. As a result, Warner Norcross’ firm-wide voluntary turnover was 2.5 percent in 2010, with no voluntary turnover in our southeast Michigan offices. Warner Norcross scored at the 99th percentile in the “Work-Life Balance” section of the “2011 Summary Report for the 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For - Metro Detroit.” The firm is committed to diversity and inclusion practices. Another essential component to providing its staff members with what they need is its focus on wellness. “Our Employee Assistance Program provides free counseling services to our families as well as a wide array of work/life tools, information and resources on-line, on-site or on-call, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Wagner said. “We provide countless educational opportunities, including a financial fitness series, retirement planning workshops and lunch-and-learn sessions on topics like nutrition, exercise and stress management. We hold a number of wellness challenges throughout the year to encourage people to eat right, exercise and make other healthy lifestyle choices.” Along with its wellness programs, Warner Norcross has a holiday aid committee that holds year-round fundraisers and distributes money to local charities. There are nearly continuous drives for food services, school supplies, eye glasses, blankets, pop can tops and other items needed by those in our communities. The youngest lawyer at Warner Norcross & Judd is 26 and the oldest is 85. In addition to hiring experienced lawyers in needed specialties, the firm annually hires young lawyers, fresh out of law school, to ensure it has the right balance between retaining the best of the old while remaining open and flexible enough to learn from the new.
Small business owners constantly lose sleep over whether or not to grow their business – and if so, how fast? Unless you are a local niche business, the answer is grow or die. The more important question becomes how to best grow the business, while minimizing growing pains and potentially damaging or ruining the brand in the process.
There are lots of strategies to drive growth, but two cornerstones to successful growth are talent and technology. There are countless examples of business leaders who started a successful business or launched a wildly successful product, but when the business hit a certain point, the wheels began to fall off. One of the most common traits of an entrepreneur and small business leader is the ability to wear many hats and do every job in the company. The founder of a software business typically builds and sells the product, and also responds to customer issues. This high touch approach works well with the first round of customers, but this structure cannot scale. There comes a point in the evolution of a small growing business where it is necessary to hire functional heads to own sales, engineering, operations and finance.
Adding talent, especially in leadership positions, can be daunting. Additionally, the expense associated with hiring can be prohibitive. A small business owner must make a conscious decision to invest in the business and must be confident that adding talent will result in a meaningful return. Once a small business decides to add that first commercial sales leader or finance head, it’s critical that the company implements a formal recruiting process - including a formal position description, timeline and interview process. Too often, a small growing business goes about hiring in an opportunistic fashion; meaning a founder will hire one of his “buddies” or someone from his/her network without comparing to a slate of new prospects. This is known as the “convenience hire” – which usually results in the wrong hire – and the personal connection makes it difficult to terminate the hire and move on.
Another issue with the convenience hire is that most leaders hire in their own likeness and disregard complimentary skills and personalities. This leads to an executive team of cronies who rarely question the status quo or provide the necessary level of checks and balances at the executive table. It takes a high level of self-awareness for a business leader to recognize these issues in the hiring process and put a method in place to protect against taking the easy road, by making the convenient hire.
Here are a few recommendations on how to avoid making the convenient hire:
Assuming you don’t have a Human Resources person, ask a different member of the leadership team to own the hiring process. This person will create the job description, method for sourcing candidates and oversee the interview process.
Use a trusted business partner (lawyer, accountant, PR firm) to participate in your interview process.
Use a recruiter or contract HR specialist to oversee the hiring process and provide the level of formality necessary to make the right hire. Recruiter fees can be excessive for a small business, however, using a contract recruiter or HR specialist on an hourly basis can be very cost effective.
Superior talent will always give a company a chance to win. Companies like Google, and sports teams like the Yankees, are maniacal about acquiring the best talent, which allows them to consistently compete at the highest level. However, supporting talent with tools and leveraging to “do more with less,” or maximize their performance, is another way to grow a business. In today’s market, small businesses are using technology to automate various aspects of the business and drive efficiencies to do more with less. In the 90s and early 2000s, technology was a multi-million dollar investment targeted at large enterprises, leaving Microsoft Office as the only tool for the small business. Today, there is a plethora of affordable Web based applications that small businesses can afford and use to manage and grow their business. Whether it is finance/accounting, customer service, sales force automation or recruiting, there are technology tools that can help a business grow without solely adding personnel.
The trick with technology is to “get the most out of it.” Too often, a business invests in technology only to leverage the tip of the iceberg. They say humans only use 6 percent of their brainpower. I know I barely scratch the surface when it comes to what is available on my smart phone. The same is true with business technology tools. We discussed how to best add talent above. One of the top responsibilities of any hire should be to be an expert user of their respective technology platform. If your finance leader wants to hire a staff accountant, the first question to be asked is; “are we getting the most from our accounting software?” The correlation is that functional leaders need to be more hands-on and tech-savvy than ever. This is becoming more evident in larger businesses as well.
When the answer to the title question is GROW, there is no Harry Potter magic wand that can make that happen painlessly in the blink of an eye. Growing a business is tough. It is an art and never goes in a straight line. Like building a house, you cannot build the first and second floor until the foundation is set – and the key ingredients to a strong foundation are talent and technology.
Sean Carroll is a partner at executive search firm Polachi, the leading provider of Access Executive Search services to technology, clean tech, venture capital and private equity clients. He spearheads Polachi’s search practice in the greater New York City market working with clients in the software and digital media sectors. He can reached at www.polachi.com.
When it comes to making a move, Santa Claus had it right. It is all about making a list and checking it twice, at least.
The main game is to meet all the requirements before you move, otherwise the tiniest details could become major obstacles.
Step 1: Making a game plan
Sit down with your team and review where you’ve been and where you want to go. Review your current lease for the expiration date and renewal options. Think through the number of staff you have now and what you envision five years from now. Estimate how many square feet your firm needs by multiplying the number of employees from 200 to 300 square feet. Later you will work with a planner to determine all of your firm’s needs but for a start this helps identify a size range.
If your firm is in an existing location review the lease for the expiration date and renewal options. Holding over past the expiration date may cost a substantial amount of money. Start your search at least six months in advance for a small building and 9 months to a year isn’t out of the question for a larger size space.
Envision where you want to locate and what factors are important. On a 1-10 scale, what matters most? This list will enable your broker to help you determine the best possible cities etc.
Step 2: Gaining an ally
Hire a tenant agent, preferably someone with at least two years in commercial real estate who knows the market in your area. As a tenant you should not have to pay any fees for this service and you will save hours of time by bringing in a trusted professional.
With the agent’s help, determine the square footage required, develop a list of prospective properties and determine a budget. You agent will provide lists of properties that meet your needs, set all the appointments and should provide you with a booklet on all the facets of the site for the tours. Making notes in a journal helps finalize your decision.
My top rules for my clients are: 1) Do not fall in love with any building or space! 2) Pick at least two buildings for proposals. In today’s market, there are a number of excellent options.
Step 3: Negotiate
The agent will prepare the Request for Proposal (RFP) and analyze responses.
Landlord incentives may include free rent, special parking spots and improvements. Rates depend on the area, the mortgage, the upgrades and other intangibles. You might negotiate perks. A financial analysis should be prepared on all lease options by your agent so you know the true costs. See our first article the ABC of real estate.
Next, meet with the landlord’s planner to design the space, making sure you capture all needs. You don’t want to agree to a floor plan and then have to change it later because it is very costly to do a change order. Don’t sign any lease until the landlord has priced out your improvements and has agreed to do the deal as negotiated.
Remember, you can walk away from any transaction until the lease is signed.
Step 4: The Final Details
Review the final deal with your agent. Hire a commercial real estate lawyer, someone with an eye for catching the fine print considerations to review the lease.
Now, the Landlord will go to work getting permits and starting construction. Depending on the municipality getting permits can take a week up to six weeks.
Designate a trusted employee to take charge of the entire move process once the lease has been signed. The relocation is a big job and it will be easier if one person is in charge of the entire move.
Treat yourself and your employees to a move-in party and thank everyone for their help in accomplishing the move. With a clear action plan, adherence to methodical steps, good advisors and strong movers you should settle into new space quite confidently.
Lynn Drake is president of Compass Commercial a Troy-based company specializing in all phases of tenant representation for local and national clients. With 20-plus years of leasing experience she helps entrepreneurs and executives identify the right space at the right cost. This is the third of a three-part series on understanding real estate. Reach her at www.compass-commercial.com.
Smaller teams, fewer resources, tighter budgets and shorter product development lead times mean that project management has become ever more critical and the decision-making process even more demanding. But effective project management is only as good as the information available to drive the process and that’s why the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) is so critical.
Today’s CIOs are in a position to affect the positive outcome of an organization’s projects and portfolios, and the best way for them to achieve better results is to know what information to scrutinize and to develop the best strategy to access the most relevant and accurate data needed to improve their decision-making process.
Project Information CIOs Need to Know
CIOs drive a global view of all corporate information and all projects in the workplace. This view is absolutely essential as CIOs determine which projects are at risk, which are falling behind or which are over budget.
But what information is most critical to evaluating these project attributes? Below are four information categories I believe are most critical for CIOs to achieve success:
Cost and Budget
Tracking costs and budget overruns is an essential part of ensuring success. If you have multiple project budgets to track, you need a comprehensive view that includes all the separate budgets. With the right information, you are able to make decisions that are best for the company (does the budget need to be reviewed, resources reassigned or should the project be tabled?). Optimizing costs is imperative to project success.
Project Resources
Resource management comes under the heading of cost savings and is another key component of effective project management. Being able to manage resources across departments or across projects — centralized resource management - allows CIOs to ensure that information is shared with everyone involved. The ability to consult resource availability, to match skills with tasks, to balance workload with capacity ensures the most efficient use of resources, thus reducing costs and optimizing resource assignments.
Risk Elements
Every project has risks; some minor, some major, but all have the potential to impact your projects negatively. In today’s competitive environment, CIOs must assess the risks for all projects, determine the possible impact and assign resources to resolve the risk issue or mitigate its impact. Timely access to accurate information is the best way to quickly identify and resolve risks or, in certain circumstances, table the affected project. When you are able to make an informed decision, you are able to generate optimal results and possibly substantial cost savings.
Collaboration Initiatives
Collaboration is technically defined as joint work toward a common end. Cross project or even cross portfolio collaboration brings together information from team members, both internal and external, that lets you make accurate critical path calculations. Effective collaboration uses all the tools available to connect with any member of the project team and share information, plan the project, produce master schedules, manage time and cost as well as resources and equipment. Information sharing means fewer delays, more efficient problem solving and an increased value to the company.
Effective Access to Information is Critical
One of the major challenges CIOs face is the manner in which this project information is effectively captured and shared. The ability to quickly access relevant data in a timely manner is as important at the information itself. That being said, a CIO’s project information strategy needs to be implemented from the ground up. The standardization of project information submitted by team members and stakeholders will ensure both transparency and consistency are maintained so that informed decisions are made by CIOs. The human element cannot be ignored. Project information is only as good as the people, processes and tools employed.
Neil Stolovitsky ([email protected]) is a senior solution specialist at Genius Inside, a Canada and Switzerland-based developer of project management software. Genius Inside’s Genius Project family of PPM solutions enables organizations to manage and prioritize product ideas; ensure that the best resources are working on the most promising projects; and facilitate on-time project delivery.
While most companies already have resources devoted to the management of risk, quality, safety, environmental and related topics, bundling those resources in a robust compliance management system is a relatively new trend that is quickly becoming a necessity. Organizations are now discovering that compliance management systems are extremely useful tools that provide evidence of compliance to regulators and also greatly improve their operational efficiency.
Several contributing factors are driving this new trend:
Regulated Environments Are Increasing In Number And Tightening Their Grip. All industries have regulatory constraints. Whether they are governed by common Department of Labor requirements or more complex FDA-driven standards, the number of businesses that are regulated continues to increase. In addition, there is an “inflation” associated with regulatory climates caused by two primary factors. First, agencies tend to increase regulatory scrutiny on their own (typically after an incident). Second, there is a natural competitive force driven by diverse state, federal or international standards that tends to raise the bar, i.e., everyone needs to meet the most stringent requirement. These two effects result in a definite increase in the regulatory climate - and that regulatory grip is only getting tighter.
Fewer Inspectors With Greater Oversight. While regulatory environments are increasing, most government agencies lack the funding and/or staffing to provide appropriate oversight of their regulated entities. This trend toward insufficient staffing is only getting worse. Fewer inspectors are now required to keep track of an increasing number of companies in more complex regulated environments. In many industries, in fact, it is not uncommon for new businesses to suffer major start-up delays due to an insufficient number of qualified inspectors.
Robust Compliance Management Systems Will Be Required. The increasing regulatory trend and reduced staffing has accelerated the need for robust compliance management systems. While some regulators and trade associations have recommended compliance management systems as a voluntary best practice, others have actually imposed these systems upon their members. In addition, a growing number of regulatory agencies are also insisting on sufficient remote access so that inspections can be conducted without the added travel expense. It is clear that robust compliance management systems are now gaining traction and will soon become the norm.
Benefits Of Compliance Management Systems While there is an understandable reluctance to launch a compliance management system - let alone one that can be monitored remotely by government regulators - the benefits are generally significant and fall under two main categories: reduced cost of compliance and increased sales.
Reduced cost of compliance can result in annual savings of greater than 30 percent. Savings are easily measured and typically focused on reduced overhead associated with administration, oversight, reporting, auditing and other routine compliance management functions. Reduced cost of non-compliance is actually more difficult to measure or predict, but the savings tend to be orders of magnitude greater. A company charged with a serious non-compliance finding can plunge into an uncontrollable downward spiral. Robust compliance management systems not only prevent entities from non-compliance (or at least from being blind-sided to non-compliance), but they demonstrate a genuine intent to do the right thing, which is typically an important factor when regulators are determining follow-up actions and fines.
Perhaps the newest and most important trend enabled by compliance management systems is when they are used as a competitive discriminator to drive new sales. In addition to providing clear positive differentiators against your competition, a solid compliance management system can also give buyers some welcome peace of mind.
How To Prepare For New Compliance Management Trends
When preparing for this new compliance management trend, corporations should become aware of compliance management systems by working with recognized leaders who can help facilitate the process and proactively launch a government-approved system.
Solutions may be client-hosted or cloud-based. An example is Albemarle, an organization which performs manufacturing, custom/contract services, such as chemical route selection, process development, small scale production, laboratory testing and more. Albemarle develops, manufactures and markets complex chemicals and services, from polymer solutions to catalysts to fine chemistry, in more than 100 countries all over the world, and utilizes both Web-hosted and non-Web-based compliance management implementations at its various facilities.
Corporate leaders should also help their executives understand the two sides of compliance - the carrot and the stick. Most think of compliance management solely as the necessary evil (“stick”), but you can stand out by helping your senior team understand how they can utilize a compliance management system as a differentiator in driving new sales and attracting/retaining key employees.
Dr. Frank Gozzo is the president and CEO of Noverant, a global leader providing web-based information, training and compliance management services and custom solutions that conform to regulatory agency requirements for public, private, profit and nonprofit organizations. For more information visit www.noverant.com.
With more than half of us overweight - and many of us saying we are so stressed we don’t have any available timeslots for eating healthily - 14 years ago one man started a crusade to change what we grab to keep us going. Meet Chris Mittelstaedt: The FruitGuy. And, he’s making inroads.
The FruitGuy,Chris Mittelstaedt.
Mittelstaedt is based in the San Francisco area, the home of Silicon Valley and its classically stressed-out techies. “The thing that started our movement was the dot-com boom,” Mittelstaedt explains. “Back then it was all Jolt Cola and those chocolate-coated espresso beans. It was a ‘treat’ mentality to keep people motivated so they could spend tons of time at work.”
“I had a number of friends in the industry and when I talked to them they would ask me, ‘Don’t you know of anything we could snack on instead of Jolt Cola?’ That’s when I said I’d bring them fresh fruit. One thing led to another and I started building wooden crates and stenciling them with my home telephone number on the side, filling them with fresh fruit and taking them to offices in my car,” he recalls.
Mittelstaedt, now calling his delivery service The FruitGuys, soon moved on to a U-Haul truck and started hiring people. “In the first three years we grew from nothing in revenue to $1 million in sales by year three. We thought the world could never end. I bought five new trucks and two months later the economy cratered. We had five new trucks and had lost half of our revenue and had mountains of bad debt because a lot of the Internet companies shut their doors and never paid their bills.”
That’s where, in effect, Mittelstaedt’s operation became a startup company all over again. “I got personally in debt on my credit cards trying to keep my family going. A hundred grand in credit cards. I had to make the mental shift from being a growth-oriented CEO to becoming a delivery truck driver once more. It was tough. We had just had twins. But, we believed in the concepts and we always have.”
The FruitGuys grew to $1 million in sales by the end of its third year in business.
“Out of that experience,” Mittelstaedt says, “came the idea of expanding nationwide and not being so focused on one local economy. We could divide our risk among different localities, with different economies. That’s served us very well. We’re very evolutionary-based in the way we grow.”
A challenge to geographic expansion for a fresh produce company is ensuring adequate supply. Mittelstaedt addresses that by saying, “In order to grow the business we had to have as many local resources and people on the ground as we could. In order to really affect change in behavior for people’s health you have to know the people you’re dealing with. Having a national brand is good but it’s even better if it has a local implementation and local flavor. One of our goals as we open facilities is to work with as many local growers on the ground - when in season - as we possibly can.”
The caveat is well taken. “In season” is a much shorter period for growers around Philadelphia or Chicago than it is for The FruitGuys’ home territory of California or even Florida or Texas.
The end result of healthier eating trumps short growing seasons as far as Mittelstaedt is concerned. “I would much rather have people eat a piece of fruit rather than a Twinkie. So, we buy as much locally as we can in season. When they’re not in season we’ll bring in fresh fruit because we want people to eat healthy rather than junk food. We take that approach with organic versus conventional produce. It’s much better to introduce somebody to a conventional piece of fruit and get them going away from a Twinkie - and later introduce them to organics if I can.”
“We see it as a step-by-step process. It’s not something we do overnight. It’s a longer-term change issue,” Mittelstaedt explains.
One thing The FruitGuys does to effect change is to have a customer relations program that’s so ingrained in the company’s DNA that Mittelstaedt has copyrighted it as the Five R’s:
We’ll be Respectful of you at all times.
We’ll be Responsive to your needs.
We’ll be Realistic with you about what we can or cannot do.
We’ll take personal Responsibility to provide a positive outcome.
We’ll work hard so that you’ll Remember us positively.
“Realistic” is something Mittelstaedt says is an important ingredient in the success of the business. “I’m not a vegetarian, I’m an omnivore,” he laughs. “I still like my dark chocolate and coffee. But,” he continues, “it’s all about balance and measure. Eating fruits and vegetables should be an important part of your life but we can’t be extreme about it and still expect to make real and lasting change.”
Change seems to be taking hold in the areas The FruitGuys serve and in more ways than one might expect. “We’ve seen it go from a very white collar kind of customer - law firms and things like that [and Jet Blue, Yamaha and Yahoo] - to everybody. We’ve got plumbers and lumber yards as customers. What it tells me is that it’s not just a benefit to keep people at their desks, it’s people actually changing.”
Working with as many local growers as possible to provide produce to clients is a goal of The FruitGuys.
The FruitGuys also number several schools as customers. “We fulfill a federal grant program that is targeted to low income schools. A lot of people just fulfill that with produce, but on our own dime we provide educational materials, curriculum support materials for teachers - so it’s a lot more than just feeding kids. It’s helping them get excited about getting healthy and taking their health as a personal responsibility.”
Mittelstaedt’s comment about enriching his school customers “on our own dime” provides a clue to his business philosophy that takes “Rs” numbers four and five and expands on them. “I believe very personally that if you are somebody who’s been successful in business you have a responsibility to give back. Culturally in this country we need more examples of that and more commitment to it as well. You can’t take your business with you when you die, so how are we going to be remembered positively, what kind of vital contributor role did we play?”
“Because we’re in the produce business,” Mittelstaedt continues, “we look at our supplier chain and try to make a sustainable difference. One thing we do on the front end of the chain is we support farmers to help make their businesses more successful. We’ve done a number of different projects around the United States. Everything from giving microloans, to tree plantings where we’ve donated thousands of dollars worth of trees to help a farmer get a new crop in, to pollination projects where we’ve put bees on site so that a grower doesn’t have to rent hives - which can be expensive. With one installation we even bought the honey and used it in our corporate gift program. We have a video on our website that has gotten thousands of hits from around the world because it shows a very docile way to put the queen in a new hive.”
On what Mittelstaedt calls the back end of his supply chain is The FruitGuys’ “Good Works” project. “It’s really focused on low income food access issues,” he explains. “Our customers can afford to buy our food. But, we also have a responsibility to those who can’t afford it. We donate more than 100,000 pounds of produce a year to various agencies around the United States. We’re also looking at other kinds of projects where we can help people by getting involved in local food movements.”
A growing trend in business, particularly the largest ones that self-fund much of the health care coverage they provide employees, is to work with established health care providers as partners in “wellness programs.” The FruitGuys is right there, helping to support the providers by providing their fresh fruit and vegetables. “These companies are thinking about how food and health care management affect their business. They’re saying they want to provide healthy food to their employees - and they’re using us to do that.”
“As a marketer and a capitalist, I believe that the company that creates the greatest access to its products generally wins - think of Coca Cola. If you can create access to healthy foods and healthy environments the way Coke did with its soft drinks - where you usually don’t have to walk more than 100 yards to find a vending machine to get a Coke - then you could create a groundswell of change for healthy eating as well. It is all about access.”
“We’ve created a category,” Mittelstaedt says proudly, “an industry that didn’t exist before. I constantly get e-mail from people in Africa, India, Australia, as well as in the Western world - all over the world - who want to start a business based on our model. It’s neat to know we started that spark.”
With more than 37 percent of U.S. companies running a significant portion of business applications in the Cloud (Advanced Micro Devices survey, May 2011), clearly the adoption of Cloud computing will soon become ubiquitous. This marked increase in the use of the Internet for accessing computing resources will necessitate an evolution in the Cloud computing network.
For one thing, Cloud computing will move from operating on the relatively simple networks of today, to vastly more-complex networks needed to integrate applications and data distributed across the Internet.
Beyond this, there will be a need to analyze vast amounts of data - enterprise data, market data and social media data - most of which is corporate information that is not contained in a pre-defined database, i.e., is “unstructured.” Integrating all this data will necessitate replacing archaic, 40-year-old data-management systems with more advanced programs capable of managing data of all kinds - structured or unstructured - distributed anywhere across heterogeneous global networks.
Indeed, in a recent survey, 62 percent of respondents said it is inevitable that unstructured information will exceed the volume of traditional relational data within the next decade. (Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today Inc.) Further, 35 percent say unstructured information has already surpassed or will surpass traditional relational data as soon as over the next 36 months.
Spreading across an increasingly diverse array of data centers, computing will inevitably become much more distributed than it currently is, bringing with it new data-management, architectural and performance challenges.
Significant changes will mean enterprises need to prepare to meet a number of issues. These include mounting costs, increasing government regulation, stringent e-discovery requirements and the increasing complexity of their IT infrastructures.-¨
A key concern will become whether Cloud databases can overcome scaling and performance issues that have plagued conventional databases for years. To gain access to data in the Cloud as things stand now, data-management technologies require that all the data be stored in a centralized database in a single location. Beyond that, there is a severe limitation in the ability for conventional data-management technologies to manage unstructured data.
A database management system that can query data across multiple distributed databases located in multiple geographically dispersed data centers, including Cloud data centers, is what we define as a Cloud database management system.
Conventional systems could not fulfill the role of a Cloud database management system. This includes, in particular, relational database management systems as they are currently engineered. They have centralized architectures, most of which were designed decades ago, that prevent them from being effectively distributed across data centers. To satisfy the most important characteristics of a Cloud database management system, a distributed peer-to-peer architecture is needed. This will be part of the evolution.
Businesses need data-management technology that can effectively access data in any format, distributed anywhere across global computing networks. Eliminating the need to upload or download large volumes of data across the Internet will be a requirement for the Cloud computing networks of the future.
Charles Silver is CEO of Algebraix Data Corp., which provides patented, mathematically based data-management technology across the entire spectrum of computer data-management applications. He has more than 25 years of experience as a successful entrepreneur.
Low latency has become a major area of focus across a variety of industries, as customers’ applications require more efficient network connectivity.
New, bandwidth-intensive applications and increased cloud adoption are fostering innovative business operations across industries. The potential performance delays associated with these applications have implications that range from frustration from slow load times and delayed graphics to far more serious and costly consequences.
Once an imperative only for the financial services industry, low-latency connectivity is now important across all major industries as minimizing delays in transactions and increasing data speed are critical to business success. 88 percent of IT decision makers cited low latency as one of the most important qualities of their network, according to a survey by Sidera Network.
Education
In education, high-speed networking solutions allow institutions to leverage innovative technologies that provide new ways of teaching, learning, and collaborating. Gone are the days of the simple chalkboard. The “new” classroom relies on high-speed connectivity and includes applications such as video conferencing, live-streaming, rich learning content, e-learning platforms, presentation applications, and dynamic administration tools.
Network speed in the classroom creates a more innovative, interactive learning environment. While applications such as live-streaming and electronic whiteboards vastly improve creativity and collaboration, they become less effective if they are sluggish or delayed. In a 2008 survey of students in higher education conducted by The Economist, 52 percent of the respondents cited collaborative technologies as the top online tool to improve academics. Students can use high-speed connectivity to complete coursework outside their class or dorm rooms in student centers, quads or outdoor spaces, creating their own dynamic learning environments and promoting collaboration.
Campuses across the world are accessing cloud-based applications over fast, secure low latency networks. Cloud computing solutions, such as Software as a Service (SaaS), provide educational institutions increased flexibility and accessibility to information and applications that can be used both on- and off-premises. By providing consistent, high-speed access to information systems and research data, low-latency networks facilitate connections between key stakeholders and other academic institutions worldwide.
Health Care
For the health care industry, high speed networks are integral to the performance of critical applications that drive superior health care, including Picture Archiving Communications Systems (PACS), diagnostic imaging, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), telehealth applications, and patient portals. Faster assessments, diagnoses and collaboration between doctors, hospitals, and outpatient facilities encourage faster diagnosis and recovery, making low latency networks a crucial component to superior quality of care.
Low latency networks support mobile healthcare applications and equipment that make patient information readily available to the medical staff that needs it. Available on laptops, PDAs, and mobile PC carts, these applications require reliable anytime access to information, regardless of physical location.
Health care sector decision makers rely on low-latency networks to leverage the latest cloud-based applications for increased redundancy and backup in a highly scalable, functional manner. According to a 2010 report by Accenture, approximately one-third of the health care sector decision makers use cloud applications, 73 percent of whom indicate that they are planning to move even more applications to the cloud.
Media The media industry has undergone an extreme transformation in recent years, with digital technology vastly increasing the variety and quality of content, delivery methods and viewing devices that must be supported.
A high-speed network is crucial for today’s deadline-driven media industry, where real-time, low-latency connectivity is essential. From live-streaming breaking news, television shows, and movies over the Internet, to applications that allow media companies to transfer large files, images, and videos from the field to studios around the world; delays in speed and performance not only sacrifice the overall impact of the content, but can also result in a significant loss in revenue.
Government
High-speed networks provide a faster, more efficient infrastructure to improve interaction between communities and their governments. Key applications that require reliable, low-latency connectivity include transportation management, emergency response and general commerce.
State and local governments need the ability to support their growth at a price that meets today’s fiscal challenges. Citizens want access to self-service portals and information. Low-latency networks are a cost-effective way to meet these needs.
Legal
As more and more paper processes within the legal system are being replaced with electronic files, law firms and legal services businesses are relying on data centers and high capacity networks to ensure uninterrupted access to this data at all times. During legal cases, firms must often share large, bandwidth-intensive files between multiple offices quickly and securely. Meeting deadlines is especially critical in this industry, which often necessitates that work occur around the clock. Network delays can slow productivity and make it difficult to meet those tight deadlines.
Law firms, and the businesses that support them, require a network infrastructure that can support productivity through the lowest latency network possible, ensuring secure, high-speed access to critical files 24/7.
Conclusion
Speed is increasingly on the “short list” for network must haves - alongside critical qualities such as security, scalability, bandwidth, and unique Classes of Service (CoS) to give customers the flexibility to choose the most appropriate network infrastructure for their unique needs. Low latency is beneficial to nearly every industry, and has become a major focus for organizations seeking an experienced and mindful network provider that will expertly optimize high-speed connectivity, minimize network-related costs and achieve the customer’s strategic business objectives.
Low latency requirements for the Education, Health care, Media, Government, and Legal industries all depend on the same foundation, the ability to design a network tailored to client’s requirements. To ensure your network is ideally suited to support your business needs, consider the following:
For high-speed networks, look for low latency and high capacity. It will enhance your application performance.
High-speed networks provide an ideal platform for important applications across any industry, such as video conferencing, live-streaming media, rich content, dynamic administration tools, and access to real-time information.
Utilizing cloud-based Web applications via a low latency network will dramatically improve reliability and accessibility which can ensure continued business productivity through cost effective, managed solutions.
A low-latency network is ideal for today’s deadline-driven society, providing invaluable, real-time connectivity.
Low-latency networks save organizations considerable time and money by providing a faster, more efficient means of collaboration between employees, customers, staff, students and enterprises overall.
Challenge your network service provider. Discuss low latency as a way to improve the performance of your network and increase productivity throughout your company.
Maura Mahoney is the vice president of Marketing & Business Development for New York City-based Sidera Networks, provider of tailored, high capacity communication services. For more information, contact www.sidera.net/contact-us.
Recently Corp! wrote about a new breed of military trucks, the FED Alpha and Bravo, that will be getting at least a 70 percent increase in fuel economy over the ones they’ll replace. In this article we pull back for a broader view of what the military leaders are looking at as national security is transformed from a Cold War mentality to something more closely resembling the insurgent conflict in Afghanistan.
Dr. David Gorsich, Chief Scientist at TARDEC.
Dr. David Gorsich is the chief scientist at TARDEC, the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center located in Warren, Mich., a northern suburb of Detroit. His doctorate is in applied mathematics from MIT, and he’s putting it to work on behalf of the folks who will have to protect us in the next few decades.
Looking at the Impact of Climate Change
While some politicians are still questioning global climate change, Gorsich and his staff are hard at work determining how it will affect a variety of aspects of national security.
“We’re all looking ahead to what climate change is going to do to us - both in the Department of the Army and [the U.S.] Department of Energy,” says Gorsich. “We’ve looked at various computer simulations of how climate change is going to impact different populations of people and potentially destabilize governments. We’re very aware that there are many of those scenarios that will require us to engage as an army because of climate change.”
With contemporary warfare dependent to a great extent on the mobility of the warfighters (that’s what they call soldiers these days), much of the emphasis being placed on research by the Army and Department of Defense is on the vehicles needed to accomplish that.
Gorsich asks rhetorically, “Is the Department of Defense’s ground vehicle fleet prepared for the different types of conflicts we will have in the future, especially when we won’t necessarily have reliable sources of cheap energy?” Gorsich plans on a strong affirmative answer to that. One benefit the military has, he explains: “We don’t have to worry about emissions, but we do have to be concerned that those vehicles perform and we win on the battlefield. We worry about them having power and energy, about them being mobile, we worry about them being survivable. Those are our primary concerns.”
As with the FED Alpha and Bravo, the key component in most military operations is the fuel for the vehicles.
Fuel is Still a Critical Component in Military Thinking
As an example, Gorsich cites the first Gulf War in 1993.”When we invaded Iraq for the first time and went into Baghdad, we had some 10,000 vehicles and 25,000 troops. Even though they carried more than 3 million gallons of fuel they had to stop and have the fuel trucks go back into Kuwait to pick up more fuel. That put our soldiers at risk. It’s not just the tankers and their defending forces that can get into trouble, it’s the folks at the front lines whose tanks can’t move because they don’t have enough fuel.”
That helps explain in part why Gorsich is so focused on fuel. “Any time we can save fuel, that saves lives. You don’t have to transfer as much fuel out to the forces.”
Tooth-to-Tail Ratio
“We want to maximize our ‘tooth-to-tail’ ratio,” Gorsich says, “where our front-line troops are the ‘teeth’ and all of the support and supply troops are the ‘tail.’ We want to be able to move and fight as much as we can on the least amount of energy.”
That’s been a goal of armies since Hannibal crossed the Alps on his elephants. While hay powered the pachyderms, our military has to rely on some form of petroleum.
“Liquid fuels have the highest energy density in terms of storage,” Gorsich explains. “But, we know in the future we have to be adaptable to different types of fuels. That may be renewable fuels, such as biofuels - or anything else we can create and bring with us.
“We’re working on making the powertrain more efficient so that it can be used with different types of fuels.” Think: General Motors’ FlexFuel-capable domestic cars and trucks as one example.
“We have an alliance with the Department of Energy and the Department of the Army: the Advanced Vehicle and Power Technology Alliance,” Gorsich says. “It’s a way of maximizing our resources to make vehicles more efficient. Can we attack the physics and the chemistry and the overall process of what goes on when combustion occurs in a cylinder by using super-computers to calculate that out. There are things we can do which will break open new doors for us in terms of efficiency.”
And, as so often happens when military research is in the lead, it is anticipated those new doors will also open for civilian applications as well.
Energy Use Reduction Can Take Many Forms
“We’re also looking at lightweight structures, at different types of materials. If we can reduce the weight of a weapons system and still keep it survivable and reliable it will increase the fuel savings immediately. But, we are looking at materials that are cheap - not expensive exotic ones.”
A prototype hybrid electric vehicle.
While Gorsich is looking at reducing the need for fuel, he points out that that fuel is still most likely be a liquid one because its ‘energy density’ is much higher than, for instance, batteries.
“Having fully electric vehicles go out there in a battle just isn’t realistic for the Army in the near future,” Gorsich says.
However, he continues, “Hybrids are a very interesting area for us. We’re working with the Department of Energy to decrease the cost of batteries and improve their energy density. The environments we take batteries into are extreme so that makes our requirements rather challenging. We have to take them into the Arctic or the desert and sometimes batteries don’t like that.”
Doing More with (Potentially) Less
With the Congressional emphasis on debt reduction, Gorsich says, “We know that budget cuts are on their way for the Department of Defense. We also know that reducing the cost of deploying a force is really vital - more important for the future than it has been over the last two wars that we’ve had. Maybe,” he ponders, “we should add money to certain programs to reduce costs somewhere else.”
One of the tasks TARDEC is charged with is what’s called “portfolio management.” “We look at things from a ‘community’ perspective in order to make the best winning vehicle we can.” This idea extends not only to the automotive industry - and its broad engineering and manufacturing expertise - but internally within the Department of Defense community as well.
Looking at the (not too distant) Future
“We are actually looking at the way in which we conduct warfare,” Gorsich says. “On the horizon is making systems autonomous by roboticizing these vehicles. For instance, if you take the soldiers out of a fuel vehicle you don’t have to ‘armor-up’ that vehicle. You’re saving soldiers’ lives, you don’t have to bring water and food for them, and you’re greatly improving the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. The more we can add autonomy into our platforms that’s going to make a huge difference in the types of wars we fight.”
One example of an autonomous vehicle.
The idea of an ‘autonomous’ vehicle is not new, Gorsich reminds us. We’ve been driving them for several years. “General Motors took the first step in roboticizing vehicles with the anti-lock brake system. It’s the first time they put something in a vehicle that took control away from the driver. They knew it would be safer if the computer took over rather than the drivers trying to pump the breaks themselves. They’ve gone on from there with cruise control.”
The Center for Automotive Research, Ford and a number of civilian companies and municipalities are looking hard at establishing an interactive infrastructure for vehicle use that will improve highway safety as well as save fuel.
“We’re going on from [what GM and others have done] with vehicle-to-vehicle as well as vehicle-to-infrastructure communications where vehicles have autonomy,” Gorsich explains. “It’s not a problem of distracted driving - driving is the distraction. People want to text and send e-mails and take their hands off the wheel and let the car deal with the traffic. They don’t want to deal with it anymore; they have other things they want to do in a car.”
That translates easily to military applications. “The same is for soldiers,” he says. “If you add autonomy there’s a lot those soldiers can be doing - like watching what’s going on around them, or protecting something - or just not being in the vehicle at all. Then you can transport everything you want to transport without the added weight and the added complexities of having soldiers in harm’s way.”
Adding autonomy to the existing fleet may well not involve creating “robot trucks” Gorsich says. “We’re looking at ‘autonomy kits’ where you install one in a traditional truck and all of a sudden that truck becomes autonomous - or semi-autonomous at least.
“The technology has been in place for a decade that allows us to have one lead vehicle and a bunch of ‘followers’ - and we’ve done field tests of that successfully,” he continues. “You have a lead truck with soldiers and all the other trucks don’t have soldiers and armor and bam! you’ve got increased fuel economy right there.”
When will those trucks start following each other? “There’s a Defense Authorization Act that calls for about a third of vehicles to be autonomous by 2013. But,” Gorsich cautions, “that’s only an ‘authorization’ without money.
“There are things that we can do to improve fuel usage on a battlefield that are more innovative than, say, improving the performance of an engine a little bit at a time.
“We’re looking at all those things because that’s the future. You’ll see us do more in warfare with less energy.”
Social media policies are a hotly debated topic. Many organizations flat out block access to popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, or allow very limited access to these sites outside of traditional business hours. On the other end of the spectrum, some organizations have an open access policy, allowing employees to interact with any site at any time. Advocates of each of these approaches are fierce in the defense of their respective policy and stance on social media. Each camp has salient and valid points.
Social media has incredible value in terms of the relevance and timeliness of content, and -ÂÂ despite much clamoring to the contrary -ÂÂ it is an incredibly useful business medium.
For instance, Twitter is the most current and up-to-date source of breaking news today.Much of what used to be consumed through blogs and RSS feeds now hits Twitter long before it appears in any of these other media. In fact, many prominent industry bloggers no longer blog, but tweet exclusively.If Twitter is blocked in an enterprise, employees will miss out on an immense swathe of relevant news.
In addition, Instant Messaging and social media are the primary methods of communication for many employees, and in many cases, surpass email usage. With the consumerization of IT and blurred boundaries between business and personal contacts, Instant Messaging allows users to sync up with a business contact easily, whether it’s through Facebook chat, Google+ or a Twitter direct message - during or after business hours. The medium is irrelevant - the communication is key.
Finally, today’s workforce is incredibly mobile. Between travel, working remotely, being on-site with a client or visiting another corporate office, executives today depend on various forms of social media that they can access anywhere via any device. It has become integral to how they work, and completing their job without this mobile capability would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
With the waves of millennials entering the workplace, the amplification of these needs and reliance on social media is easily understood. Social media is to these knowledge workers a tool in the vein of what the telephone was to many Gen X employees. It is their lifeline - they have grown up in an always-on, always-connected world where they can socialize ideas and topics with peer groups that they trust. When corporations ban all access to social media, they take away the tools of today’s young and innovative work force.
However, aside from the great benefits social media offers, it does introduce a myriad of risks to the enterprise.
Exploiting Trust, Complexity If a hacker can exploit an individual, they can now take down an enterprise. The human element has always been the weakest link in security, and within a paradigm where peers and friends connect, influence decisions and share information, trust is paramount. It is this very trust that malicious users and attackers exploit, and social media provides a convenient, real-time and widely adopted channel for such attacks.
Social engineering, or the manipulation of people, is an incredibly difficult attack vector to defend against. An essential arrow in the quiver of an effective social engineer is a detailed profile of a target - the more information and familiarity a would-be social engineer can amass on a potential target, the better equipped she is for success in her endeavors. Social media is a goldmine in this respect, and even false relationships can be built to further garner trust.
Apart from profiling employees and organizations, the trust relationships inherent to social networking are exploited in other creative ways by attackers to carry out older exploits via a new medium. The malware of the past propagated via email, infecting a compromised host and spreading by emailing itself from the host user to that user’s entire contact database. Malware today spreads similarly via social media, with many examples of compromised social media accounts posting to their friends lists and contact databases with enticing headlines and content. Major social media players, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, have all unwittingly propagated malware in this fashion. The same logic applies - one inherently trusts a friend more than a stranger, and is more likely to click on the posted link.
This risk of a compromised corporate network increases exponentially when one considers the plethora of third-party plug-ins and apps that grow in viral popularity on an almost daily basis. The federation of such code and the linking of multiple social media profiles to one another dramatically increase the attack exposure, and in many cases relies on security controls in software that is not core to the provider in question. Complexity has always been the enemy of security, and this level of interconnected complexity does not bode well.
Weigh the Risks, Benefits Given both the positive aspects and the drawbacks to social media, which approach to social media is best?
The answer, as with most security issues, is that there is no single solution that is applicable across all organizations. In each case, the enterprise risk profile must be weighed against the relevant security policy and risk assessment, as well as the benefits social media offers to the company.
In most cases, neither of the extreme cases is ideal - a middle ground should exist. Companies should be able to protect themselves and their employees without limiting access to tools.
Technologies and processes are available today to allow access to social media, but to limit specific components and plug-ins. For example, one can elect to permit access to Facebook, but block certain third-party apps, such as Farmville, or even the chat function. Such policies can also be applied granularly, to specific users, or during certain time frames, or any combination of the above.
The key to a beneficial social media policy is to understand the usage patterns and the business case, understand the risks, and weigh these appropriately to make the best decision for the business as well as the user base. Decisions will vary according to a number of different factors that may include, but are not limited to, the size of the company and whether the company is public or privately owned. Enterprises must protect their businesses, but at the end of the day, communication is key, and overly restrictive policies that are an impediment to this communication flow will inevitably be broken.
Nicholas Arvanitis is principal security consultant for Dimension Data Americas, the $4.7 billion global ICT services and solutions provider. With more than a decade of IT security experience, Nick specializes in security assessment and penetration testing. He can be reached at [email protected].
Smartphones and tablets represent the biggest evolution in computing since the emergence of the Internet. The number of units sold, the growth of smartphones overall and the emergence of the tablet market segment that didn’t exist in any significant numbers as recently as 18 months ago are staggering. What it has done to impact the expectations and capabilities of the standard corporate worker has tremendous significance to companies as they look to forge a mobile vision and plan.
The world is becoming more connected every day. Consumers - your employees, business partners and vendors - are moving to mobile devices at a breakneck pace. To establish some perspective, consider that PC Desktops passed the 100 million unit mark in the mid-90’s, cell phones eclipsed 1 billion unit mark in 2002 and Internet users reached the same plateau in 2005. It is expected that smartphones and tablets will reach 10 billion units in the next 5 years, creating the same spark that the launch of Windows 3.0 had for PC sales, and the Netscape Browser did for Internet usageThese devices represent a profound opportunity for organizations to rethink and impact change like never before. But making this leap requires some understanding of what this platform can do.
The biggest impact these devices have is on user expectations. We no longer have to wait to check email, read news, check the market or box scores. We merely flip open our smart device and get the information we desire. We have compressed the amount time from the “Point of Inspiration” to the “Point of Realization.” While most changes have come in the business-to-consumer (B2C) space, we have the same opportunities in the business-to-business (B2B) world. It is critical for organizations to evaluate its processes and identify where this burgeoning platform can change their business. There are three areas that I will highlight for your consideration but the opportunities are potentially endless when you consider the reach and capabilities these devices provide.
Reaching New Populations of Workers
It is common for retailers and manufacturers to not provide significant Internet access to their primary working populations. The first reason given is workers in these groups are supposed to be selling or making products and providing computing resources is a distraction from their primary mission. The second reason given is it is impractical to equip these employee populations with computing devices and access. With nearly 40 percent of the work force now owning a smart device, these populations now are easier to serve. The development of mobile-based employee portals that provision key capabilities, give quick access to information and automate otherwise manual processes are now possible and increasingly more common.Companies can control what the employee can do and employees will have access to systems at the Point of Inspiration, whether they want to submit a vacation request, view the latest product training or see the last quarterly report.
Changing the Business Process
Smart devices allow organizations to rethink traditional business processes by leveraging device capabilities - such as cameras and GEO location - to build applications that break with tradition allowing for more engaging and interactive transactions.For example using a smart device camera, a field service technician can scan a barcode and get all the related information about a piece of equipment.Using GEO Location a sales person can tell a perspective buyer what inventory is available locally.Also by using the integrated operations of the device, the exchange of information between a sales person and customer can be seamless when it’s built into the process.
Decreasing Lag Time
Business processes, be it sales, service, manufacturing or other, are transaction based; shortening the time to complete that transaction as well as freeing someone up to perform that transaction from anywhere is at the core of what smart devices can provide. From field service personnel looking at schematics, to sales people checking inventory to help-desk supervisors monitoring performance and responding to escalated issues, companies can look now improve the overall responsiveness of the organization by rethinking critical business processes and enabling access to information that reduces the lag time between the Point of Inspiration and the Point of Realization.
In all cases the ability for an organization to make these changes is based on the fact that nearly 40 percent of its employee population has a smart device; using that access is a competitive advantage for your company and reducing the lag time from inspiration to realization will have a significant impact overall. Mobile device usage will continue to grow. How you choose to address this growth from a business-to-business perspective is important. Understanding what applications will have impact, where you fall on the mobile readiness spectrum and determining what your technology approach will be are topics for future discussion. For now, mobile computing is here. 56 percent of senior executives say that their mobile device is their primary B2B communications tool. If they are using them then your employees are too, and you need to be ready.
David Proegler is the Consulting Practice Manager at Latitude Consulting Group. He manages all of its IT and Business Process consulting initiatives. Their primary focus is on the automotive and OEM sector with an emphasis on process and channel optimization. He has 20 years of experience in delivering IT and business management consulting services to Fortune 500 clients. He can be reached at [email protected].
Matthew Moroun, vice chairman of his family’s Detroit International Bridge Co., is fighting efforts for a new bridge in southwest Detroit. Photo by Rosh Sillars
Ask Matthew Moroun, whose family owns the Ambassador Bridge, about the controversy surrounding plans for a second, government-funded span linking Detroit to Windsor, and he’ll pause several seconds before answering.
But when he does reply, he doesn’t mince words, dismissing the financial case made by Canadian and Michigan officials for the proposed $2.1 billion New International Trade Crossing (NITC) as “political math.”
“It doesn’t work,” he says. “No real businessperson or private sector business could ever live on math like this. You need to have a taxpayer treasury to be able to make this kind of stuff work.”
Canadian lawmakers and many Michigan officials - most notably Gov. Rick Snyder - are pushing for the second Detroit-Windsor crossing, which would compete with the Ambassador Bridge, to improve the flow of commercial and passenger traffic. Snyder announced his support for the span during his first State of the State address in January, saying “every farmer and manufacturer in the state can tell you why it’s important to have international trade.”
That sparked a public relations blitz from the Moroun family, who have owed the Ambassador Bridge since the late 1970s - it was the world’s longest suspension bridge when it was built in the 1920s. Although family patriarch Manuel “Matty” Moroun is famously shy of publicity, son Matthew, 38, vice chairman of the family’s Detroit International Bridge Co., has been granting a slew of interviews to state the case for maintaining private sector control of the border-crossing business in Detroit. He also testified in June before the Michigan Senate’s Economic Development Committee about legislation that would pave the way for the government-funded span. Testimony is still under way in the Senate committee.
“The best outcome is to continue with the success that we as a region have had with southeastern Michigan border crossings for the last 80 years, especially with the Ambassador Bridge, where no taxpayer resources or government resources have been used whatsoever - not to construct, not to operate, not to maintain what is one of the most important and the most efficiently run border crossings on our nation’s border,” he told Corp! during an early August interview at the company’s headquarters in Warren, where the family’s Central Transport trucking business is also based. “So the best outcome is to keep government out of what the private sector has handled by itself, and quite successfully.”
The New International Trade Crossing, proposed to extend from the Delray neighborhood downriver from the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit, would be jointly owned by Canadian and Michigan governmental units, but would be privately built and operated.
Moroun contends that traffic projections by “highway bureaucrats” showing the need for another crossing are wildly optimistic. The government-owned crossing not only would compete with the existing bridge but also a second, $1 billion span that they plan to build alongside it.
“They’d be right next to each other and they’d both feed into the exact same plazas that have already been expanded,” Moroun says. “They’d both have the same roadway connections. We’ve laid all the foundation that we need in order to build a second span. We haven’t given up on that and we’re going to end up doing that sometime in the future. But we have a reason for doing that that’s different from the politicians that favor a government-owned crossing. And that reason is our bridge is 83 years old. While we spend tons of money every year to maintain it, we can take a lot of money we use to maintain it and invest it in a new facility.”
Once the new bridge goes into operation, the old span would undergo renovations before reopening to traffic. “You wouldn’t throw it away,” Moroun says. “It’s too good and we’ve put too much money into it. But one of the things about that is that economics-wise, it’s very expensive to repair the bridge and rehabilitate the bridge when it’s under traffic load.”
Moroun says repairing a bridge that is free of traffic is four times less expensive than working on it when it’s in operation. “It’s like telling the mechanic to change your oil as you drive down I-75,” he says. “He’d charge you a lot more for that. You have limited work areas, and you have to do a lot of work at night. We never shut down more than one lane at a time. So it’s a four-lane bridge and we never go down to two lanes.”
One roadblock standing in the way of an Ambassador Bridge expansion is approval of an environmental impact statement by the Canadian government. Canadian authorities say the documentation submitted for the second bridge in 2007 was lacking in detail, a claim Moroun dismisses. He also suggests that his company is not receiving a fair hearing from Canadian officials.
“The same folks, the same bureaucrats in many instances, that have fathered the dream of a government-sponsored bridge to take our traffic are the exact same people that we have to go to for our environmental approvals for our bridge,” he says. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t get it from them. It just means that they’re a real pain in the neck to work with. There’s a little bit of the element of fighting city hall. They haven’t made that easy.
“Imagine you already have an existing bridge where the connections work on both sides of the bridge, the plazas are there, and that guy turns in all the paperwork to build a new bridge right alongside it. Another guy turns in environmental paperwork six blocks away for a brand-new bridge in an area that doesn’t exist and has no connections. That guy gets his environmental approvals before the other one? Step back from it. That doesn’t make any sense. The only reason why that happened is because you’re playing the referee. Your opponent is the referee. They aren’t wearing team colors. They’re wearing black and white stripes and calling penalties on you when you move the ball too far down the field.”
The Gateway Project
Moroun says similar dynamics are involved in Detroit International Bridge’s dispute with the Michigan Department of Transportation over the Gateway Project, a joint effort by MDOT and Moroun’s company to connect the Ambassador Bridge to I-75 and I-96 through a series of ramps. The company and MDOT partnered on the project several years ago, but the relationship soured when the state aligned itself with Canada on the government-owned bridge proposal, Moroun says. The two sides have wound up in Wayne County Circuit Court, where a judge has consistently sided with MDOT.
“It’s unfortunate that such a great project turned into such a bitter divorce,” Moroun says. “It’s tough to build a $100 million-plus project when you’re fighting with your partner.”
Moroun contends that Detroit International Bridge initially had to woo MDOT to form the partnership. “In the late ’80s and early ’90s, we couldn’t get a curb cut or a pothole fixed on the highways or the connections to the Ambassador Bridge,” he maintains. “We had to cajole and pressure and shame MDOT into agreeing that the highway connections between I-75 and 96 and 94 needed to be improved. Meanwhile, they’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Port Huron to connect to what just happens to be the bridge that they own (the Blue Water). Finally we get agreement with them on that. In the same agreement, they agree that all these connections will accommodate a second span of the Ambassador Bridge. We agree on it. We help them get federal funding for their portion of the project that’s built on their property, and we agree to invest over $100 million and donate property to them for our portion of the project.
“In the middle of that marriage, MDOT meets somebody else, and her name is Canada,” Moroun continues. “It starts turning into a fight, and we go to court. MDOT unfortunately so far has been pretty successful in convincing the judge that we’re the bad spouse and they’re the good one, even though they’re clearly cheating on us. We’ve taken our lumps.”
In court, MDOT has argued - and Judge Prentis Edwards has agreed - that Detroit International Bridge strayed from the originally agreed-upon design. Edwards has ordered the company to rebuild its portion of the project, including possibly removing part of a potentially lucrative duty-free store and fuel facility Detroit International Bridge erected. Edwards has given the company until Jan. 12, 2012 to complete the project, a deadline Moroun vows will be met.
“I’m confident about us doing our part,” he says. “Right now, MDOT’s position is they’re not so much interested in actually completing the Gateway anymore. They’re more interested in watching the judge punish us for not completing the Gateway. So it’s very difficult to move them in a positive direction because they garner more utility in watching the judge punish us than in completing the project. Because they figure the more the judge punishes us, the more they increase the odds of success with their government bridge proposal because it makes us look bad.”
Moroun also maintains that Detroit International Bridge has followed at least the spirit of its original agreement with MDOT.
The math and traffic numbers behind the New International Trade Crossing don’t add up, Matthew Moroun says. Photo by Rosh Sillars
“When we first started planning it, there were all kinds of contingencies built in,” he says. “For instance, say someone owns a bait shop in the middle of the project. So when you first design the plan, you have to build a ramp over the guy’s bait shop so that he can still have his bait shop there. Over the course of a 10- or 15-year period of time, you acquire the bait shop so now you don’t have to build the ramp. So if you’re getting along with your partner, they’d say, ‘Oh, cool, we can make the project even better now.’ If you’re not and they’re trying to do you in, they say, ‘We don’t care that you acquired the property. We still want you to build the ramp.’ And you go nuts trying to convince them and the court and everybody that these contingencies have gone by the wayside through the passage of time and acquisitions and so on. They’re unnecessary now, and they try to hold you to them.
“We thought in good faith that we could do that and our partner could work with us,” Moroun says. “Instead, they don’t want to see us derive any benefit from the elimination of those contingencies. They’re trying to make us build it exactly the way we designed it 10 years ago instead of a better design that takes into account some of the benefits that we picked up along the way. Part of the court case was about some of the things we just did. We made the improvement anyway because it made sense. And now they’re trying to make us pay for supposedly changing the design.”
While Detroit International Bridge is losing the legal battle over the Gateway project, Moroun is hopeful of winning in the court of public opinion regarding the need for - and financial feasibility of - the government-owned span between Detroit and Windsor.
Bridge Traffic Numbers
He says that recent traffic patterns “show how untimely” the addition of a second span would be. “The Ambassador Bridge’s peak traffic year was 1999 - almost 12.4 million vehicles,” he says. “In 2010, 7.2 million vehicles crossed. So we assume with a 3 percent compound annual growth rate, how many years will it take just to achieve our former peak? At the Ambassador Bridge, it would take 19 years.
“This is not a picture that warrants an additional border crossing in this market. Anyone who can count would realize that,” he says. “So it really boils down to ideology. Are you willing to use billions of dollars of taxpayer money to fulfill your ideological dream of not having a private sector-owned bridge?”
Moroun also contends that other numbers regarding the proposed span don’t add up. Here’s how he spelled out the financial case against the new bridge:
“Let’s say that you spend $2 billion building a bridge -¦ and let’s say that even though it’s a brand-new greenfield project, that you’ll be the special one that gets a AA bond rating. It’s not going to happen, but let’s just pretend. So let’s put a 4 percent interest rate on $2 billion. That’s $80 million a year in interest.
“Now set that off to the side. Let’s take the Ambassador Bridge. Currently, our total revenue is in the $60 million range. Before operating expenses, before our own interest and principal payments, our operating expenses exceed our revenue by more than half. Let’s say only half. I’m not telling you what our P&L (profit and loss) is, but I’m giving you a cursory view. So that would be $30 million. That’s before reinvestment of capital and repairs to the bridge, which run over $10 million a year. That’s before taxes, everything, and before our own interest. But let’s say that we really made $30 million in profit a year, and that’s with 100 percent of our existing traffic. There are some things we can’t get out of, no matter how little or how much traffic we have. We still have to pay toll collectors. Detroit Edison’s going to charge us the same thing. It costs us the same to plow the bridge, independent of how many vehicles cross. The bridge business is a really big fixed-cost operation. There’s not a lot of variable cost in it.
“So if you’ve got $30 million of profit and you got an $80 million interest payment - and that doesn’t include principal - it just doesn’t work,” Moroun says. “You’re $40-50 million short on the annual interest alone. They keep playing these games by saying Canada’s going to give Michigan $550 million for its share and they’ll pay that back with tolls. And then they’re going to bring in a private sector company that will lease the bridge and operate it for 40 or 80 years or whatever. How are they going to get their money? Through tolls. Well, at the end of the day, Wall Street can structure it or the government can structure it, but it doesn’t matter. You cut through all the weeds, and it’s volume of traffic, toll rate, operating expenses and principal interest to cover the building and construction of the bridge. In addition to the math not working for them, we had a study done that found that if they really built it, even on their numbers, it would cost Michigan for their half of the bridge $100 million a year.
“Why should a new guy be able to come in and build a $2 billion bridge using taxpayer money, but the existing guys couldn’t even dream of it because they’d lose their you-know-what? They say Canada’s going to give us a $500 million loan or gift or whatever it is. That’s fine, but it’s not enough. Half of 2 billion is a billion. Then Canada also says in the same breath we’ll charge you a very low interest rate and you’ll pay us back. Are they not going to compound the interest over the 50 years it takes to pay off the first chunk, if they ever do? How does that work? It’s foreign to the private sector.”
Actually, Moroun maintains, the finances are largely irrelevant to the Canadians pushing the bridge proposal.
“They don’t have any financial motives, really - it’s more nationalistic,” he says. “Some folks, not all, have a problem with paying an American-owned business every time they want to cross into our country. And that really doesn’t have anything to do with the merits of a border crossing, nothing to do with efficiency or traffic or anything. I don’t think that’s the view of a majority of Canadians, but clearly there are some politicians who have a hang-up with that.”
NITC Support
Proponents of the bridge have pegged the total cost as high as $3.8 billion, including construction on both sides of the river. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration would allow Michigan to designate the $550 million from Canada as matching funds for federal road projects in the state, Gov. Snyder has said.
Michigan government press releases state the project would create “no new debt for the state and no new taxes for Michigan taxpayers.” Construction and associated work for the project could bring 10,000 jobs to the Detroit-Windsor area, according to reports.
Support for the NITC in Michigan is widespread and includes the state’s auto industry, large corporations such as Kellogg Co., Meijer Inc., Steelcase Inc. and Amway, and former Govs. Jennifer Granholm, John Engler, James Blanchard and William Milliken.
NAFTA, Casino Windsor Spiked Traffic
Moroun says the arguments for building a government-built span have changed over the years, but it all began with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the construction of Casino Windsor in the early 1990s, which boosted both commercial and passenger traffic on the bridge.
“So now you’ve got two extraordinary developments: the advent of casino business in our region and the advent of free tariffs and duties on all imported goods between the United States and Canada,” Moroun says. “If you look at our traffic growth from the late ’80s to 1999, it looked like a rocket ship. It was dramatic. So the highway bureaucrats in both Canada and Michigan say to themselves, ‘Wow, if things keep going like they’re going, we’re going to need some more border crossings.’ “
When traffic plummeted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the argument for a second span changed, Moroun says. “After 9/11, traffic started going down, but by that time they were married to their idea of having another crossing independent of the premise of why they got interested in it to begin with, which was fast-growing traffic. The motivating reason was gone, but now conveniently their new reason was security.” Moroun dismisses the security argument on the grounds that other critical pieces of infrastructure, such as most nuclear reactors, are also privately held.
Moroun says traffic continued to steadily slide throughout the 2000s until 2010, when there were more crossings than in 2009. So far this year, traffic is down 3 percent from 2010, Moroun says.
Moroun also bristles when he hears the Ambassador Bridge described as a monopoly.
“That’s an aspersion that’s cast against us as an excuse to persuade people to spend taxpayer money to build another bridge when there’s not a legitimate reason,” he says. “First of all, a monopoly is someone that’s allowed to discriminate for higher profits. We’re not allowed to discriminate. Whether you cross the bridge in your car or anyone else crosses the bridge in their car, we can’t say no to you and we can only charge you the exact same as we charge everyone else. There’s no discrimination, so that part doesn’t equal monopoly.
“The other part also doesn’t equal monopoly,” he continues. “For every single car that crosses the border, we compete fiercely with the Detroit Windsor Tunnel. We’re only like two miles away as the crow flies. If you’re driving from any part of Detroit to any part of Canada, it’s less than a two- or three-minute difference mileage wise whether you take the tunnel or the bridge in a car. We also compete with the Blue Water Bridge for car traffic. If you’re in Chicago and you’re going to Toronto, it’s practically the exact same miles whether you take the Ambassador Bridge or the Blue Water Bridge. We compete fiercely with them. It’s the same thing with the Blue Water for trucks. They’re trying to steal our trucks all the time, and we’re trying to steal theirs. They’ll go see the truckers and try to convince them that crossing the Blue Water Bridge is more efficient than crossing the Ambassador Bridge.”
Moroun calls Snyder’s stance on the bridge “a huge juxtaposition,” given the first-year governor’s pro-business leanings. “It’s completely inconsistent,” Moroun says. “It’s the opposite of true blue. In the same State of the State speech that he said we’ve got to have economic gardening and help existing Michigan businesses do better, he says we’re going to have the government jump in a for-profit, for-loss enterprise that they’ve never been in before and isn’t warranted economically and that ideologically isn’t the right thing to do.
“What people should expect to see happen is to allow the market forces to take hold again in the bridge business in southeastern Michigan and keep the government out of it,” Moroun continues. “If the market forces prevailed, the new bridge would get built when traffic and economics warranted it. If governmental forces prevail, then market forces be darned, and taxpayers will bear the brunt of an ill-timed $2 billion expenditure.”
Michigan Central Train Depot
The bridge isn’t the only holding creating controversy for the Moroun family. Matty Moroun has been criticized for the condition of the vacant Michigan Central Train Depot in Detroit, which he bought in 1996. The 98-year-old, 18-story-tall building last saw train traffic in 1988. The AFL-CIO organized a rally in June at which protesters called on Moroun to either tear down or renovate the structure, either of which would create jobs.
Matthew Moroun said that, while there are no definitive plans for the building, the family is taking steps to preserve it until a use is found.
“We’re not going to tear it down,” he says. “We’re getting all the asbestos out of it right now and securing it better and protecting it from water damage by putting in windows and new roofs. And then we’ll keep going from there.
“The idea is if we can do the hardcore things to the building to improve it and protect it and preserve the historical state of it, then we’re going to let that best fit happen naturally,” Moroun says. “We figure as we go, those visions will be easier and easier for folks to achieve. It’s a huge bill. But you kind of have to protect it from water damage. People say, wouldn’t it be easier to take it down? Well, it probably would be, but it’s one of the most impressive buildings in the entire city from an architectural standpoint. We decided that not only would it be the wrong thing to take it down, but we’d be architectural villains forever to do that. We’re going to need help from others. Maybe financial, maybe not - maybe mostly support and assistance from the city and the community and other planners and so on. But everyone should want to help, because if the depot can get turned around, if that symbol can be turned around, then it really says we can do anything in Detroit. Then the sky’s the limit.”
Whether you’re starting a business, introducing new products or services, or adding locations, it’s always a good idea to first do your research. Informed decisions make the best decisions, and - especially when credit is tight - we often need to show that we have a solid understanding of our target markets. Unfortunately, neither your customers nor your competitors make up one homogeneous group. What motivates people and businesses can vary - depending on the places where they operate, live, or work. That’s why it’s a good idea to incorporate into your research some business and market information about places - including demographics and the economic, political, social, and other issues that make each market unique.-¨Several key resources will help you drill to the local level and learn about counties, cities, census blocks, and other sub-state areas:-¨
-¨U.S. Government Resources-¨
The federal government collects and analyzes massive amounts of data, much of it about local areas. Population and business statistics, economic indicators, regional profiles, and mapped data are made available for free through a variety of publications and databases.-¨ Most local-level business information comes from three U.S. government agencies: the Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Bureau of Labor Statistics.-¨
Census Bureau
One of the best sources for demographics is the American Community Survey(http://snipurl.com/temfx). This annual survey of three million households collects such information as age, race, income, commute time to work, home value, and veteran status.
If you’re looking for statistics on business and industry, try the County Business Patterns website (which actually offers employment and earnings down to the zip-code level) (http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/index.html) and the Building Permits database of construction statistics (http://censtats.census.gov/bldg/bldgprmt.shtml).
Bureau of Economic Analysis
For insights into a local area’s economic health, head to the BEA’s Regional Economic Accounts web page (www.bea.gov/regional). Here you will find information about Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and local-area personal income and employment. The BEA Regional Fact Sheets (BEARFACTS), with data compiled into handy tables, graphs, charts, and bulleted lists, make it easy to compare an area’s economy to that of the U.S. as a whole.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
This agency is a great resource for data on hours, earnings, and type of employment for workers in a particular geographic area. Also of interest are the links to information about the demographic makeup of the workforce and regional mass layoffs. Discover which products from the Bureau of Labor Statistics drill to the local level through the Overview of BLS Statistics by Geography page of this agency’s website (www.bls.gov/bls/geography.htm).
State and Local Governments-¨
Regional, state, and local governments frequently provide more detailed geographic-based information than federal sources, but the data won’t necessarily be uniform or consistent across locations - even for locations within the same state. More likely than not, you will have to visit the websites for each jurisdiction separately. What you lose in convenience though, you gain in in-depth and first-hand knowledge.-¨-¨To find official government sites, try entering the keyword government with the name of your location in a general-purpose search engine. You can also link to official sites through these resources:-¨
Local News
News reports, either from or about a particular location, are a rich source of local information about public and private companies, people, economics, and issues. Local media outlets go into far greater detail than their national counterparts when covering local events and stay with the story long after the national press has moved on. Local news sources also offer something the larger outlets can’t - a local perspective - and knowing what’s important to local residents is a valuable piece of business and market planning.-¨-¨The Google News (news.google.com/news) advanced search page allows for location-based searching, as does Bing News (www.bing.com/news). Also try these resources for print, radio, and TV news stories:-¨
Local Experts
Even in the age of Google, you won’t find everything on the Web. Perhaps no one’s collected or posted exactly what you’re looking for, or it’s not in plain sight and will take too long to uncover. Then there’s the information you won’t find in any data table or news headline. As competitive-intelligence researcher Ben Gilad puts it, “Only human sources can provide commentary, opinion, feelings, intuition, emotions, and commitment.” (“My Source is Better Than Your Source!-The Argument Over Primary and Secondary Sources,” by Ben Gilad, Competitive Intelligence Review, Vol. 6(3) 58-60, 1995).-¨-¨Sometimes the best way to find the answers you need is to ask an expert. People in the following professions make good targets for your research, because they generally keep an eye on the community and will often have subject expertise as well:-¨
Journalists
Government workers
Librarians
University professors
Association members or leaders
Economists and economic development executives
-¨Search the Web to find the right people ask and to prepare for your phone calls (yes, calls are much more effective than emails when contacting local experts). Scan the news to identify the people writing the stories and the people about whom they are writing. Try the websites of local governments, libraries, and organizations such as the chamber of commerce or convention and visitors bureau for key personnel.-¨-¨
Experts are often willing to talk and want to be helpful, but it’s important to respect their time. Keep interviews short, and do some background research on both your contact and topic to make sure you quickly ask the right questions.-¨-¨Business growth will take you into new and unchartered territory. Minimize the risk by arming yourself with a thorough understanding of your customers and your competitors - and the day-to-day local issues that affect their decisions.-¨
Marcy Phelps is the founder of Phelps Research and author of the book, Research on Main Street: Using the Web to Find Local Business and Market Information. For more information, please visit, www.ResearchOnMainStreet.com and www.MarcyPhelps.com.
The company that manages the global Internet address system - the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - recently approved two changes to the domain name system that could significantly impact your online business model. One represents a potential threat to your company’s brand identity that can be avoided with prompt action. The other represents an expensive, but potentially valuable, e-branding opportunity.
Don’t Lose Your Brand to a Sex Site
In March of this year, ICANN approved the suffix “.xxx” as a top-level domain (“TLD”) for use by the adult entertainment industry. The company that owns rights to the .xxx suffix is offering a pre-launch “Sunrise Period” during which businesses that don’t want their trademarks associated with adult sites can block them from becoming “.xxx” domain names.
The Sunrise Period runs from September 7 through October 28, 2011. During this period, businesses or individuals from outside the adult entertainment industry that own a qualifying trademark registration will be able to reserve their mark and ensure that it cannot be registered as an .xxx domain name. At the close of the Sunrise Period, if no conflicting application by any adult-industry applicant has been made, the name will be blocked.
Only names that have been registered as trademarks can be reserved, and only names that are identical to the registered mark will be blocked. After the Sunrise Period, businesses that want to protect variant spellings of their trademarks, or names that are not registered as trademarks, will be able to obtain “non-resolving” .xxx domain names that lead to a standard information page instead of a website.
In the event that a company’s trademark does get registered as the domain name for an adult-oriented site, it will still be able to assert its rights via traditional domain name dispute resolution procedures. But these are more expensive, and less certain, than utilizing the Sunrise Period. This is a case where the best defense is a good offense: the cost is expected to be relatively small ($200-300 each) and the process is not onerous.
More information about the new .xxx suffix, and the blocking mechanism offered by the Sunrise Period, are available at www.icmregistry.com/sunrise-b.php
Not Just Dot-Com but “Dot-Brand” Most businesses register domain names using the familiar “.com” suffix or one of a handful of other available options such as “.org” or “.biz.” Starting next year, it will be possible to register a business name, a trademark - indeed, virtually any word in any language - as a TLD in its own right (a “generic top-level domain” or “gTLD”). For example, instead of www.canon.com, the famous photo giant’s web site could be located at www.cameras.canon, with the company’s trademark taking the place of the “.com” suffix. (The company has announced plans to apply for “Canon” as a gTLD). The registration of more generic terms will also be possible: for example, www.canon.cameras, with “.cameras” rather than “.com” as the top-level domain.
Ownership of a gTLD could offer many advantages. It could open the door to new online brand-recognition opportunities as e-commerce grows ever larger and more diverse. It could eliminate the seemingly endless “typo-squatting” opportunities that now arise from the ability to register domain names that are close variations or misspellings of familiar trademarks (no more worrying about “www.cannon.com,” “www.can-on.com,” “www.wwwcanon.com,” etc.).
The reason is exclusivity. New gTLDs will be very difficult — and very expensive — to obtain and maintain. Unlike registering a domain name, which can be done online in a few seconds for as little as $20, obtaining a gTLD will actually be a matter of applying to become the exclusive, world-wide registrar for all domain names using the new suffix. Applicants will be required to demonstrate both the technical resources and the financial wherewithal to take on that role. They will have to demonstrate some legal entitlement to the term they propose to register. And they will have to pay handsomely.
The application fee for a new gTLD will be $185,000 - a figure chosen, in part, simply for its ability to discourage the speculators and squatters that have bedeviled the current system. And that is only the beginning. The costs of creating the requisite technical and business infrastructure, and of running a global registrar operation going forward, will be much higher and will likely preclude all but the most serious applicants. But the reward could be substantial: imagine the market power that the owner of the suffix “.cars” could wield in the automotive industry.
ICANN will take applications for the new gTLDs only between January 12 and April 12, 2012. Additional application periods will be scheduled in future years. Those interested in applying for a gTLD should visit ICANN’s website, www.icann.org, and download the 350-page gTLD Applicant Guidebook.
John C. Blattner, specializes in brand creation and protection law. He has extensive experience in intellectual property enforcement and is a member at the law firm of Dickinson Wright, PLLC. He can be reached at [email protected].
Michigan has been a very diverse state for decades - thanks to the legacy of the automotive and related industries that offered high-paying jobs to both immigrants and natural-born citizens - though ethnic and racial divisions and discrimination led to strife and segregation.
But the ideals of America are that all people are created with equal rights and liberties with opportunities for personal growth and development. Corp! magazine’s fifth annual Salute to Diversity on Aug. 30at the MGM Grand Detroit Hotel celebrates those 30 companies, individuals and organizations that have led the way to promote diversity and inclusion.
In choosing the award winners, Corp! was interested in more than race and ethnicity and also recognized gender, religion and disability conditions. Sponsors of the 2011 awards program are Compuware, DTE Energy, Leadership Oakland, Michigan Business & Professional Association, Michigan Diversity Council, MGM Grand Detroit and Oakland Community College.
The Diversity Award winners are in the following categories: Diversity Business Leader, for those who are role models or top officers of a minority-owned business; Diversity Focused Company, those businesses that defined and monitored diversity success and demonstrated how diversity efforts added value to their operations; and Diversity Champions, nonprofit organizations that created or promoted special programs, provided education opportunities or started other initiatives.
Diversity Focused Company recipients are Bowman and Brooke LLP, Cooper Standard, Hamadeh Educational Services, Lewis & Munday, The Nelson Companies Inc., Nemeth Burwell, Spartan Stores and Wayne State University.
Diversity Business Leader honorees are Fay Beydoun, executive director of American Arab Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Haifa Fakhouri, founder, president and CEO of the Arab American and Chaldean Council; Raquel Salas, co-founder and managing member of Avanti Law Group PLLC; Dr. Yahya Basha, founder and president of Basha Diagnostics; Monica L. Martinez, vice president of National Hispanic Business Affairs of Comerica Bank; Cynthia Kay, president and CEO of Cynthia Kay and Co.; Susan Ellis Goodell, president and CEO of Forgotten Harvest; Jocelyn Giangrande, director of Workforce Diversity and Inclusion at Henry Ford Health System; Lora Vinande, manager for Talent Management & Diversity at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services; Jim Jaime, owner of Michigan Pipe and Valve; Mary Bauman, partner at Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey PLC; Dr. Ernestina de los Santos-Mac, chairwoman of Philippine American Community Center of Michigan; Ryan Rosario, president of Philippine Chamber of Commerce-Michigan; Antoinette Green, vice president, Office of Diversity & Inclusion at Trinity Health; and Ruben Acosta, co-founder and co-managing partner of Williams Acosta PLLC.
Diversity Champions recipients are Affirmations, Crossroads for Youth, International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit, International Media Exchange, Jackets for Jobs Inc., Jewish Vocational Services and New Detroit Inc.
A sampling of opinions on diversity from the award winners follows:
-¢ According to Haifa Fakhouri of the Arab American and Chaldean Council, “Diversity is the coexistence of different races, ethnicities and socioeconomic groups. -¦ It is important to embrace diversity to ensure understanding and tolerance of those who are different from ourselves.”
-¢ Dr. Janet McPeek, president of Crossroads for Youth, said, “Diversity is not always about race - we teach our children that as much as we’re all different, we also all have similarities, and we should treat everyone with respect and embrace our differences. Different shouldn’t equal bad or scary. It should equal opportunity to learn something new.”
-¢ “Diversity is so much more than the traditional definition,” added Cynthia Kay, a consultant and owner of Cynthia Kay and Co. “It’s about being open to embracing people, cultures, thoughts and ideas that may be different than those with which you are comfortable. When we try to see the world through the eyes of others and open ourselves to new ideas, the results are unquestionably better.”
-¢ “The most obvious difference (between diversity and affirmative action) is we don’t have quotas,” said Thomas Branigan, executive managing partner at the Detroit office of the Bowman and Brooke law firm. “When we go out and recruit at law schools, we don’t have to fill so many slots for diverse or minority lawyers. In the minds of some people, affirmative action has been - in some respects - about numbers and making sure there is a set number of representatives of a gender, a race or a religion that are permitted to do work or are part of the profession.”
Diversity Focused Companies
Each year, American Lawyer Media ranks the largest 200 law firms, as well as assigns them a diversity score which is derived by adding together each firm’s percent of minority attorneys and percent of minority partners. While Bowman and Brooke LLP was not large enough to be included on that list in 2011, if it had been, the firm estimates that it would have ranked No. 4 based on having 18.2 percent minority attorneys and 20.2 percent minority partners for an overall score of 38.4 percent, said Lawrence C. Mann, managing partner of the metro Detroit office. Specifically, the metro Detroit office (which is actually in Troy) has 35 percent women attorneys, both partners and associates, and 21 percent from minority backgrounds. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Bowman and Brooke has a total of 185 attorneys, including 14 in the Detroit area. The firm handles commercial, intellectual property, environmental, construction, consumer warranty and health care litigation. The firm also has offices in Phoenix, San Jose, Calif., Los Angeles, Richmond, Va., Columbia, S.C., Dallas and Austin, Texas. Representing nearly every major car manufacturer, it is the largest provider of defense trial work for the automotive industry in catastrophic and wrongful-death cases and handles their cases in every state. Its Michigan client list includes Phillip Morris, Dow Chemical Co., Kraft Foods, Johnson Controls Inc., Jo-Ann Fabrics Stores, Beal Bank, Subway Sandwich Shops and Waste Management. A commitment to diversity has been part of the law firm’s culture and fabric since it was founded 25 years ago, added Thomas Branigan, executive managing partner in Detroit. “We are seeing more and more of our clients demand greater diversity in the legal representation that they pay for,” Branigan said. “We have always brought in teams that are very diverse in all respects to our trials, to our client meetings and to our projects … because we believe that it is the right thing to do.” Internally, a number of attorneys have created their own groups. For example, the popular Courtroom Divas blog, www.courtroomdivas.com, celebrated its one-year anniversary on June 24. The Courtroom Divas focus on the many challenges and successes of female attorneys in the courtroom as well as help other professional women apply lessons learned to their own lives and careers. Andrea Moody, a partner at the Detroit office, is one of three bloggers. She explores the lives of working mothers in the blog. Moody, a widow and mother of a 5-year-old son, balances the demands of family life and a litigation practice. She is an active advocate of diversity in the workplace, serving on various diversity committees. www.bowmanandbrooke.com
Automotive supplier Cooper Standard of Novi, which became a standalone company in 2004, employs about 19,000 people in 18 countries. Its products include body-sealing, fluid-handling and anti-vibration systems. According to Automotive News, it ranks No. 62 among the Top 100 Global OEM Parts Suppliers and is No. 35 out of the Top 50 North American OEM Parts Suppliers. Dedicated to helping the communities in which it operates, the auto supplier’s efforts to develop minority business partnerships has evolved to include the company and its employees helping the minority population of Detroit with everything from health care to job training, noted Chairman and CEO James McElya. “Cooper Standard’s vision for the future includes working with automakers and community leaders to bring more automotive-supplier jobs to Detroit,” he continued. “We have witnessed firsthand how providing assistance and opportunities can dramatically improve the quality of life in our communities.” Cooper Standard created a strategic initiative in 2007 to partner with minority businesses. The company recruits and mentors students, creating unique opportunities for them to gain real-world work experiences, and partners with S.A.Y. Detroit, Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, Focus: HOPE, Boys & Girls Club of Detroit, Forgotten Harvest and Michigan State University Community School. “Our diversity efforts have provided employees a firsthand perspective on the benefits of inclusion,” McElya said. “Cooper Standard has a broad acceptance of diverse cultures and backgrounds, enabling us to come together within an environment of mutual respect to effectively service our global customers, improve our communities and create a brighter future for generations to come.” He noted that his commitment to giving everyone an opportunity stems from his growing up in 11 foster homes. Believing that he was provided opportunities to succeed and avoid the pitfalls of a challenging childhood, McElya’s motto is: “Everyone deserves an opportunity, especially children who have been thrust into difficult situations without a choice.” As a result, Cooper Standard has adopted his philosophy through its many programs and initiatives to help urban populations. www.cooperstandard.com
Nawal Hamadeh founded Hamadeh Educational Services Inc., an organization that focuses on multicultural education.
Based in Dearborn, Hamadeh Educational Services Inc. was founded by Nawal Hamadeh in 1998 and provides complete educational services to four public school academies with more than 2,400 students and 300 staff members. Focusing on preschool through 12th-grade programs, Hamadeh hires the academies’ staff members and provides human resources and payroll services, as well as complete financial services such as financial planning, budgeting, accounts payables and receivables, business contracts, negotiations, purchases and consulting. It also deals with support services, curriculum development, professional development, compliance reporting and oversight, business development, marketing and public relations, grant writing, project management and finance procurement, after-school and athletic programs, and more. “Since our inception, we and the four academies are known for a focus on multicultural education,” noted Hamadeh. The schools have attracted students and staff from diverse backgrounds in regards to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical and skill abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs and/or ideologies. “Such differences represent the HES foundation, whereas they nurture one another in a safe and positive environment that is conducive to learning,” she said. “Diversity is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to being open-minded with an international mindedness as embracing and celebrating each other’s differences. The state of Michigan has a diverse population, and as a result there is a huge demand for programs that embrace diversity and accommodate the student needs for cultural sensitivity.” Cultural-sensitivity training is offered to its staff members and students at the beginning of the school year and as needed. The main goal is for everyone to respect one another and to learn how to get along and make the best out of any situation, Hamadeh added. Many of the employment candidates are attracted to the diverse environment, as they believe that such experience enriches them and makes them more open-minded and better prepared to handle the toughest situations. www.hesedu.com
Founded in 1972, Lewis & Munday PC is one of the oldest and largest firms founded by minorities. The firm represents Fortune 500 companies, public entities, universities, developers, investors, lenders, borrowers, health care organizations, employers, bond issuers, bond purchasers and pension funds in a wide range of legal matters. It has locations in Detroit and Lansing, as well as Washington, D.C., Seattle and New York City. It concentrates on public (municipal) law, corporate law, real estate and litigation matters. In 2010, New Detroit presented the law firm with one of its three annual “Closing the Gap” awards, which are given to an individual, a community-based organization and a corporation for their willingness and dedication to lead for change to improve race relations in southeast Michigan. Lewis & Munday was honored for its pioneering work and national recognition as one of the oldest and largest firms founded by African-Americans and becoming the first African American-owned law firm in the U.S. to be listed in the Bond Buyer’s Directory of Municipal Bond Dealers. The law firm is one of the top 50 bond counsel firms in the United States. In 2001, Thomson Financial Company ranked the firm 16th nationally among all bond counsel. In 2006, the Bond Buyer ranked Lewis & Munday first as bond counsel in Michigan, second in Connecticut and second in Washington, D.C. www.lewismunday.com
The Nelson Companies of West Bloomfield was founded by David Robert Nelson in 1970 and provides real estate brokerage and property management services for its own developments. It will also form joint ventures with landowners, retailers, lenders or other real estate developers to develop real estate for long-term appreciation. By working with architects, engineers and other professionals, The Nelson Companies has been able to create valuable real estate investments. www.nelsoncos.com
Patricia Nemeth, left, and Linda Burwell, of Nemeth Burwell PC, keep the firm focused on employment litigation, labor law and management consultation.
Specializing in employment litigation, traditional labor law and management consultation for private and public sector employers, Nemeth Burwell PC is the largest women-owned law firm in Michigan that represents management in the prevention, resolution and litigation of labor and employment disputes. It recently added significant space to its Detroit riverfront location. “We enjoy the experience of an urban environment and attract staff members for whom that is also important,” said President and CEO Patricia Nemeth. “Because we view diversity as a multifaceted concept, we also made efforts to get our less experienced attorneys engaged in the Detroit corporate community through networking and business and charitable events that support the city. Overall, we believe our Detroit location and support of Detroit, which has a reputation for landmark labor and employment law cases given its union history, elevates our stature as the go-to management-side employment law firm.” The law firm defines diversity in broad terms of all of the classifications protected by law in Michigan, including sex, race, age, disability, religion, ethnic, genetic, national origin, height and weight. But it goes further by looking at how to incorporate diverse ideas and approaches, diverse geographical areas and diverse educational and experiential backgrounds to the firm. “As a women-owned firm, we didn’t consciously decide to embrace diversity - it was all we knew,” Nemeth said. “As is our desire, we attract male, female and minority candidates on our legal and administrative team because we have a strong niche in employment and labor law.” www.nemethburwell.com
Spartan Stores, based in Grand Rapids, owns and operates 97 supermarkets in Michigan under the D&W Fresh Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, Glen’s Markets and VG’s Food and Pharmacy banners. The company also supplies more than 40,000 private label and national brand products to nearly 350 independent grocery stores. It is the nation’s 11th largest grocery distributor. The company’s website, www.spartanstores.com, says that through diversity and inclusion, it celebrates the kaleidoscope of cultural backgrounds, life experiences, opinions, skills and talents that reinforce its reputation as an employer of choice. “Spartan Stores is committed to promoting and upholding diversity and inclusion as core characteristics of our culture. We welcome opportunities to maximize diverse perspectives, talents, ideas and contributions from our associates. Understanding, accepting and valuing individual differences supports our goal of bringing variety and vitality to the workplace,” said Dennis Eidson, president and CEO. A statement on the company’s culture also emphasizes diversity: “Spartan Stores is a supporting and welcoming environment that emphasizes trust and openness while embracing diversity in its many forms; one where the unique contributions of each individual are valued, as well as the collective strength when we all come together.”
Founded in 1868, Wayne State University has more than 400 academic programs, 13 schools and colleges and 32,000 students. Covering more than 203 acres, its main Detroit campus has about 100 buildings. Wayne State also has six extension centers throughout southeast Michigan. The student body is diverse in age and background, coming from 49 states and more than 70 countries. More than 41 percent are minorities, including African-Americans at 25 percent. The mean age for the total undergraduate, graduate and professional student population is 27.1 years. Many students work while attending school, noted President Allan Gilmour. “Wayne State strives to be a place where people from varied walks of life can reach their full potential,” Gilmour said. “We promote the participation in campus life by people of various viewpoints, cultures, creeds, etc., for no more complicated reason than that it reflects the real world we live in. Diversity helps promote cross-cultural understanding. We are committed to the core values of inclusiveness and opportunity. These values are essential to the fulfillment of our mission as a model metropolitan research institution.” Wayne State has one of the most diverse student bodies among Michigan’s public universities. This is a reflection of its urban location and the reputation of its graduate schools, which attract students who want to take advantage of the many opportunities for internationally themed coursework and study abroad. Wayne State partners with Michigan State University and the University of Michigan in the University Research Corridor (URC), a consortium dedicated to the state’s economic revitalization. Wayne State and its URC partners are Michigan’s only universities to hold the prestigious Carnegie Foundation classification of RU/VH (Research University/very high research activity). Only 2.3 percent of U.S. institutions share this distinction. www.wayne.edu
Diversity Business Leaders Fay Beydoun, executive director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, is a community activist, professional and leader. Committed to empowering the Arab-American business community, the chamber represents members ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations and executive professionals. Beydoun was also vice president of the American Middle East Economic Affairs Committee and the U.S. Arab Economic Forum, which was founded upon the mutual desire to enhance bilateral relations. The forum provides a unique opportunity to engage high-level corporate leaders, heads of state, ministers, politicians, academicians, media and concerned citizens from the United States and Arab world to facilitate economic collaboration, cultural dialogue and innovation. In 2002, Beydoun became executive director of the Michigan Office of the Arab American Institute, mobilizing the Arab-American community to become active in the political process to lobby for policies to protect civil liberties and inform the American public about Arab-American contributions to civic life, government service, the economy and education. www.americanarab.com
Dr. Haifa Fakhouri, founder, president and CEO of the Arab American and Chaldean Council.
Dr. Haifa Fakhouri is the founder, president and CEO of the Arab American and Chaldean Council (ACC), which is the nation’s largest community-based, human-service organization dedicated to the Middle Eastern community. A nonprofit organization, the ACC provides services to the Middle Eastern and other communities in southeastern Michigan by building cooperation and communication, raising the level of individual well-being, increasing cross-cultural understanding through education, and delivering services, counseling and other opportunities. “Throughout the 20th century and continuing today, the Detroit area has attracted a steady stream of immigrants from the Middle East who today (number) near 500,000,” Fakhouri said. “In 1979, acutely aware of the fact that these newly arrived immigrants needed assistance in order to adapt to life in the United States, a group of visionary community members founded the Arab American and Chaldean Council.” At 23, Fakhouri immigrated to Michigan from Jordan in 1968. After graduating from Wayne State University, she started the ACC with a one-person office - housed within the International Institute in Detroit - and served 421 clients during the first year of operation. Nearly 32 years later, the council has 40 outreach offices serving more than 80,000 people annually with education, employment help and training, behavioral health, youth recreation and self-enrichment services, cultural activities, immigration and health programs. Fakhouri has received many tributes, awards and appointments, including the Detroit News 1999 Michiganian of the Year Award, National Association of Women Business Owners 2005 Diversity Champion, National ADC Distinguished Service Award and 2005 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She was also inducted into the International Institute’s Hall of Fame plus the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. She was an international adviser to the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Population (UNDP) on the role and status of women and population policies in the Middle East region. Based in Lathrup Village, the ACC recently formed the Arab/Chaldean American Disaster Preparedness Advisory Committee to provide community emergency response team (CERT) training. In partnership with the state of Michigan Citizen Corps program; the city of Detroit Citizen Corps Council; Wayne County Citizen Corps Council; the cities of Detroit, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Southfield; and Wayne County, the program is designed to enhance the overall readiness of the Arab/Chaldean-American community in the event of a man-made or natural disaster. A key component in ACC’s mission to create a bridge of understanding for a safe, healthy and peaceful community, the Cultural Tapestry Program promotes the appreciation and tolerance of the Arab-American and Chaldean culture. www.myacc.org
Devoting her career to representing small businesses and fighting for individuals across boundaries of gender, race, age, sexual orientation and social class, family law attorney Raquel A. Salas, managing member and co-founder of Avanti Law Group PLLC, was named in 2009 as one of West Michigan’s 40 Under 40 Business Leaders by the Grand Rapids Business Journal. Salas has represented companies in the publishing, direct marketing, food processing, food industry, manufacturing, retail, construction, financial services and real estate businesses in a variety of transactions. She also represents clients in divorce proceedings, child custody matters, guardianships, child support, adoptions, bankruptcies and criminal proceedings. Avanti was founded in 2010, and during its first year of existence the firm established itself as the top women-owned law firm in west Michigan, according to the Grand Rapids Business Journal. With offices in Wyoming and Holland, the firm has more than eight full-time attorneys. “I believe that to achieve diversity, you have to be intentional in your recruiting practices,” Salas said. “Our commitment to diversity goes beyond ownership; we are equally committed to the development, advancement and retention of our minority professionals. As of June of 2011, 50 percent of our attorneys are women and 30 percent are minorities.” A company that employs a diverse workforce is better able to understand the demographics of the marketplace it serves and is in a better position to thrive in that marketplace, she added. Businesses that support diversity improve employee satisfaction, productivity and retention, which all translates to happier clients. “Having marketing materials with pictures of a diverse staff that they don’t employ is not sufficient,” she said. “They must in fact recruit and develop a diverse talent within your company and provide opportunities for them to be successful.” www.avantilaw.com
Born and raised in Syria, Dr. Yahya M. Basha grew up in a country dominated by people who were just like him - Arab Muslims - but his neighborhood was composed of Orthodox Christians and Armenian refugees from Turkey. He attended Orthodox schools but also traveled to Lebanon to see family members living there and was exposed to a different mix of people. The experience of learning about other people’s faith, and how they thought and viewed things, was enriching, said the founder of Basha Diagnostics. “It gave me an appetite for learning and knowing how to handle those issues,” Basha added. “Since I was a little child, I read books when I was in elementary and religious school and when I was in high school written by people who worked on that concept. They did very well, regardless of the business they were in, by servicing the people.” After earning a medical degree at Damascus University, Basha immigrated to the United States in 1971 and had to pass tests to qualify for an internship at American hospitals. Coming to Detroit, he went to work at the Mount Carmel Hospital, a former independent Catholic health care facility that is now part of the Detroit Medical Center’s DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital. “I didn’t know that much English and my background had lots of challenges, but they understood and put up with it,” he said, adding that it was a good experience. In 1980 he founded Basha Diagnostics, based in Royal Oak, to provide medical imaging tests to patients so they wouldn’t need to visit a hospital. Now the company has four locations across southeastern Michigan and a staff of more than 100 people. “(Diversity of the workplace) makes the business or institution richer by having people from multiple backgrounds,” Basha said. “People with diverse backgrounds give you a company with more ability and sophistication.” www.BashaOpenMRI.com
Comerica Bank has been named to Hispanic Business magazine’s Diversity Elite 60 list for the past four years and has been highlighted as one of the nation’s top companies for supplier diversity for three consecutive years. Comerica has a Spanish version of its website and accepts the Matricula Consular de Alta Seguridad (Mexican identification card) at its banking centers nationwide. In addition, Latina Style Magazine named Comerica as one of the top companies for Latinas to work. Part of the bank’s success is due to the efforts of Monica L. Martinez, vice president of National Hispanic Business Affairs. A Comerica employee since 2006, she directs the bank’s Hispanic business and community outreach programs in Comerica’s primary markets of Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona and Florida. She is responsible for growing business relationships and developing outreach initiatives with an emphasis on the bank’s expanding markets nationwide. A graduate from Eastern Michigan University who also has a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University and a certificate in corporate community relations management from Boston College, Martinez was recently named one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the U.S. by Hispanic Business Magazine and to Latino Leaders magazine’s Ones to Watch list. In 2009, she received the Fusion Horizon Award from the Detroit Regional Chamber’s young professionals program, which recognizes young individuals for their professional accomplishments. She is also a recipient of the Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development’s Board of Directors Award, which recognizes an individual’s personal commitment to the local community. She was honored as the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s Young Hispanic Corporate Achiever in 2008 and the Executive of the Year by the Detroit Chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs in 2007. She also serves on the boards of the Michigan Hispanic Chamber, the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan and SER Jobs for Progress National, as well as mentors other Comerica employees and people in the community through the Wayne State College to Career program. Prior to coming to Comerica, Martinez was the community relations manager at Ford Motor Co. www.comerica.com
Cynthia Kay founded her media production and communication consulting company in 1987.
Cynthia Kay, the former board chair of the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM), has received many honors in her 24 years in business as a consultant. Rather than thinking about herself as a diversity business leader, she said she assists her clients to learn about and implement diversity programs. Her business, Cynthia Kay and Co. of Grand Rapids, was incorporated in September 1987 and is a media production and communication consulting company. Its clients include Fortune 100 companies, small businesses and nonprofits. “I embraced (diversity) at a very young age because my parents, both first-generation Greek immigrants born here, were very aware of the value of diversity,” she said. “When I worked in the media, I had the chance to interview and work with individuals involved in healing-racism seminars. That’s when I saw firsthand the importance of diversity and inclusion at a much broader and deeper level.” A graduate of Michigan State University, Kay also holds a master’s degree in communications from Western Michigan University. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at Grand Valley State University and as president of the West Michigan Chapter of the American Marketing Association. In 2005, she was honored as the Top Woman-Owned Business by the Grand Rapids Business Journal, and the company was named Small Business of the Year by the Grand Rapids Area of Chamber of Commerce. The company was once again honored in 2009 and 2011 as a Top Woman-Owned Business. In 2006, 2008 and 2010, Kay was named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan, and the company was twice named one of West Michigan’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies. “The world is shrinking, and from a business perspective it just makes good sense to have a diverse and inclusive workforce,” Kay said. “Finally, there is a richness to life and work that flows from having a diverse and inclusive workforce.” www.thinkck.com
With more than 20 years of nonprofit-management experience, Forgotten Harvest President and CEO Susan Ellis Goodell leads the second-largest independent food-rescue organization in the United States. Under her leadership, the agency increased the amount of rescued food from less than 1 million pounds per year to more than 24 million pounds annually, or enough to feed 75,000 people every day. By 2013, thanks to food donations from grocery stores, caterers, dairies, farmers, manufacturers, wholesale food distributors and other Health Department-approved sources, Forgotten Harvest hopes to rescue 40 million pounds of fresh food annually. This donated product - food that otherwise would go to waste - is delivered free of charge to more than 160 emergency food providers throughout the metro Detroit area. A native of Maine and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, Goodell has received numerous awards, including the prestigious McGregor Fund Fellowship, which recognizes and encourages excellence in nonprofit leadership. As part of her fellowship plan, she is studying food rescue best practices at sites in Israel, Germany and Australia as well as social change movements across the United States in an ongoing effort to advance the cause of food rescue by identifying ways to reduce food waste and significantly increase food resources for the nation’s poor. She has also continued the work to champion diversity at Forgotten Harvest, which was founded by Dr. Nancy Fishman. “We pride ourselves to serve and provide to all who are in need regardless of race, age, color, creed, sex, religion, nationality and sexual orientation and will provide food to those in need free of charge,” Goodell said. “Our partner agencies agree to serve all people without discrimination with any other requirements and will never charge for our food. Our staff and board of directors are very diverse and represent the makeup of our community. We serve all areas of our community that are struggling with unemployment, underemployment or living in poverty. We have a policy that embraces and empowers underserved and minority populations to become a part of our organization while we give opportunities to all with employment, promotion and employee development to help all of our staff to grow and thrive in their pursuit of greatness in serving those less fortunate.” www.forgottenharvest.org
Jocelyn Giangrande serves as the director of Workforce Diversity & Inclusion for Henry Ford Health System.
A career strategist, professional coach and keynote speaker at training workshops, Henry Ford Health System’s Jocelyn Giangrande has a career that spans several industries with more than 15 years of experience. She earned a reputation of helping professionals discover their talents, use their potential abilities and gain empowerment to attain their objectives. Now the director of Workforce Diversity & Inclusion at the hospital system, Giangrande also blogs about job coaching and has created various “How to” audio seminars, including “Mapping Your Path to Career and Business Success.” HFHS offers an array of acute, primary, tertiary, quaternary and preventive care backed by research and education. The nonprofit hospital system recorded $3.7 billion in revenues in 2009 while providing more than $160 million in uncompensated medical care. More than 23,000 HFHS employees - including 5,022 nurses (395 from Canada) and 3,897 allied health professionals - have cared for more than 3.3 million patient contacts. Founded in 1915 by auto pioneer Henry Ford, HFHS was named the No. 1 hospital system on Diversity Inc.’s Top Com-panies for Diversity. “This national recognition contributed to HFHS being identified as the employer and provider of choice,” Giangrande noted. “It also put us in the elite group of diversity-committed organizations.” Major diversity initiatives for 2011 included cross-cultural mentoring and cultural-awareness programs involving the CEO and all senior executives. HFHS also launched a Diversity Council to develop its strategic goals and measuring results. “The launch of our multicultural and sensitivity training curriculum was a significant milestone that was designed to impact employee engagement and inclusion,” Giangrande said. “Although we have not had an opportunity to assess the impact (survey scheduled for the fall), the feedback from employees has been positive. The training also includes cultural competency designed to meet the diverse needs of the communities we serve. Today’s talented employees are interested in and attracted to companies with strong diversity programs and values. Having a diverse workforce may result in the strengthening of a corporate culture and values.” www.HenryFord.com
Lora Vinande is the manager of Talent Management and Diversity for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC.
Lora Vinande, manager of Talent Management and Diversity at Mercedes- Benz Financial Services USA LLC, led the initiative to reorganize the company’s employee resource groups (ERG) to encourage employees of different backgrounds and experience to work together while including diversity and inclusion efforts. Employees are encouraged to become involved in one of four goal-focused affinity groups: professional development, cultural awareness, employee engagement and community outreach. Programs have included various lunch-and-learn presentations, multicultural potluck lunches and even a Wii “Rockband” Tournament, just to name a few. These events, and the communication surrounding them, have elevated employees’ diversity awareness. Headquartered in Farmington Hills, with Business Center Operations in Fort Worth, Texas, MBFS handles Mercedes-Benz and Smart brand automotive dealers and their retail customers. Vinande graduated magna cum laude from James Madison College at Michigan State University with a bachelor of arts in social relations and has more than 10 years of community relations experience. In 2005, she received the Daimler Financial Services President’s Award, which is the highest business achievement honor presented annually from the company’s CEO. Prior to her work at Daimler Financial Services, she was a senior account executive at the Campbell & Co. marketing firm. “I found my favorite definition of diversity in a poster at my local elementary school,” said Vinande, who joined the company in November 2004. “It reads: ‘Different Individuals Valuing Each Other Regardless of Skin, Intellect, Talents or Years.’ I like this definition because it’s simple, easy to remember and action oriented.” When Mercedes-Benz Financial Services separated from Chrysler in August 2007, Vinande approached executive management to ensure that diversity was a part of the new company culture and strategy. “Out of those conversations, I was tasked to champion these efforts throughout the organization, and my job responsibilities were expanded to include diversity,” she said. “Truly embracing diversity means that the company continually looks at systems and policies and makes changes to actively promote an open and welcoming culture.” www.mbfs.com
Jim Jaime, president of Michigan Pipe & Valve-Saginaw.
A 1984 graduate of Saginaw Valley State University, Jim Jaime is president of Michigan Pipe & Valve-Saginaw, one of six independently owned branches in Michigan for one of the largest distributors of water, storm and sanitary sewer products. Additionally, Jaime is president of the Mid-Michigan Hispanic Business Association. “Michigan Pipe & Valve-Saginaw is a Hispanic-owned family business,” Jaime said. “In our industry, it would be safe to say we are the only Hispanic-owned distributor in the state of Michigan and one of only a few in the country. We have made it a point to give minorities an opportunity to work in an industry that is historically nontraditional for minorities and women. In addition, we are very much involved with sponsoring programs such as the Great Lakes Bay Hispanic Leadership Institute, a program designed to train young professional Hispanics to be leaders in the community.” Diversity is about understanding the importance of promoting opportunities whenever possible for minorities in areas such as education and employment typically difficult to reach, he said. www.michiganpipe.com
Listed in Best Lawyers in America and recently named a Michigan “Super Lawyer,” Mary V. Bauman is a partner in the Grand Rapids-based law firm Miller Johnson. She graduated summa cum laude from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1986. Miller Johnson is a full-service law firm with more than 85 attorneys and also has an office in Kalamazoo. Its attorneys provide legal counsel to businesses and individuals in areas such as corporate law, employment and labor, litigation, employee benefits, mergers and acquisitions, economic development, family law and estate planning. In 2010, U.S. News and World Report and Best Lawyers awarded Miller Johnson with first- tier rankings for 23 practice areas - the most of all law firms for the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. “I am from Kalamazoo and my father was one of the community leaders to institute racial integration in Kalamazoo Public Schools,” Bauman said. “This happened while I was in junior high school. It made a profound impact on me and made me think about the importance of diversity. As I’ve grown up and worked in the workplace, it is so critical to adequately serve your clients.” Diversity is the smart thing to do if businesses want to succeed, she added. In June 2011, Miller Johnson became a founding member of the Managing Partners Diversity Collaborative Agreement, a formal commitment between major Grand Rapids law firms and the Grand Rapids Bar Association to work together to promote and achieve greater diversity and inclusion in the west Michigan legal community through education, hiring, retention and promotion. Its five-year action plan will address three initial challenges, including increasing the number of attorneys of color, improving the retention of both women attorneys and attorneys of color, and expanding the number of persons of color entering law school and the profession. Miller Johnson also is the only Michigan-based law firm with membership on the Leadership Council of Legal Diversity. Its other diversity milestones include annually awarding the Miller Johnson Michigan Diversity Law School Scholarship in cooperation with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, creating the Floyd Skinner Grand Rapids Bar Association Minority Clerkship Program and participating in the program for 21 consecutive years, participating in Cooley Law School’s Minority Clerkship Program for four years, and honoring Martin Luther King Jr. with a firmwide Day of Service program supporting community organizations in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. www.millerjohnson.com
People are the happiest when they have a sense of purpose and commitment, says Dr. Ernestina de los Santos-Mac (aka “Ernie Mac”), who is a community pediatrician at Beaumont Hospital and incumbent chairwoman of the Philippine-American Community Center of Michigan (PACCM). A nonprofit service organization in Southfield, PACCM primarily serves as “a home away from home” for Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in Michigan. In her capacity as PACCM chairwoman, Santos-Mac has spearheaded projects that benefit not only Filipinos but also non-Filipinos. One such project was the Health and Wellness Fair in May that provided free health-screening services to needy people, most of them uninsured. She has supported a recent fundraising campaign from which proceeds were donated to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan. “The campaign was undertaken here in Michigan by the Council of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA), of which I am a member,” she noted. Santos-Mac was also appointed commissioner of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC), for which she’s been involved in projects and activities that promote diversity such as the observance of Asian Heritage Month on May 18 in Lansing, with performances featuring Asian cultures and traditions. “The acceptance of diversity as part of our communities is important to me and to society because the presence of various cultures in our midst is a fact of life to which everybody must adjust,” she said. “I decided to embrace the diversity concept in the first year of my residence here in Michigan. It was prompted by my observation that U.S. society is characterized by many races and cultures. To be able to live peacefully and comfortably in such a society, it was necessary to me to adjust to it or embrace it.” www.paccm.org
Helping people manage their risks and realize their dreams of home ownership has been a passion of Ryan D. Rosario, a State Farm agency owner since 1992. He also is president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce-Michigan, where he’s promoted diversity. He was involved with the recent Health and Wellness Fair hosted by the Philippine-American Community Center of Michigan (PACCM). Held in May, the fair was a free health clinic that served some 200 uninsured people, mostly Filipinos, Chinese and Indians. “I promoted the event by placing in a community newspaper an ad inviting (people to) the free health-screening services made available at the fair,” Rosario said. “Other milestones include my participation in diversity programs such as those undertaken by the Council of Asian Pacific Americans, the National Federation of Filipino-Americans Associations and APIA Vote-Michigan. Due to my involvement in activities benefiting all kinds of ethnic groups, people note that I am friendly and helpful to everybody.” Rosario, who has adopted diversity as part of his corporate responsibilities, noted that his community-building efforts have brought more people to his State Farm agency. “I define diversity as a lofty principle calling for all Americans to embrace and appreciate all the cultures in their midst,” Rosario said. “I decided to accept diversity in college when I attended the University of Detroit-Mercy. For the first time, I had many students belonging to other ethnic and racial groups. It was great to learn and appreciate the beauty of other cultures. It was also a great avenue for me to share my Filipino traditions to others.” www.rosarioinsurance.com
Antoinette Green, vice president of Diversity and Inclusion for Trinity Health System.
Shepherding Trinity Health System’s efforts to engage the community and employees in multicultural interaction is Antoinette Green, vice president of Diversity and Inclusion. Headquartered in Novi, Trinity Health is the nation’s fifth-largest Catholic health system, operating 46 acute-care hospitals, 379 outpatient facilities, 31 long-term care facilities along with numerous medical offices and hospice programs in 10 states. Nonprofit Trinity Health, which reported $7 billion in revenues in 2010, employs more than 47,000 full-time staff. It reinvests money into the community through programs to serve the poor and uninsured, elderly outreach, health education and promotion initiatives, and efforts to manage chronic conditions like diabetes. Last year, the hospital system spent nearly $460 million on such services. “At Trinity Health, diversity and inclusion are a part of our DNA,” said Green, who is a 2005 graduate of the University of Houston-Clear Lake with a master of arts degree in cross culture studies.
“We are called to provide excellent experiences for our employees, patients, families and the communities that we serve. Our commitment ensures the successful integration of our diversity, and inclusion -¦ starts at the top and is one of our most significant milestones.” Joseph R. Swedish, president and CEO, also serves as Trinity’s chief diversity officer, Green noted, adding: “We are all accountable for diversity and inclusion at every level.” Recently Trinity Health launched associate resource groups (African-American, GenNext, Women’s Inclusion Network and the Ability!) to fine-tune patient care, become more proactive in community efforts, engage employees in multicultural interactions and provide opportunities to mentor and support other employees. The hospital system opened nine highly specialized senior emergency departments to focus on elders age 65 and up, created the Community Connections Grid Kiosk program to help the underserved in its communities get better care, and implemented the Equity in Care program to collect patient demographic data to better meet each patient’s individual needs. Prior to joining Trinity Health, Green was the human resources manager at CenterPoint Energy, directing the development of compliant annual affirmative action plans among her duties. “Shifting demographics in the U.S. may be a challenge to some organizations, but to us, it is a competitive advantage,” Green said. “Trinity Health will be prepared to address the cultural nuances that exist in our patients’ races, ethnicities and languages. We will be equipped with culturally competent clinicians and hospital staff because of the leadership that exists in the Trinity Health Unified Enterprise Ministry.” www.trinity-health.org
Ruben Acosta, co-managing partner and co-founder of law firm Williams Acosta PLLC of Detroit, has counseled and represented clients in a broad array of complex commercial matters and disputes, including commercial contracts, securities, real estate, construction, intellectual property, land use, insurance coverage, personal injury and business immigration. Born in Cuba and fluent in Spanish, he has represented Latin American companies and citizens involved in transnational commercial disputes in the United States and abroad. As the chairman of the 2006 United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) Legislation Conference, he served with congressional and White House representatives to help shape policy on comprehensive immigration reform. Acosta has worked extensively on the local, state and national level on Hispanic economic issues ranging from immigration reform to business development as a member of the board of directors for the USHCC and the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (MHCC). He is also president of Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development (LASED), a charitable organization providing social services to the Hispanic community in Michigan, and also serves on the boards of various other local and national charitable organizations. Acosta graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan and is a cum laude graduate of the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law. www.williamsacosta.com
Diversity Champions
Affirmations provides training to companies and organizations to build understanding and education about the core issues and challenges facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Founded in 1989, Affirmations of Ferndale is a community center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their supporters. Its mission is to provide a welcoming space where people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and cultures can find support and unconditional acceptance, where they can learn, grow, socialize and have fun. Affirmations has more than 31,000 contacts with community members every year and provides a variety of programs such as Friday and Saturday night youth activities, individual and couples’ counseling services, and more than 20 regularly meeting support and social groups reaching those just coming out of the closet to those dealing with losing a long-term relationship. Affirmations provides training to companies and organizations to build understanding and education about the core issues and challenges facing LGBT people in schools, workplaces and communities. “We embrace multiculturalism because we believe that it affirms, respects, treats equally and is representative of various races, ethnicities, nationalities and cultural identities,” said Kathleen LaTosch, chief administrative officer. “Inclusive organizations not only have diverse individuals involved, but more importantly, they are learning organizations that value the perspectives and contributions of all people. They incorporate the needs, assets and perspectives of communities of color into the design and implementation of universal and inclusive programs.” Within the past year, Affirmations worked with the Michigan Diversity Council to provide training to area human resource professionals on a program called “Creating a Welcoming Environment for LGBT Employees.” Additionally, its Multicultural Advisory Committees gathered data from six different constituent groups, held six focus groups and gathered together 15 community members to draft a set of best practices and standards for future operations with a focus on board development, staff development and programs. Internally, all staff, board, volunteers and interns participate in four hours of diversity and inclusion training as part of their orientation to Affirmations. Designed with input from the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion, the training encourages participants to expand and broaden their awareness of cultures and communities that are different from their own. “We have greatly expanded our recruitment efforts, ensuring that job postings are broadly distributed and effectively reaching historically marginalized populations, including people of color, people with disabilities and the transgender population,” LaTosch said. “We recently formed a partnership with Detroit Latin@z to offer our toll-free helpline in Spanish. Both organizations expect to formally launch this new helpline in the fall, offering support to Spanish-speaking LGBT people. We have begun steps to offer a monthly series of cultural awareness activities at the center, including films, education and cultural celebrations.” www.GoAffirmations.org
Crossroads for Youth is a private, nonprofit treatment facility for at-risk and abused and neglected youth. Based in Oxford, it was founded in 1951 as Camp Oakland Youth Programs and evolved from a residential boys’ program and summer camp to a multiservice agency providing many services throughout Michigan. About 60 percent of the children it serves are African-American, but it also works with children who are Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, Arab-Americans and Caucasians, as well as many other cultures. “Our core programs consist of residential and day-treatment programs,” said Dr. Janet McPeek, president. “We provide troubled children with a supportive, positive environment in which they learn how to succeed in life. We teach them problem-solving skills and help them develop the self-esteem to believe in themselves and make the right choices.” Crossroads for Youth received a number of grants to support its diversity efforts to work with people of different backgrounds to help at-risk children. One such grant came from Consumers Energy to host the 2011 Diversity Camp - a weeklong traditional camping experience for area youth, with an emphasis on the lifelong benefits of diversity appreciation. “The ability to get along with others is an important predictor of success in the workplace, which in turn is a strong predictor of life success,” McPeek said. “In this way we strive to help these youth learn skills that they will benefit from lifelong.” Three years ago Crossroads for Youth received a three-year grant from United Way of Southeast Michigan for an Afterschool Adventure program targeting at-risk middle schoolers in Pontiac and Hazel Park. This program provided students with a safe, after-school environment that emphasized learning in conjunction with community teachers. About 95 percent of the student participants increased their scores in math and reading while staying in school. Another diversity program included an anti-bullying kit thanks to a grant from the Woman’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Rochester. “Bullying invariably focuses on the difference of the victim, and regardless of whether the difference is race, gender, weight, sexual orientation or some other factor, bullying leads to damaged persons, crippled environments and, ultimately, unhealthy communities,” McPeek said. “These are just three of many examples of the impact on our efforts to bring children of these diverse backgrounds together with teachers, counselors and instructors of different backgrounds to have a lasting impact on the lives of all involved. We measure success not by profits but by the achievements of these at-risk children.” www.crossroadsforyouth.org
Mumtaz Haque, president of the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit.
Founded in 1919 by YWCA volunteers who wanted to help immigrants learn English and become American citizens, the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit (IIMD) has a vast collection of ethnic and cultural artifacts that are on display for visitors to enjoy. Its Hall of Nations displays flags from 82 countries, 2,000 dolls from 84 countries and other ethnic displays and artifacts, while the American Room houses scale models of ships on which immigrants came to the United States. Annually, the institute assists 1,100 individuals with legal immigration questions. It also holds citizenship classes and conducts swearing-in ceremonies. “My passion is diversity issues, and the International Institute is an organization that is close to my heart because it helps immigrants to enter the mainstream of society,” noted Mumtaz Haque, president. She is also the producer and host of the “Manoranjan Radio Show,” a radio program that promotes multiculturalism and features Indian music, interviews, community events, educational and self-improvement topics, plus themes for the entire community. Her program is broadcast on WPON 1460-AM on Sunday mornings (www.mumtazworld.com). The International Institute offers many cultural activities and hosts an international festival in the fall in Southfield. “I have not seen any other organization that is as diverse as (the International Institute),” Haque said. “One man who was honored in our Hall of Nations recently said that when he came to this country, it was the International Institute who made him feel like he was at home. We offer the kind of environment where people feel comfortable at coming together.” In 2002, the state of Michigan honored Haque for outstanding leadership and dedication to community service. The India League of America also awarded her efforts to bring cultural awareness to students through humanitarian and educational campaigns such as the Penny to Dollar Drive for India (2001) and Penny to Dollar Drive for the Aid Victim Orphans in Africa (2002-2003). During these campaigns, students of Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, Washtenaw and Lapeer county schools undertook educational projects about India and Africa and, concurrently, raised thousands of dollars. These efforts brought children of various ethnic backgrounds together and inculcated in their minds a spirit of helping each other beyond the boundaries of gender, culture, religion or country. “Bridging the gap between various communities is my passion,” Haque said. “I have presented educational, cultural and peace-promoting workshops at several nonprofit organization events. I have been a presenter at the Religion, Conflict and Peace Conferences organized by the Common Bond Institute (a Michigan-based national not-for-profit organization which promotes world peace) for the past three years. I have also been a keynote speaker at several events, including The Shanti Project, a program of the University of Michigan School of Social Work to strengthen family relationships and prevent domestic violence in the Indian community.” She was also a cultural consultant with TechWorld Language Solutions Inc., presenting cultural awareness workshops to companies. www.iimd.org
A nonprofit company, International Media Exchange (IME) of Kalamazoo promotes the economic and political incorporation of disadvantaged Spanish- and English-speaking communities through technology and multimedia programming. For example, Wood TV, Channel 8, of Grand Rapids selected IME as a recipient of the “Connecting With Community” Award for collaborating with other community partners on Kalamazoo’s Dia del Nino (the International Day of the Child). With IME as the program leader, Kalamazoo organizations recognized the value and rights of children. In conjunction with several financial organizations, Kalamazoo Public Schools and other community service organizations, children were given books, entertained by diverse international cultural groups and offered services such as health care and financial education. “We have always worked with partners in creating value in the community, but the Dia del Nino project -¦ was considered by all to be a huge success that needs to be repeated annually to the continued benefit of the city’s children,” said Juan Muniz, executive director. “Diversity is seen by IME as the inclusion of all races, genders and orientations as being of equally valuable members of the community and that it is only through inclusion of diversity that our communities become whole. It is diversity that defines who we are. Without diversity, we, the organization and the community, are less than whole as the multifaceted nature of our community is lacking.” IME seeks out the best employee candidates to serve its diverse client base. Therefore, IME employees end up representing this same diversity because they can serve those clients most effectively, Muniz added. At the same time, the diverse clientele attracts a diverse group of candidates from which to select. www.imediae.org
Jackets for Jobs provides low-income job seekers with professional attire to wear to interviews.
Jackets for Jobs Inc. of Detroit is a nonprofit organization that provides career-skills training, employment etiquette and professional attire to individuals seeking employment. The organization is based on the premise that jobless people cannot afford career clothing for an interview or for work, and without appropriate attire for an interview they are unable to land a job. To solve this catch-22 problem, Jackets for Jobs opened in March 2000 to serve low-income individuals in the metro Detroit area. JFJ “suits” nearly 120 men and women each month. To date, the organization has distributed more than 150,000 articles of business attire to more than 13,000 job seekers while collaborating with nearly 40 agencies. It serves as a charitable arm to TJ Maxx. “Jackets for Jobs is responsible for creating, sustaining and promoting special programs, initiatives, strategies to capitalize on opportunities and respond to challenges tied to diversity, advancement of women and community support due to our partnership with TJ Maxx (in 2007) and Detroit Workforce Development Department (DWDD),” said Alison Vaughn, founder and CEO. “Our partnership with both entities has proved to be very valuable to us and the Detroit community.” Jackets for Jobs also became a Michigan Works! affiliate in 2002. TJ Maxx’s employees have been very valuable to the success and actively spread the word about the organization’s mission. Some of the Jackets for Jobs and TJ Maxx programs included “Put Your Best Foot Forward,” hosted by the 2008 Miss America, which sought to build women’s self-esteem; “A Tie To Remember,” hosted by Murray Feldman of Fox 2 News and which included local celebrities such as Detroit Council President Charles Pugh and taught men how to tie a tie; a book signing by author Shaun Robinson of “Access Hollywood” that helped women build self-esteem; and the “You Too Can Make It” event in partnership with Wayne State University, which featured individuals who have overcome obstacles and have become successful. Another milestone for Jackets for Jobs was the distinct honor of ringing the closing bell on NASDAQ. This position is usually reserved for Fortune 500 CEOs. www.jacketsforjobs.org
Founded in 1941, the Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) of Southfield has helped Holocaust survivors, refugees and World War II veterans to find employment. However, the agency serves more than just people of Jewish heritage. As requests for help came from the entire community, it had a diverse clientele from the onset. Over time, JVS added services for individuals with disabilities plus programs for the workforce, seniors, employers, financial education and the homeless. JVS has locations across the metropolitan Detroit region and recently partnered with the International Institute to serve immigrants - new Americans - from around the world. “Participation in a more global Detroit fits in perfectly with our mission to help people realize their life’s potential,” said Barbara Nurenberg, president and CEO. “This goes back to our roots and our mission: JVS helps people meet life challenges affecting their self-sufficiency through counseling, training and support services in accordance with Jewish values of equal opportunity, compassion, responsibility and the steadfast belief that the best way to help people is to make it possible for them to help themselves.” It is critical to any organization or business to have a diverse workforce, she continued. Bringing people with a variety of life experiences, ideas and sensitivities to the table puts everyone in a better position to respond to the diverse needs of the community. “Metro Detroit is a very diverse community,” Nurenberg said. “We tend to see as we are; we need to see as they are. The old saying ‘stand on tradition and you stand still’ applies more than ever.Social and cultural changes need to be addressed; ignore them and you’re history.” www.jvsdet.org
Members of the 2011 New Detroit Multi-cultural Leadership class gather at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
New Detroit was formed in response to the 1967 Detroit riot to try to heal the community. At the request of then Michigan Gov. George Romney and Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, business executive Joseph L. Hudson Jr. convened the nation’s first coalition of its kind to identify what went wrong in July of 1967, what needed to change and how to make that change happen. Today, New Detroit is a broad-based coalition of leaders from civil rights and advocacy organizations, human services, health and community organizations, business, labor, foundations, education and the media. The mission of the private, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization is to positively address the issue of race relations by influencing issues and policies that ensure economic and social equity. “Our unique niche is providing a forum for race-relations issues and the inequities that continue to exist because of racial and social disparities,” said Shirley Stancato, president and CEO. Detroit remains the 11th largest city in the nation, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau, its population continues to decline. Metropolitan Detroit had been identified as the most racially segregated region in the country but with this latest population shift, the issues have changed dramatically and gone beyond Detroit’s borders into its suburban communities. In the tri-county area, people of different races are increasingly living, working and going to school together. From 1990-2007, the minority population grew 7.2 percent in Wayne County, 98.2 percent in Oakland County and 276.9 percent in Macomb County. To develop an inclusive workplace, New Detroit encourages businesses to become engaged in its Multicultural Leadership Program. “New Detroit’s work in race relations fosters open communication to create a greater understanding between the ethnic groups who make up the Detroit region,” Stancato said. “Our goal is to break down barriers, and our success in race relations in large part depends on us having a shared base of understanding on how it is we interact with one another.” In recent years, New Detroit has launched a series of initiatives to further its mission of improving race relations and fostering economic and social equity. These have included conducting research about urban education; publishing reports with recommendations to improve academic achievement; implementing intensive four-day summer business camps on the campuses of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University that teach Detroit-area minority high school students leadership skills and the basics of business and entrepreneurship; and providing financial literacy education for students of color in grades four-12. www.newdetroit.org
“Is the product done?” a certain manager asked during a product review meeting.
“It is done,” replied the engineer building the product.
“Are there any problems?”
“There are problems.”
“What is the problem?”
“It does not work.”
“Why doesn’t it work?”
“It is not done.”
I will spare you the transcription of the subsequent half hour of this not particularly funny comedy routine. The manager and the engineer managed to perform this little dance of talking past one another without ever seeming to realize just how ludicrous it sounded to everyone else in the room. It was rather like Monty Python’s classic Hungarian-English phrasebook sketch, in which translations in either direction are random. In other words, the Hungarian phrase, “I would like to buy a ticket,” might be translated to the English phrase, “My hovercraft is full of eels.”
It was extremely funny when Monty Python performed it. As for the manager and the engineer, well, perhaps they just didn’t have the comedic timing of Python’s John Cleese and Graham Chapman.
As it happens, “my hovercraft is full of eels” moments come about far too often. What was unusual in this situation is that it involved only two people. Usually, considerably more people take part. Thus, instead of a not particularly amusing exchange between two people, there is an extremely frustrating exchange involving several people. The most common failure to communicate is the game of telephone: as the message passes along the line, it becomes increasingly distorted.
What I hear from teams over and over is, “We are communicating! We send email to everyone.” This is where the hovercraft starts to fill with eels. Broadcasting is not really communicating: effective business communications require a certain amount of back and forth, questioning and explaining, before everyone is on the same page.
Who talks to whom? When you send out an email, do questions come back to you? Or do people on the team quietly ask one another to explain what you meant? While it’s comforting to believe that every missive we send out is so carefully crafted as to be completely unambiguous, very few of us write that well. Of that select few, even fewer can do it all the time. Particularly in the early stages of a project, if there are no questions, then there are certainly problems.
When someone else asks a question, either via email or in a meeting, does everyone wait for you to respond? Even worse, does Bob only jump into a thread if Fred jumps in first? Who is Bob responding to at that point, you or Fred? Are you still addressing the main topic or is the hovercraft starting to become eel infested?
It can be extremely frustrating to ask, “Are there any questions?” and receive either dead silence or questions about something trivial. It can easily become tempting to assume that there are no questions and just race full speed ahead. However, until employees figure out how much each person understands about the project and how you will respond to apparently dumb questions, they will be cautious about what they ask. Their curiosity is as much about one another and about you as it is about the project. How that curiosity gets satisfied determines whether you have productive conversations or a hovercraft that is full of eels. In the former case, you get strong employee engagement; in the latter case, you don’t.
If you’ve been working with a team for some months, or longer, and people are still not asking questions then there are really only two possibilities: either your team is composed of professional mind-readers or you are about to find a room full of those pesky eels. No project is ever perfectly defined from the beginning. Questions and debate should be ongoing throughout the development or production cycle. A lack of questions tells you that there is a lack of trust between the team members and between the team members and you. When trust is lacking, so is engagement.
Now some good news: remedying that lack of trust isn’t all that complicated. It does, however, require a certain amount of persistence and patience.
Start by highlighting each person’s role and contribution to the project. Why are they there? What makes them uniquely qualified to fill the role they are in? Be specific and detailed. If you can’t clearly define their roles, you can rest assured that they can’t either. Questions come when people are clear about their roles. Disengagement comes when people are not clear about their roles.
Prime the pump with questions. Demonstrate that you don’t have all the answers and that you need the help of the team to find them. Give each person a chance to play the expert while you ask the dumb questions. When you set the tone, the others will follow. Communications start with the person in charge.
Separate producing answers from evaluating answers. Collect up the possibilities and take a break before you start examining them and making decisions about them. Brainstorming without evaluating allows ideas to build upon one another and apparently unworkable ideas to spark other ideas. Pausing to examine each potential answer as it comes up kills that process.
Encourage different forms of brainstorming: some people are very analytical, some are intuitive, some generate ideas by cracking jokes, others pace, and so on. Choose a venue where people are comfortable and only step in if the creative juices start to run dry or tempers start to get short. In either case, that means you need to take a break. Intense discussions are fine, heated discussions not so much.
Initially, you will have to make all the decisions. That’s fine, but don’t get too comfortable with it. As trust and engagement build, the team will want to become more involved in the decision making process. Invite them in: that demonstration of trust will further build engagement and foster effective communications. Effective communications, in turn, builds trust and engagement.
Having a hovercraft full of eels isn’t the real problem. The real problem is what a hovercraft full of eels tells you about the trust, engagement, and communications in your company.
Stephen Balzac is an expert on leadership and organizational development. A consultant, author, and professional speaker, he is president of 7 Steps Ahead, an organizational development firm focused on helping businesses get unstuck. Steve is the author of “The 36-Hour Course in Organizational Development,” published by McGraw-Hill, and a contributing author to volume one of “Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values Through Play.” For more information, visit www.7stepsahead.com. You can also contact him at[email protected].
By Scott T. Seabolt
and Brandi F. Walkowiak
Aug. 18, 2011
On June 13, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed and built on its earlier precedents prohibiting a private action for aiding and abetting liability and establishing a clear rule regarding who may be held primarily liable under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 10b-5. Rule 10b-5 prohibits making any untrue statement of a material fact in connection with the purchase or sale of securities. In Janus Capital Group Inc. v. First Derivative Traders, the Supreme Court held that for purposes of 10b-5 liability, the maker of a statement is the person or entity with the ultimate authority over the statement, including “the content [of the statement] and whether and how to communicate it.” At issue in Janus Capital was whether a mutual fund investment adviser could be held liable in a private action under Rule 10b-5 for false statements included in the mutual fund prospectuses of its client. Reversing the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it could not be held so liable.
In doing so, the Supreme Court upheld its earlier precedents that Rule 10b-5’s private right of action did not include suits against aiders and abettors, Central Bank of Denver, N.A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N.A., 511 U.S. 164 (1994), and barred private securities cases against third-party companies or individuals. Stoneridge Inv. Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., 128 S. Ct. 761 (2008).
In Janus Capital, shareholders filed a putative class action against Janus Capital Group, Inc. (JCG) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Janus Capital Management LLC (JCM), alleging violations of §10(b) and §20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint alleged that JCM, the investment adviser to the Janus mutual funds, was responsible for misleading statements, which appeared in prospectuses for a number of the Janus funds, indicating that the funds took active measures to prevent market timing of the funds. The plaintiffs claimed that the prospectuses falsely represented that the Janus funds had policies to prevent market timing, when, in fact, fund managers actually permitted significant market timing and late trading to occur. The investors claimed that these statements regarding the policy to deter market timing fraudulently induced investors to buy shares in the mutual funds. The complaint also alleged that JCM was responsible for the day-to-day management of the investment portfolio and other business affairs of the fund and that, as such, JCM ran the Janus funds.
Market timing is a trading strategy that exploits time delay in mutual funds’ daily valuation system. It refers to the practice of rapidly trading in and out of a mutual fund to take advantage of stale prices used to calculate the value of the securities held in the fund’s portfolio. The use of stale prices to calculate the net asset values makes a fund vulnerable to time zone arbitrage and other strategies.
The Fourth Circuit acknowledged that to find 10(b) liability the material misrepresentation or omission had to be made by the defendant. The complaint alleged that JCM had “helped draft the misleading prospectuses” and “caused mutual fund prospectuses to be issued for Janus mutual funds.” Thus, the Fourth Circuit concluded “by participating in the writing and dissemination of the prospectuses,” JCM had “made the misleading statements contained in the document.”
The Fourth Circuit’s decision attracted significant attention because it was viewed as a departure from the Supreme Court’s precedents and had the potential to expand 10(b) liability to myriad service providers who provide assistance to a company in preparing its prospectuses. In essence, the Fourth Circuit found that a service provider may be held primarily liable in a private securities fraud action for public misstatements through “helping” or “participating in the writing and dissemination of a prospectuses” even if the statements were not directly attributable to the service provider. This finding was at odds with sister circuits that required direct attribution for liability based on the Supreme Court’s holdings in Central Bank and Stoneridge. JCM and amici such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argued that the adoption of the Fourth Circuit’s substantial-participation approach would significantly expand the scope of civil liability. On June 13, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed and reversed the Fourth Circuit.
At bottom, the Supreme Court’s decision takes a plain-meaning approach to the question of who makes a statement: “One makes a statement by stating it.” The Court found that one who prepares or publishes a statement on behalf of another is not the maker of the statement and likened the case to the relationship between a speechwriter and a speaker. Only those with “ultimate authority” over the content of the statement are to be considered “makers.”
The decision was not without controversy. Justice Breyer wrote a dissent in which three other Justices joined. According to the dissent, the majority too narrowly interpreted the word “make” as used in Rule 10b-5. The dissent would have held that there are circumstances where a party can “make” a statement even if the party does not have “ultimate authority” over the statement.
Controversy aside, the majority’s narrow interpretation of the word “make” no doubt brings some relief to service providers and secondary actors such as bankers, lawyers, accountants, and investment advisers who routinely assist with the preparation of prospectuses for clients, but do not have “ultimate authority” over the statements made by their clients.
Scott T. Seabolt is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP. He is a member of the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice, the Securities Enforcement & Litigation Practice, and the Automotive Industry Team. He also is a member of the firm’s Recruiting Committee and serves as the hiring partner for the Detroit office. Co-author Brandi F. Walkowiak, an associate with Foley & Lardner, is a member of the Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Government Enforcement, Compliance & White Collar-¨ Defense practices.
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