Changing on a Dyme: Member’s Advice for Workplace Unity in and Era of Layoffs

By Anne Saita, Vistage Senior Writer

San Diego (Feb-5-2009)

The first time Bernie Dyme’s company won an Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence, he was thrilled. When word came last month that Perspectives, Ltd. had done it again, he was over the moon.

“We were ecstatic,” he said from his office in Chicago.

The award specifically honors the company for its workplace flexibility programs, which is important to the 28-year-old organization because not only do they practice such policies but they also preach them. Perspectives is a human resource firm that specializes in assisting companies with employee assistance programs, managed behavioral healthcare, work-life services, counseling and organizational consultations.

“Our job is to help companies develop a culture that allows them to recruit and retain the best employees, then provide those employees with resources that promote their work/life balance and productivity,” Dyme, the company’s president, said. He’s been a member of Vistage since 2002 and believes his Chair, Jack Altschuler, and Vistage group have contributed to his recent successes.

“My work with Vistage has enabled me to implement changes in my business that have helped to create a workplace in which our employees feel like they’re part of the team,” he wrote upon announcing his newest award.

“It was a bit intimidating at first,” he recalled in a later telephone interview when asked about his early days with Vistage Group 585. “Some companies were a lot larger than mine but I soon learned that our issues were similar and just scaled differently, and that I could give something to the group. Since then they’ve beat me up lovingly – tough love is what it is.”

The Sloan Award recognizes employers that successfully use workplace flexibility to meet both employer and employee goals. A rigorous scoring system involves employers submitting detailed information and employees taking an online survey. Results are mapped to national data from the Families and Work Institute’s National Study of Employers and the top-ranked are them rewarded. To win an award, employees must essentially back up an employer’s stellar claims.

Why is workplace flexibility so important? Research shows employees in effective and flexible workplaces are more likely to stay with an employer and remain committed to helping their companies succeed.

Dyme says because his company is small, with only 54 full-time employees, as little as one or two poor survey responses could have skewed results. Instead, they confirmed that Perspectives Ltd. belonged in the 80th percentile of employers nationally in terms of flexible work programs, policies and culture.

These days Dyme’s peers are pressing him for advice since his company specializes in helping businesses that are downsizing. Our business has been brisk since Q4 of last year, he says.

“The first thing I suggest to companies is to think strategically. Most leaders go directly to cutting costs and that usually means cutting people. But there are alternatives, such as furloughing employees or cutting employee’s full-time schedules to 80 percent until business picks up again,” he says. “Whatever you do, think about the ramifications of the future and communicate with your employees from the get-go.”

Communication is Key
Perspectives began town hall meetings for its own employees about five years ago to make sure everyone on staff was informed and able to ask questions. This gets employees all on the “same page” as far as the organization’s objectives. Dyme recommends CEOs should be willing to disclosure at least the basics of the company’s financials, so that employees feel like part of the process and aren’t blindsided by a bad spell.

Unfortunately, many CEOs instead tend to do the opposite and withdraw.

“If you hunker down and avoid employees, when the economy gets better those people are going to be the first out the door,” Dyme says.

Be Open and Transparent
It can also be difficult to change corporate culture if top executives have traditionally been reticent with their workforce. But it’s important with so much bad economic news to level with people and promote openness.

“We can’t control what the news media say and how they treat situations. But we can create a venue internally for employees to ask questions,” he said. For instance, when Perspectives changed 401(k) vendors, it saw this opportunity to educate employees on the basics of investing and afford them an opportunity to discuss and ask questions of an independent financial expert. So they brought someone in to present personal finance classes that went well beyond investments. A vast majority of the employees availed themselves of this service. Dyme says, “We knew people were quite concerned about their financial futures.”

If layoffs are unavoidable, it’s important to consider the people who will remain and who likely will assume more responsibility, at least until the economic situation improves. “If you treat people badly, they will be more likely to leave when the economy recovers,” he warned. “Not only that, but while things are down, if you don’t treat your employees well, you’ll have people who are comatose and sabotage efforts at a time you need them to be the most engaged.”

Do whatever it takes to retain your best employees and keep them engaged, even if that means giving them more time off. “That sounds contraindicative, but it’s important,” Dyme maintains.

Finally, make sure you foster a culture of collaboration and openness and employees will work with you. “The more of an open culture you have, the more likely you’ll have people trust you even with bad news.”

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