On a late workday morning inside an Alpharetta office park, a man wearing a green high-rise hat signals for the action to commence.
A tiny ball is bounced on a table and four people, two on either side, begin whacking it at each other. With small 2x4s.
“Is this the finals?” comes a shouted question from the audience.
Indeed, it is the championship match in the Patty’s Ping-Pong Tournament for employees of LeasePlan USA, a vehicle fleet leasing company with customers in 30 countries.
The competition, tied to St. Patrick’s Day, has been pushed back 24 hours to accommodate board meetings on the day everyone becomes Irish. They do have their priorities.
But cancel the fun altogether? No chance, not with extracurricular activities being integral to life at LeasePlan.
About the 2x4s, instead of paddles: Tournament rules stipulate that teams compete with a “handicap,” determined through a random draw conducted by the green-hat guy. An earlier round, for example, was three-legged style, meaning teammates were strapped together by a lower limb.
About the questioner from the audience: It was LeasePlan CEO Mike Pitcher, wearing jeans and no socks on this casual Friday. He not only signed off on the event but has dropped by to join in the festivities.
After the duo from client services polishes off the pair from IT for the Patty’s title, Pitcher delivers a message to his workers. Not to hurry back to their cubicles, but to remind them of the following night’s banquet in downtown Atlanta — hotel rooms paid for! — to celebrate the company’s successful 2010, which included 25 percent year-over-year growth.
Topping it off, LeasePlan was named top workplace in metro Atlanta for midsize firms (125 to 499 employees).
The firm navigated through the rocky recession without layoffs or suspension of profit sharing. Pay increases were postponed, but only for three months.
“That bought us a lot of goodwill,” Pitcher says.
LeasePlan scored 82 percent in the latest worker satisfaction surveys, among the top 10 percent in its category in North America, which Pitcher attributes to an open invitation for input from the rank-and-file.
It is no coincidence to Pitcher that LeasePlan boasts an enviable 98 percent client retention rate.
“We tend to err on the side of, if employees believe in the company, they will keep the customers satisfied,” he says.
As an example, he cites the weekly dress code. One employee suggested that an anti-casual day be designated each week. So, dress-for-success Wednesday was instituted, with workers encouraged to wear their ultra-professional garb.
“Caught on like wildfire,” says Pitcher, whose company retained Mondays and Fridays for informal attire.
At LeasePlan, the menu of diversions is long and varied. Fun At Work spins out employee appreciation days and holiday functions. HealthyU provides information and motivation to get (or stay) in shape.
There is LeasePlan Cares, a community outreach program to which the company kicks in about $15,000 annually. (It also donated two minivans to the Atlanta Children’s Shelter.) And LeasePlan Academy introduces new skills in training courses to workers, who are encouraged to log 40 hours each year.
At Lunch and Learn sessions, experts in personal finance, nutrition and other topics are brought in to conduct seminars.
While add-ons at companies might not be unique, what separates LeasePlan from most others is that the ideas often are conceived and sold by non-management.
“I don’t think anyone here is more important than anyone else,” Pitcher says. “We have so many people involved with how LeasePlan operates.”
As he approves such ideas, Pitcher tries to not lose sight of the fact that he runs a business, not a recreation center.
“At the end of the day, you have to make money to stay here,” he says. “If work was [all] fun, they’d call it fun.”
By involving folks in between executive offices and the mailroom, he says, “I think we have created a culture where everybody feels accountable for the number” — i.e., the bottom line.
“You can be numbers-driven while also being people-driven.”
A few more numbers that Pitcher touts as evidence of LeasePlan’s perception as an enviable workplace:
-- Last year, 53 percent of job vacancies were filled with existing employees and 15 percent more via employees’ referrals.
-- Workers can pick through a bushel of benefits, from up to $4,200 yearly for education assistance and a discount vehicle purchase option to service awards for milestone years and $500 for employee referrals.
To Pitcher, the operating philosophy pays off with motivated staffers such as the one who had scheduled a video conference on the morning Atlanta was paralyzed by the ice storm, trapping many residents in their homes.
The fellow, noticing the dire weather forecast, drove to his office in Alpharetta the night before and slept there in order to conduct the conference.
As the table tennis paddles and balls — and the 2x4s — are put away, Pitcher mentions that the HealthyU program, which has drawn nearly 50 percent participation, offers free annual screenings that have invariably led to a visiting nurse urging the “patient” to seek immediate treatment for a previously undetected condition or illness.
In sum, Pitcher says he believes the environment prompts workers to look at management and conclude, “Maybe these guys care about us.”
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