Toward the end of a long workday at Woodward Academy in College Park, about a hundred members of the faculty and staff gathered in the cafeteria for a presentation by school president F. Stuart Gulley on subjects near and dear.
Gulley covered in great statistical detail the tuition breaks afforded to employees for their children to attend Woodward, among Atlanta’s priciest institutions of learning. One voice from the audience vented on behalf of others about how they “pour their heart and soul” into the job and feel frustrated because, even with the discounts, they cannot afford to enroll their kids.
Gulley nodded and addressed the concern. Later, he covered merit awards and overall compensation packages in comparison to faculty and staff at other prestigious area schools. As the session adjourned, the room filled with polite, appreciative applause.
Appointed in the summer of 2009 to replace longtime president Harry Payne, whose suicide devastated the Woodward family, Gulley said, with no intent to criticize his predecessors, “The kind of meeting we had today would never have been held.”
Its purpose? “We are trying to create a sense of ownership,” he said. “People have a voice.”
Transparency is his mantra, which partly explains why Woodward was named Top Workplace for large companies (500 or more employees) in metro Atlanta. To illustrate the commitment, he took the symbolic gesture of ordering the removal of the ivy wrapped around the school’s iconic gate.
“The gates are the oldest remaining structure on the Woodward campus,” Gulley said. “It seemed to me a shame that we were obstructing an iconic feature of the academy with ivy, not to mention the concern that the years of ivy might be doing structural damage to the gates. In addition to revealing a valued structure on the campus, the ivy symbolizes my intent to operate as president with openness and transparency.”
In a series of “community meetings” at both Woodward campuses, the other in Johns Creek, Gulley has attempted to pull back the curtain and reveal the whys of decisions that have had an impact on workers’ lives. Salaries and benefits. Merit awards. Hiring. Early retirement opportunities.
Most of the view lately has been encouraging as the academy, like other businesses, digs out of the recession. After surviving a drop in enrollment of 150, resulting in salary freezes and some merit award suspensions, Woodward is poised to fortify its claim as the largest private preparatory school in the continental U.S., with 2,735 students spread out from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. (The 80-acre campus near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is so sprawling that golf carts are available to ferry around guests.)
“I’ve invited employee participation in major issues confronting the school, such as revising our mission statement and looking at the health and morale of our community,” he said.
Additionally, he launched Leadership Woodward, a program modeled after Leadership Atlanta, that enables 16 members to learn more about the academy’s inner workings.
In a survey of faculty and staff by Workplace Dynamics, a common response for what makes Woodward a desirable place of employment was a variation of “open lines of communication.”
One comment: “All of the administration keeps us in the loop of information as much as possible and when appropriate. Our opinions are solicited and our ideas are implemented. The workplace is flexible, and everyone feels like an important component of the final product — the graduates.”
Woodward’s average tenure for faculty is 14 years — higher than some schools, lower than others on the list provided by Gulley. He expects the figure to rise.
“Once you start working here, you don’t want to leave,” he said. “We think we measure up very well against our peers in the public and private sector in the caliber of persons we attract and our retention of them.”
Anthony Thomas got his first taste of Woodward when his parents, eager to challenge him academically, enrolled him in the mid-1990s. He proceeded to earn a bachelor’s degree at Furman University and a law degree at Georgia State University.
A part-time coaching gig at Woodward led to a substitute teacher role. When the associate dean of students position opened, Thomas surprised himself by applying. He was hired and, since, was promoted to dean.
“Never in a thousand years,” Thomas said, could he have imagined circling back as an adult to his educational haunts as a teen.
“It’s the idea of community,” said Thomas, an African-American who reflects the diversity at Woodward not found at all private schools. “It’s not just employees, but students. Everybody cares about each other. It’s a warm atmosphere.
“There is something about being here every day. It’s always different.”
As the retired managing partner of Alston & Bird, Ben Johnson knows a thing or two about welcome workplaces. The Atlanta law firm qualified for the Fortune Magazine list of “100 Best Companies in America To Work For.” Not once, but for 12 consecutive years.
“Similarly, at Woodward,” said Johnson, chairman of the academy’s governing board, “an engaged, mission-driven and aligned team should deliver a superior educational experience for our students and parents and challenge our faculty and staff to ever-increasing growth and professional satisfaction.”
Thomas habitually tells students who wind up at Woodward, “This could be a life-changing event. Or a life-saving event.”
The job offer certainly changed Thomas’ life. He wonders if that law degree will ever be put to use.
“I don’t have the worries that a lot of my [college classmates] have over job status,” he said. “There is a comfort level here I don’t see any other places. You’d be surprised how many people in corporate America who make twice as much as me would trade places.
“I couldn’t see myself anyplace else.”
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