Photography by Carmen Troesser
About 15 years ago, Gary Jaffe, the CEO of GL group, was at a conference of 300 family-business owners. During one presentation, those in attendance were asked how many believe family comes before business. “I was the only one that raised my hand,” Jaffe says. “I would still answer it the exact same way today, because I think it is a revolving thing. If you make the people the most important thing, the business will be successful.”
Certainly not all corporate leaders feel the same. But it’s getting better, and we found four local companies that clearly put the well-being of their employees’ families first and foremost.
Nestlé Purina
An emphasis on balance—and results
It’s almost nap time at the Nestlé Purina Child Development Center. For now, the center’s two playgrounds sit empty, the swings rocking in the wind. Inside the preschool, teachers and administrators gently direct kids toward their cots. Several infants and toddlers are already fast asleep in a nearby room where the lights are off. In another area, Stepheney Aden sits on the floor and holds her 5-month-old, Garrett, while her 3-year-old daughter, Zoey, prepares to nap in the next room. The human-resources generalist is taking a break from work to check on her kids. “I’m a helicopter mom, so I have to be with them,” says Aden. “If this was not here, I would not be working.”
“I’m always telling parents to come over,” says Mary Storts, administrative assistant at the center, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Here, in a building across the street from Nestlé Purina PetCare’s St. Louis headquarters, approximately 70 children—from 6 weeks to 6 years old—learn the ABCs, take computer classes, and play with other kids. Their parents, employees at Purina, are able to visit any time during the day and have lunch with their children. The preschool hosts some of its functions in Purina’s Tower Lobby, so moms and dads aren’t rushed to see their children perform across town.
The child-care center is just one of the family-friendly perks at Purina. In addition to the competitive benefits and flexible work hours, there are mother’s lounges across campus. Families also receive a year’s worth of infant formula, and the company offers information about adoption resources, prenatal care, and more. The on-site accommodations—a fitness center, dry-cleaning services, medical facilities—also are convenient for busy parents, as is the location near Busch Stadium. When the weather is pleasant, families like the Adens (Stepheney’s husband, Mike, also works there) sometimes gather for lunch in the scenic gazebos overlooking Purina’s koi ponds. And Purina Farms hosts Family Day each year, when parents and children can enjoy food, games, and interacting with the animals at the Gray Summit attraction.
But Purina employees need not wait for Family Day to be surrounded by animals. The company not only invites employees to bring their pets to the St. Louis headquarters, but also seems to encourage it: Purina’s Pet Adoption Program pays $200 toward adoption fees and startup costs associated with owning a pet. It’s not unusual to see Bandit, the receptionist’s Chihuahua, welcome guests at the front desk. A variety of canines—Labs, Australian shepherds, golden retrievers—strut through the halls with their owners and nap in employees’ offices. When nature calls, there’s a dog park outside, with designated spaces for large and small dogs. Cats are welcome at Purina’s campus as well. (Two felines, Rocki and Ava, live near the Retail Innovation Center, where Purina brings clients in for presentations and to show off store displays.)
With all of the potential distractions—pets, kids, koi ponds—you might think employees would be less productive. In fact, says Steve Degnan, vice president of human resources, the opposite is the case. “I believe having a relaxed work environment—relaxed, not disengaged—leads to better results,” he says. “Research points to the fact that there’s a direct correlation between a healthy workplace culture and results.”
The company is far more focused on results, Degnan emphasizes, than on which employees appear to be the busiest. “It’s not the kind of culture where if the boss walks by, you better pick up a pencil and start scribbling furiously,” he says. “I’m much more concerned about end results. If you have something that you have to do during the day—an issue with your kids or family—we’re pretty flexible on that.”
The philosophy originated with the late William H. Danforth, the company’s founder, whose book I Dare You! is requisite reading for new employees. “We’re actually embracing our heritage much more so than we ever have,” says Degnan, adding that Danforth’s book emphasizes a healthy balance between the physical, mental, social, and spiritual components of life. It’s an emphasis that’s been carried on by Purina’s CEOs, who set the tone. “There’s been a real steady management of the culture and the company,” says Degnan.
“If you give people space and have high expectations,” he adds, “they’ll exceed your expectations.”
Sense Corp
Where those who work on the road still get plenty of family time at home
Michael Chafin’s wife, Jenni, went in for a routine pregnancy checkup. But when doctors detected signs of distress, they decided to deliver her twin boys right then. Joey and Colin arrived a month premature. Both ended up in the neonatal intensive care unit. By the following Monday, “it became apparent that the twins weren’t going to be coming home any time soon,” Michael says. “I had no idea what I was supposed to do.”
He works as a traveling consultant at Sense Corp, a firm that advises businesses on matters of strategy and technology. Employees usually spend the week on the road at their clients’ offices. That week, he was supposed to be in San Antonio.
Nervous and emotional, he called his boss. Chafin’s mind flashed to a time when his mother had a brain aneurysm. She’d been in a coma. He had gone to his previous employer, saying, “My mom may or may not make it.” The response was basically, “Do you have enough vacation time for that?”
Thankfully, when he explained the difficulty of being there for his twins while also taking care of their then–2-year-old daughter, Cloe, Sense Corp was more understanding. “Michael, don’t worry about work; you have to worry about your family first,” he was told. “You tell us what you can do.”
They worked out an arrangement in which Chafin wouldn’t travel. He’d try to put in between 25 percent and 50 percent of his usual work, operating from an improvised office at the hospital. Vacation time wasn’t mentioned until long after the boys had been discharged. Even then, Chafin was allowed to decide what he thought was fair.
“It’s not just me that they’ve done this kind of stuff for,” he says. “It’s a running theme that I’ve seen within Sense Corp, which is that they take care of their own.” Now Jenni works there, too.
It’s a shame that the nature of the business requires employees to spend so much time on the road, because Sense Corp has a nicely appointed office in Maplewood, dangerously close to Pie Oh My! and Strange Donuts. Vice president of human resources Bruce Roquet provides a tour. The kitchen offers the obligatory tech-industry refrigerator full of free soda, but also four beers on tap. Rather than artwork, the walls are decorated with various “best places to work” plaques and trophies. In Roquet’s seven years with the company, it has lost just one senior-level employee.
It’s not uncommon for consultants at other companies to fly out on Sunday night, work Monday to Friday at their client site, and get home late Friday. That leaves just Saturday for family. Consultants at Sense Corp leave Monday morning and come back Thursday afternoon. On Fridays, they work from home. “Take care of doctor’s visits, spend time with your children, spend time with your spouse, anything you need to take care of that helps you be able to run your household in a better way,” Roquet says. “It works out really well.”
Once a year, Sense Corp gathers its far-flung employees for a four-day weekend somewhere like Aspen, Colo., or Chicago. Spouses and children are welcome. Meetings take place in the morning, with the afternoons and evenings reserved for fun. A few years ago in San Diego, the company organized a beach volleyball tournament.
One night, the company hosts an awards ceremony. Another night, there’s a variety show. “It’s a big deal,” Roquet says. “People plan all year long for what they are going to do. Some people really have talent, and they are really good. Some people have no talent, and they are really bad.” The star of the night is usually a woman who, unlike most in the tech industry, has a music degree. She performs with her husband, who has a doctorate of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin. “He’s playing the piano, and she’s singing, because she’s got this great voice,” Roquet says. “We have a lot of fun with that.”
Asked to encapsulate what makes Sense Corp a family-friendly workplace, Roquet says it’s hard to put into words. The company doesn’t have programs to rattle off like on-site day care or extra-long paternity leave (though it is considering a sort of concierge service to manage employees’ affairs while they’re on the road). At Sense Corp, being family-friendly seems less about perks and more about philosophy. “When the company needs you to do the work, you’ll do the work,” Roquet says. “When you need help from us, we’re going to give you help.”
GL Group
The company with the wow benefits
Twenty-three years ago, an employee at GL group—the corporate umbrella for Booksource, Peaceable Kingdom, Turtleback Books, and Jaffe Book Solutions—went to the founder of the company, Sandy Jaffe, and asked whether she could bring her newborn to work.
“Sandy loves to say, ‘What is the worst that can happen?’” says Lisa Whealon, the company’s director of human resources. “He asked a couple of employees; they came to a consensus of ‘Let’s give it a go and see how it works.’”
They call them “Booksource babies,” and the first has now graduated from college. Officially the “bring your babies to work” perk is offered to employees who have been on staff for at least three months and whose infants range from 4 weeks to 6 months old. Each GL office building has a parents’ room with a rocking chair, changing table, and supplies. Once a baby hits the half-year mark and is no longer eligible to come to work, GL group reimburses the parent $50 a week for day care until the baby reaches 1 year old.
“The new moms and new dads do a really good job of getting up and walking around if the baby starts to get cranky,” Whealon says. “People are super happy to grab your baby, take your baby, and run off with your baby. It’s all hands on deck, and that baby is really treated like family. Bonnie, our receptionist, used to take my daughter, Sophia, and walk the halls with her.”
Shannon Strauser, a senior accountant, holds 7-month-old Brody in one arm while she types with the other. Since Brody’s past the 6-month mark, he’s here only for a visit. A Graco Pack ’n Play is stashed in the corner; an activity center is front and center. Dressed in a rugby shirt and jeans, Brody intermittently stops gumming his mother’s pearl–and–gold chain necklace to emit a few coos.
“Having the baby here makes the transition a lot smoother,” Strauser says. “It’s a lot easier to come in and know you will be with them here until they’re 6 months, when they transition to day care. They add so much. It makes work happier. It makes life happier.”
Ryan Metz, a backlist buyer, started at GL group when he was 19, long before children were part of his picture. Now he has two sons, a 6-year-old, Jackson, and Cooper, who just turned 4 weeks. “Financially, it will be such a breath of fresh air to not have to pay for day care these first six months, and I’m excited to be with him,” Metz says.
Advocate relations coordinator Jessica Langan readily admits that bringing in her now–6-month-old son, Gavin, has presented challenges.
“At first, when they are little, they sleep a lot,” Langan says. “When they get older, they require a little bit more attention. I do what I can do when I can do it. When I have 30 minutes, I can crank out a whole bunch of work and phone calls. Also, if I need to get something done right away, there are 20 people in this building who cannot wait to hold him. I have lots of help.”
Her cubicle is outfitted with the requisite Pack ’n Play and a foldable KidCo Go-Pod, which is like a bouncy chair. “He has books, balls, and anything he can chew on,” Langan says.
Both Langan and Metz also take advantage of flextime. She works at home one day a week; Metz leaves early two days a week to meet his son at the bus, then works from home.
“It is so easy to have a family and to continue to work here,” Metz says. “They make it easy for you. And there is no penalty for maybe not getting everything done. You’re always allowed to pick up the next day. ‘Family first’ is one of our mottos.”
Gary Jaffe, who succeeded his father as CEO, believes in one for all and all for one. “If I need to rush out of here to visit someone in my family, anyone else should be able to do it too,” Jaffe says.
Other benefits offered by GL group include four weeks’ paid paternity leave (eight weeks for moms), adoption maternity and paternity leave (the same as for birth parents), frequent events for employees and their families, wellness programs, education reimbursement, college scholarships, time off during the day to volunteer in the community, and monthly visits from a massage therapist. “Every year, we try to create a new ‘wow’ benefit,” Whealon says.
The corporation has individual days off, a.k.a. “IDOs.” “Employees can donate their time to someone else,” she adds. “When I first started, I was here a week when I had to have my gallbladder removed. My boss gave me a week of his vacation and didn’t even make a deal of it. I got a little slip that said, ‘Your week off is covered. Hope you are doing well.’”
The company also has monthly meetings in which GL group’s finances are displayed for everyone to assess successes and shortcomings. At the same gatherings, employees can publicly thank others for their help.
“Jessica stood up and thanked everyone for their support while Gavin has been here,” says Betsy Heck, director of marketing. “She said, ‘You know Gavin’s last day is Friday,’ and everyone went ‘Awwwww.’ There was an audible sadness sound when she announced that.”
Edward Jones
The blue-ribbon winner among family-friendly corporations
When Nikki McIlwaine’s firstborn sent her into labor six weeks early, she finished work while the hospital checked her in. Then her boss showed up with a car seat, saying, “They won’t let you go home without this!”
That balance has held for 17 years—and three sons. McIlwaine is a financial advisor and regional leader in Edward Jones’ Glendale office, overseeing a team of 50. Every Wednesday, she meets with senior advisors and makes field visits before seeing clients.
On Fridays, though, she’s home by 1 p.m. And on the Friday we spoke, she was overseeing a lane of hyper, wriggly 8-year-old boys who were trying to do the Electric Slide while they bowled.
One was her eldest, Aiden. She and her husband take turns getting him off to school and dropping off Liam at kindergarten. Declan, who’s 2, sits on the bathroom counter playing with McIlwaine’s cosmetics while she gets ready. Wednesday evenings, she works late because her husband, a doctor, does surgery that day and is home early. She takes the boys to all of their doctor’s, dentist’s, and orthodontist’s appointments.
“I hear horror stories from friends at other companies who are parents,” she says. “I have a leader I report to, but I don’t have to call him when my kids are sick. If I wanted to hang up right now and go to gymnastics, I don’t have to talk to anybody about that. It’s why women in particular are so successful here.”
Edward Jones came in fourth on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list this year; it regularly ranks in the top 10. The company has a robust work-from-home program and builds in thoughtful details, like individual rooms that can be used as lockable nursing stations. But the main reason the company is so hospitable to families is its responsibility-based management philosophy. “If you’re running a good business, you can come and go as you please,” McIlwaine explains. “They let you do whatever you need to do to make yourself successful.”
And that means success on all fronts. When an employee’s wife was fighting cancer, he didn’t have to hit any productivity numbers the entire year, McIlwaine says. “Another gentleman is unfortunately going through some marital issues, and the firm put him on family medical leave to go through counseling with his wife and work on his marriage. Another battled cancer, and when it was no longer going to be a conquest, three regions came together and sent him on a trip with his family—and a private butler. Then the firm hired his wife as a branch office administrator to keep money coming into the family.”
As for McIlwaine, “every time I have a baby, I wind up making $50,000 more,” she says cheerfully. “I think it’s the laser focus—every minute of your day is planned. But there’s also a trust factor: When you are viewed as a mother, you are all of a sudden viewed as a human being.”
By Jeannette Cooperman, Christy Marshall, Jarrett Medlin, and William Powell
