Recognition & Rewards

Octoberfest transformed mortgage bank into Halloween fantasyland

11/12/2014

It’s not all work and no play at United Shore, a Troy, Mich., mortgage lender, which stages an annual Octoberfest.

Career management programs miss the mark

11/10/2014

Research from Towers Watson reveals that employees don’t believe their employers deliver on the promise to help them grow.

‘Happy’ receptionists get five-week, paid sabbatical

10/14/2014

Happy receptionists make a good first impression on clients, say execs at Ruby Receptionists in Portland, Ore., who are trying their best to keep their staff of virtual receptionists smiling.

Trucking firm adds bonuses, ups pay to help recruitment

10/10/2014

It’s not easy recruiting long-distance truck drivers, so Con-way Truckload is piling on the pay. Its new compensation package raises per-mile pay; increases layover pay; and offers bonuses for loyalty and helping the company achieve its productivity goals.

Ad agency rewards tenure with custom-made bobbleheads

09/29/2014

Managers at advertising and PR agency The Lavidge Co. in Phoenix encourage employees to “be creative, work smart, have fun”—words from the firm’s corporate philosophy. One particular perk definitely falls into the “creative” category.

Web-based dealer adds slew of perks over 1-year period

09/25/2014

Car-shopping website Edmunds.com “can’t perform well without finding innovative ways to attract and retain top talent,” notes Avi Steinlauf, CEO of the Santa Monica, Calif., organization. To that end, the company has added a slew of employee perks over the past year.

‘Trilogy of Care’ helps keep health care employees engaged

09/03/2014

Employees of DaVita HealthCare Partners have a tough job, says Director Danny Shapiro: treating kidney patients with dialysis. So execs at the practice “believe nurturing each other better equips us to nurture our patients,” Shapiro says.

D.C.-area employers feature fun food perks

08/13/2014

Employees of Washington, D.C.-area companies that made The Washington Post’s inaugural list of the area’s top workplaces are apparently very well fed. Amid the medical, vacation and flex benefits cited by employees of the top firms are a huge number of perks involving company-supplied food.

Parkland execs’ bonuses go to low-wage staff

07/31/2014

Dallas-based Parkland Health and Hospital System cut its executives bonuses this year, but not because the head honchos performed poorly. The system’s governing body decided the money was better spent raising the pay of the system’s lowest-earning employees instead.

Use tuition benefits to build home-grown skills

07/28/2014

Starbucks got a lot of attention this summer when it announced it would help its baristas—even part-timers—pay for online college classes offered by Arizona State University. That’s news for three reasons.