General Motors ran ads with pictures of a happy family reading a newspaper with the headline "128,000 New Jobs at GM: Pay at All time High." The main headline on the ads said, "Five Years of Labor Peace Made That Headline Possible."
At vacation time, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing gave each employee a "3M" car window sticker and a luggage sticker. The game was for 3M people who met on trips to stop and get acquainted. Prizes were awarded those who met at greatest distance from home. All encounters were reported to the home office.
General Electric had a place in its aid to education program for employees. The company matched any employee's gift to a college, in any amount up to $1,000. A variation of this idea in several companies is to make provision for scholarship funds to deserving children of employees.
Recognition and Reward:
American Viscose held a photo contest among 20,000 employees. The winning 12 pictures were used for the firm's calendar. Copies were given all employees. One year, the calendar carried pictures and biographies of winners. Prizes of $50 were also a part of the contest. Along similar lines, Corning Glass had a New Products Contest for ideas in glass. Winners received fanfare, publicity, man and wife trips, and prizes.
Woodward Governor gave a bronze nameplate to each worker for prominent display in his working area. Prudential Insurance did the same thing for office people, but not in bronze. For the first six months, the name was on a paper card. After that, each person got a plastic nameplate. As a switch on this idea, Northern Indiana Public Service published "his" and "her" company data cards for billfold and handbag.
Lane Bryant devoted an entire Christmas issue of its house magazine to "retires." There was a message from proxy, and a Christmas tree design decorated with photos of retiring employees. The back page depicted how pension funds had grown from $8,000 to $3,000,000.
A striking mural in the lobby at Norton Company, Worcester, is an industrial family tree. Founders are roots, factories make up the trunk, the 25 year men are the leaves.
Dravo started a Technical Paper Competition among employees. Outstanding papers were delivered before a professional group or trade association. Some were published in Dravo Review, others in business publications.
A Community Service Award was given on an annual basis by Raybestos to the employee who had done most for his hometown. The winner's name each year was added to a plaque in the reception room.
Acme Steel Co. formed an Idea Club for repeat winners of suggestion awards. The club gave gold certificates to those who had won $500, and silver ones to those who had hit with 5 or more awards totaling $50. The president presented the certificates.
Family Events:
Hundreds of companies have had annual family picnics. They take over an amusement park for the day. Everybody shows up, including company officials. Adding a novel twist, Delta Airlines at its family outing, assigned employees with motion picture cameras to cover various events. The combined, edited and sound added footage was played back to employees later on.
Plant tours are often family events. Standard Oil of Indiana had one for inspection of remodeled offices. Sharp and Dome opened the facilities on a Sunday afternoon to give employees families a look at a new plant. Corning Glass in Oklahoma went all out. The plant family tour was replete with nursery for children, movies, games, ice cream, and coke.
Suburban Motor Freight, Inc., staged a Family Field Day. Principal events were three contests. One was billing freight shipments. Another was loading and unloading freight between dock and trucks. The third was driving trucks and trailer combinations through an obstacle course. It was a giant affair, complete with hot lunch, souvenirs for the kids, and prize awards for winners.
A bit out of the ordinary, Minnesota Mining employees brought their kids to the plant. Each was given a souvenir T shirt. International Harvester had a "Best Girls Day" for employees to bring wives for a look at the plant.
Projects to interest and involve employee’s wives have been on the increase. Ralston Purina ran a letter contest for wives on the benefits of employment in the company. Chrysler held an open house for wives to preview new cars. Monsanto Chemical awarded prizes to wives who knew the company's safety slogans. Phillips Petroleum put on a party when a plant completed a million hours free of accidents. Armco Steel, on an employee’s 25th year of service, gave the wife a gold brooch and an orchid when the husband won a suggestion award.
At International Harvester wives were encouraged to visit husbands on the job. Head girl Kay Metz at Quaker Oats conducted a tour for wives, plugged the theme "Wives Are Quaker." Wives of record setting salesmen for International Cellulose received roses. Both the CIO and the AFL have wife auxiliaries which devote themselves to civic work.
In Greensboro, N.C., Burlington Industries has had a warm custom for more than 30 years. Just before Christmas they have held a party in each of 90 plants. All employee’s children ten years or younger are given bags of toys and candy handed out by Santa Claus.
The Grand Gesture:
Many other gestures have been targeted at the children. Maytag has had a scholarship program. Grey Manufacturing, as a memorial to employees lost in war, gave five music scholarships. Pitney Bowes has had scholarships for sons and daughters, and if pop or mom leaves P B, the scholarship goes right on. Tennessee Eastern Corp. held Saturday morning programs for kids, with movies and contests. Mooresville Cotton Mills had a day nursery for children of people on day shift and those of second shift people. This enabled night shift parents to sleep. Company transportation took the kids to and fro.
Rich's in Ogden, Utah, turned over part of the store for the wedding of an old time employee's son and his imported English bride. The staff pitched into clear racks out of the way to make an altar for the occasion.
RCA has sponsored a farm outing at Augusta King Farm near Camden. Invited have been employees who could not afford to get away from home during the two week factory vacation shutdown. The company transported people to the farm and footed most of the bill.
Here are two novel ones. Hawaiian Pineapple sold used company automobiles to employees, saving them dealer markup. Competing buyers would draw lots. On Mother's Day, Victor Adding Machine sent corsages to the mothers of some 50 employees serving in the Armed Forces.
Many companies have let employees use company facilities for recreation after hours. Some have provided facilities for making hotel and travel arrangements for vacationing employees. Many have arranged free passes to TV and radio shows. Some have made a practice of transporting ill employees to their homes in company cars.
For Health Safety, Endicott Johnson Shoe Corp. arranged tours of Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City so that employee’s families could see the E J hospitalization plan in action. There were so many who wanted to go that ultimately the tour was supplanted by a motion picture tour.
To point up safety, Republic Steel inaugurated a Safety Day. The oldest men in point of service who had worked without accident represented employees in the awards presentation. They then brought to Cleveland for special awards the four oldest men in the non accident category. Total accident free years for the four men was 220.
In the safety realm, the "Safety Derby" has been a dependable device. The Derby display boards depict the race in terms of accident less hours in each department or division. Another useful device has been the "Rule Quiz on Safety," with prizes. A third device has been the "Near Misses" display of protective equipment which has prevented accidents. Examples would include crushed goggles, scarred safety shoes, and singed fireproof clothes. Finally, there have been safety emblems and committees.
American Brake Shoe developed a series of six greeting cards to wish each employee a Happy Birthday. Each card had a message on safety in light vein signed by the Safety Committee.
National Cash Register offered employees a five act vaudeville show twice a month. Shows took place through the winter months in the NCR 3,500 seat hall at its Dayton headquarters.
The Customer:
To impress employees with the importance of the customer, The Haloid Company, Rochester, N.Y., at a recent Annual Open House staged a production, "Who Will Get the Haloid Halo?" Each division of the company vied for the heavenly award. Representatives of each performed in an attempt to convince the audience that their division's efforts and record entitled them to receive the coveted Halo. Three customers from different sections of the country were in the audience, seated with the Haloid branch managers who served them. At the end of the demonstration, the three branch managers sprang to their feet and claimed that the Halo actually belonged to Haloid customers. The three gentlemen, representing business, industry, and government, were brought on the stage. Three angels entered carrying glittering Haloes and these were placed over the heads of the three customers.
