Incentive - July 2008 - (Page 20)

COVER STORY Juanita James, the corporate communications officer of Pitney Bowes, at the office (left) and reading to a group of local children at Stamford’s Childcare Learning Center At Pitney Bowes, Pride Is Considered a Strategic Asset BY LEO JAKOBSON W hen Amy Corn first accepted a job as an attorney at Pitney Bowes, then a Stamford, Conn.–based maker of postage machines, she didn’t plan to have a long tenure at the company. “I thought I’d work here one year and then get the job I really wanted,” she recalls. “I did not want to be the first woman in a department full of white guys.” That was 25 years ago. Today, she is vice president, secretary and chief governance officer of the firm, which, while still based in Stamford, has grown into a multinational specializing in document management systems, with annual revenues of $6.3 billion. She’s one of many employees who found themselves unexpectedly loyal to the company. Johnna Torsone, senior vice president and chief human resources officer, was a partner at a New York law firm before joining Pitney Bowes. “I had other options for more money. But when I met the CEO, he asked me what I would advise if something was legal but not right. That was a moment of clarity for me. That’s part of why I came here and stayed.” Corporate social responsibility is a catchall phrase that brings together a wide variety of corporate practices like corporate volunteerism and philanthropy, wellness and work/life balance, corporate ethics and diversity. Which is to say, things that do not, at first glance, have anything to do with the bottom line. Except that they do. While millennials are getting a reputation for putting more stock in prospective employers’ ethics, along with issues like environmental standards and work/life balance, “people of all generations want to be associated with a company they can be proud of,” says Torsone. “People like to work for a company they can trust and rely on. When that is absent is when it is most telling. Pay is important, but it is not right up there with what keeps [employees] bound to a company and willing to give their effort: Pride in that company, but also pride in what you do.” She points to a study by New York–based consulting firm Katzenbach Partners that argues that not only is pride more powerful than money, it is the motivational force that drives individuals and companies to excel. Indeed, the firm calls corporate pride “a strategic asset.” Pitney Bowes certainly pays attention to its engagement surveys and expects its managers to do the same, says Corn. “We ask our managers each year to get together with their employees to see how they can improve their [engagement] scores,” she adds. “We want people to like to work here.” In fact the company puts a strong emphasis on training managers to focus on and improve engagement, and tracks the results. We have annual enterprise goals,” says Torsone. These are in three areas: customer-focused, financial and employee-focused. The employee-focused goals include employee engagement scores. “These goals form the basis of the annual bonus pool.” 20 | Incentive | July 2008 | incentivemag.com http://incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - July 2008

Incentive - July 2008 Contents Editor’s Note: Accentuate the Positive In The News Cover Story: Three Profiles in Good Corporate Citizenship Case Study Incentive Interview Senior Secrets To Thine Own Self be True Incentive Primer Motivation@Work Travel News: Where To Go and What To Do Take the Spa Home Not the Only Game in Town Here and Now Writing and Desktop Gifts Watches and Clocks Gift Cards: Health and Wellness Incentives Good Health Is Not Its Own Incentive Advertiser Index Last Word

Incentive - July 2008

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