FW: that will work just fine

Michelle:=20
I have confirmed Bob Rosner's availability on October 30 at 9:30 am. Diane=
said that she was going to have the Enron Shuttle (Limo?) meet us at the F=
our Seasons to bring us to the meeting. We will be waiting for the shuttle=
at about 9:15. See you then. By the way, Bob is quoted in today's Wall St=
reet Journal. See below.
Kerry E Notestine=20
Littler Mendelson, PC=20
1900 Chevron Tower=20
1301 McKinney Street=20
Houston, Texas 77010=20
713.652.4748=20
713.951.9212 (fax)=20
knotestine@littler.com=20
www.littler.com=20
-----Original Message-----=20
From: Bob Rosner, Retention Evangelist [mailto:rosner@northsound.net ]=20
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 10:14 AM=20
To: KNotestine@littler.com=20
Subject: that will work just fine=20
October 17, 2001 Work & Family <http://interactive.wsj.com/documents/cen=
ter-WorkFamily.htm < Fumbling in Crisis Has Bruised The Loyalty of Some Emp=
loyees By SUE SHELLENBARGER =20
IN HER EIGHT years at a Pennsylvania medical-services company, the marketin=
g manager had been fairly content. Then, in a relative heartbeat -- the thr=
ee days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- her opinion of her employer=
did an about-face. The reason: Her bosses fumbled the crisis, the manager =
says. Though nearly all offices and schools in her city closed early Sept. =
11, employees at her firm who had to leave early to pick up children or for=
other reasons met a snide or grudging response. One senior executive said,=
"If you really need to, you can," the manager says. Those who stayed but k=
ept one eye on the TV news were criticized for failing to focus. Managers e=
xpressed no concern for employees' worries about traveling on business. "I =
expected much more compassion," says the marketing manager. The experience =
has her considering jumping ship for another employer, she says. Handling t=
he aftermath of the terrorist attacks posed an acid test for employers, oft=
en fundamentally changing the employer-employee relationship. The mass emot=
ions aroused by the tragedy were so primal -- fear, grief, anger and the dr=
ive to protect loved ones -- that any managerial missteps took on larger-th=
an-life importance. EMPLOYEES, RIGHTLY or wrongly, believed they were seein=
g bosses' true colors. Their conclusions about what they saw either deepene=
d their commitment or damaged it beyond repair. "This is a sea change. Peop=
le are seeing how important basic, trustworthy relationships are," says Fre=
derick Reichheld, a director emeritus of Bain & Co. and author of "Loyalty =
Rules." Some employers rose to the occasion. Lorna Paine, a sales executive=
in Houston for Business Objects, a San Jose, Calif., software concern, say=
s her managers, from the chief executive on down, encouraged people "to go =
home to our families, do whatever you need to do" after the attack. One vic=
e president called Ms. Paine to give her his home number in case she needed=
anything. "I've been working for almost 20 years. I've never had a vice pr=
esident give me his home number. Never," she says. "I am committed to this =
company like never before." At Trane Co., Doug Young, an asset management s=
pecialist, says his employer's concern for employees, reflected in frequent=
e-mails, an outpouring of encouragement and educational materials, and big=
charitable contributions, deepened his commitment. Calling it his personal=
"moment of truth," Mr. Young says his employer "provided comfort and made =
me proud." Others fumbled the ball. At a Chicago consulting firm, a senior =
supervisor coldly ordered employees on Sept. 11 to return to business as us=
ual, one consultant there says. "What we needed was to stop and say, 'OK, w=
e're going to take a deep breath and think about this,' " she adds. When sh=
e weighs long-term plans, "I will remember this situation and how my firm d=
ealt with it." If employees seem a little touchy, they are. As discussed la=
st month in this column, the terrorist crisis knocked millions of workers a=
rung or two lower on the Maslovian hierarchy of human needs. Now, they're =
focused on life's most basic requirements, including safety, security and c=
onnections with others. These spark far stronger emotions than the higher-l=
evel priorities of months past, such as recognition or achievement. VAULT.C=
OM, a Web site that posts message boards on companies, drew about 50 postin=
gs from employees protesting their postattack treatment, says Vault Inc.'s =
Mark Oldman. Hundreds more came from human-resource managers asking for adv=
ice. Indeed, several companies found themselves pilloried in the news media=
for simply following established policies -- for example, requiring employ=
ees to account for time off taken Sept. 11. Embedded in the crisis is an op=
portunity for employers to rebuild damaged loyalty. Fewer than one in four =
workers are truly loyal to their companies and committed to staying, says W=
alker Information, a customer- and employee-satisfaction researcher in Indi=
anapolis. That could easily change. In an unusual twist, Walker received an=
e-mail request from an employee of one of its clients, a telecommunication=
s company, to change the survey she had submitted about her employer. Her c=
ompany handled the Sept. 11 crisis so well, the employee wrote, that she wa=
nted to express her newfound loyalty. While loyalty may not seem to matter =
amid hundreds of thousands of layoffs, research suggests it does. Loyalty s=
hapes people's choices not only about where to work, but also about how lon=
g, hard and wholeheartedly to apply their mental energies -- the fuel that =
drives the New Economy. Employee attitudes also color customer relationship=
s. "When the only thing keeping employees on the job is fear, or golden han=
dcuffs, those employees don't go the extra mile," Walker's Mark Drizin says=
. In a reeling economy, going the extra mile is just what employers need. B=
ut they're going to have to show some heart to get there. To lead well in t=
imes like these, says Bob Rosner, a speaker on workplace issues and author =
of "The Boss's Survival Guide," "you have to feel the pain yourself." ? Sen=
d e-mail to sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com <mailto:sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com <. =
To see other recent Work & Family columns, please go to CareerJournal.com <=
http://www.careerjournal.com/Default.asp <. =20
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